Discover Francophone Literature!
This feminist novel will transport us to Cameroon, confronting us with a culture completely different from Western culture. Gripping words and surprising portraits of women await you during your reading. Selected for the 2020 Prix Goncourt and winner of the 2020 Prix Goncourt des Lycéens and the 2019 Prix Orange du Livre d'Afrique, discover "Les Impatientes," a book that will teach you that patience is not always a virtue.
Please note that it is necessary to have read the book before the event.
Members can borrow the book from our library or purchase it from our partner Owl's nest.
The minimum level required is B2, but this event is also open to Francophones.
The book tells the stories of three African women from their own perspectives, each born into a world where patience is deemed necessary to fulfill the role of a wife. Ramla, a talented, beautiful, and educated teenager dreams of becoming a pharmacist and marrying the man she loves. Her half-sister Hindou, however, is married off to her failed, alcoholic, and violent cousin. Safira, the first wife of the middle-aged man destined for Ramla, is deeply wounded by the arrival of a second wife after twenty years of monogamous and happy marriage. She vows to drive away this rival, waging a clandestine battle against Ramla and ultimately succeeding, albeit with regret. Hindou, unable to endure her husband's violence and unable to escape, eventually descends into madness. Each of these women rebels against the overarching theme of their lives: patience.
