Book Review: The First Woman
- Amazing Grace L. Danso
- Jun 30
- 2 min read
Book Review: The First Woman
Author: Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi 🇺🇬
Type of work (Genre): Novel
Number of pages: 433
Own or Borrowed: own, purchased from The Wordplayce Bookstore
Overall Impressions: Jennifer Makumbi has done it again and delivered yet another masterpiece! Usually, a writer’s second book, after the tremendous success of their first, struggles to live up to the high bar the first one sets. But not so with Jennifer. She gave us sheer brilliance again. I had to sit with this book after finishing it over a week ago before I attempted my review. My God, she is such a layered and deep writer! This coming of age book that follows the journey of a young girl, Kirabo, navigating life and womanhood against various backdrops including war, will stay with me for a very long time. I will be rereading it in the future. It is an unapologetic African feminist text. I particularly appreciate how she distinguishes African feminisms from western counterparts and debunks the notion that feminism in Africa is a western import. We have our own origin story when it comes to feminism and women’s liberation as well as our unique cultural context and nuances. If I don’t end my commentary here, I will be writing for days. There’s so much that can be said about this book.
Something that stood out: Jennifer’s authentic voice always shines through. I love how she structured this book similarly to Kintu, which gives the impression that it is her unique style of storytelling; her signature if you will.
Overall Rating: 🖋🖋🖋🖋🖋 (out of 5 fountain pens).
Recommend or nah: absolutely without reservation! Follow my @agsbookadventures 🤓📚IG & Facebook accounts dedicated to books & reading☺️ Also find me on TikTok via the handle @agsbookadventures.
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