In South Africa, “Bekezela” is a popular term describing staying in a relationship that has long run its course which describes the relationship between Gozie and Obianuju.
Like most relationships, this one started with butterflies, a beautiful honeymoon stage and a promising future. Obianuju met Gozie at church and fell in love with him almost instantly. An Igbo man, prayer warrior and handsome. This man was ticking all the right boxes in Obianuju’s list of future husband or rather her mother’s expectations of a husband.
Uju as her mother called her seemed to seek someone like her beloved Uncle Ikenna who was taken away from them by the Civil War in Nigeria. He had disappeared for years and when her mother mentioned that Gozie reminded her of him, that sealed the deal. However, there is Akin a man who loves her but remains a cliff hanger in the entire book.
As the couple settles into marriage, they are confronted with a lot of challenges, things change and for the worst. Uju’s ambitions slowly subside as time goes on because Gozie wants to have children and not just children but boy children which proves difficult because one just can’t choose a baby’s gender. There is also the big issue of violence which elevates with every problem. This book gets messier as the pages turn.
The most frustrating thing is that Uju seems to have little or no choice to leave Gozie. If “Bekezela” was a person, Uju is it.