Ayobami Adebayo's "Stay with Me" - A Novel of Love, Loss, and Redemption

Win M: You don’t get to end the book with little to no resolve from a mother who left for 13+ years and comes back sheepishly to her marital home to then recognize her daughter and never open the pandora box of the love she once had with the husband …

Nah, I left feeling very empty after reading this book. It was a very haphazard ending.

Phenomenal author, danced around sexual innuendo with descriptive verbiage, nonetheless I love supporting Nigerian authors especially female.

United States on Aug 25, 2023

lorna Williams: Bought as a gift. My daughter throughly enjoyed it. She said it was a nice story and easy to read.

United Kingdom on Jul 27, 2023

Lindsay T: Loved this book, kept me guessing until the end.

United Kingdom on Jun 30, 2023

ishangal: Captivating! I could not put this book down due its twists and turns.
I could not judge Akin nor Yejide for some of the drastic steps they took. I felt a lot of sadness and pity for all the characters - Everyone is a victim, and there are no villians as much as I tried to identify one.

United States on Jun 27, 2023

Ms J B: Medium size book, easy read. The print was rather small.

United Kingdom on Jun 20, 2023

Shawnie: This book took me through it from beginning to end. The complexities within the marriage & outside relationships were so subtle but loud. I wept for Yejide, felt sorrow for Akin & just wanted a happy ending. I went into this thinking this was a romance novel but discovered it was about so much more. Truth & transparency could have saved so much heartache. While I hoped for an ending that satisfied both characters & me, I am pleased with what I did get.

United States on Mar 10, 2023

Raymond BennettRaymond Bennett: I bought this book for an assignment for my class on African Literature. I decided to choose Stay With Me particularly because the description talked about marriage and starting a family. I am a sucker for romance novels, so I was automatically drawn to it. Let me just premise by saying I was not prepared for the journey this book was about to take me on.

The story follows a married couple, Yejide (the wife) and Akin (the husband), who have been married for four years, but have failed to have a child. They have tried everything from fertility doctors to herbal remedies to try and have a child, but nothing works. Now the way the description on the back is set up, it seems as though Yejide is the only one trying to have a child. But as we read on, we realize she is not alone in her efforts. From the beginning we see that Yejide is a strong spirited woman, who does not take disrespect lightly. It is not hard to develop this character analysis, but it is important to note it, as the events of the story threaten to change it. For four years Yejide has been berated by Akin’s family about being barren and threatening his family lineage. This invasion into her marriage is...

United States on Nov 06, 2021

Time for Tash: A few weeks ago, I read this book. I will admit that I was a bit on the fence and did not entirely like it, but after some reflection, I have begun to appreciate just how beautiful the story really is. With a central concept of motherhood and infertility, this book is packed with disappointment and tragedy, but it also has an adamant feeling of hope. Although the couple has many bumps along the way, in the end, it all works out perfectly for them. Further, the author uses perspectives very powerfully and the reader really immerses themselves in the story and feels the emotions of the main protagonists. Also, the cultural and historical input the author uses as context and setting for the story is absolutely spot on. There are so many things to love about this book. This is a greatly stunning book and I thought the author's use of wordplay in the title also made the ending even more beautiful. This is an amazing debut novel and definitely one of a writer who's going to leave a mark on both the African and global literary worlds.

United Kingdom on Jul 03, 2020

Susan D: This is a beautifully written and conceived first novel, which I enjoyed in whispersync format, listening to an excellent audible version as well as reading much of the text on Kindle. The focus, as many other reviewers note, is what happens to a couple suffering from infertility, and rather than revealing spoilers, I'll just say that the options on the table in 1980s Nigeria include polygamy as well as witchcraft and magic, even among the university educated. Whereas these days in the U.S. most women (and men) are comfortable saying they don't want children, in Nigeria, at least in the 80's & 90's, this was not an option. The psychological ramifications for both husband and wife are profound. This is also a story about the role of the extended family — and an intrusive mother-in-law — in a young couple's life, what it means for a young woman to grow up without a mother and close friends outside of the family. It is also about the tenuous connections between two brothers and the transition towards Western values in Yoruba villages and cities.

While Adebayo offers some political backdrop to the personal story, she doesn't elaborate as Chichimanda Adichie does in...

United States on Mar 28, 2019

Georgia Joy: This wonderful book was chosen by Busy Mama Book Club and my oh my I'm so glad they chose it; this is a book I wouldn't have picked up for myself.

Yejide and Akin fell in love at University and married before they had graduated. They have both agreed that they will have a polygamist marriage and neither are interested in Akin taking several wives, even though it is expected of him.
After 4 years of marriage; Yejide has still not fallen pregnant even after consulting fertility doctors and healers; trying strange teas and unlikely cures. This however is not enough for their families and they are beginning to worry as people are beginning to talk and when they arrive one day they bring Funmi who they explain is Akin's second wife.
Yejide is now more determined than ever to get pregnant and eventually does so but at a cost far greater than she could have ever imagined.

This book is set in Nigeria and flits between 1987 and 2008; the only thing that is slightly annoying about this is that there is no chapter headings so you don't actually know who's point of view it is until you are a couple of lines in.

Throughout this book you can feel Yejide's heartbreak...

United Kingdom on Jan 01, 2019