Marguerite Abouet
Author of Aya
About the Author
Image credit: from thebrownbookshelf.com
Series
Works by Marguerite Abouet
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1971
- Gender
- female
- Occupations
- writer
legal assistant - Relationships
- Oubrerie, Clément (ex-husband)
- Short biography
- Marguerite Abouet was born in 1971 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, in Western Africa. She grew up during a time of great prosperity in Côte d'Ivoire. At the age of twelve, she and her old brother went to stay with a great-uncle in Paris, where they further pursued their education. Years later, after becoming a novelist for young adults, Abouet was drawn to telling the story of the world she remembered from her youth. The result was the graphic novel Aya de Yopougon, published in North America as Aya, illustrated by Clemént Oubrerie, that recalls Abouet's Côte d'Ivoire childhood in the 1970s, and tells the humorous, engaging stories of her friends and family as they navigate a happy and prosperous time in that country's history.
- Nationality
- Côte d'Ivoire
- Birthplace
- Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
- Places of residence
- Romainville, Paris, France
- Associated Place (for map)
- Côte d'Ivoire
Members
Reviews
Akissi, a young girl, somewhere between three to five years of age, exhibits all the typical behaviors of her age group. They’re humorous to the reader, but often infuriating to her family and the other inhabitants of her Côte d'Ivoire neighborhood. With her braids flying in the wind, she and her friends rush from one outrageous prank to another from feeding the neighbor’s infant some homemade stew made up of vegetables dropped on the ground of the outdoor market to bringing home a show more monkey for a pet. There’s some cosmic justice for feeding the baby market leftovers, because she later eats some herself, and becomes infected with tapeworms. But she makes the most of this unpleasantness by blowing a worm out her nose and chasing her older brother with it. This propensity for mischief manifests itself not only at home, but at school, at the dentist, in the movie theater, and on the bus on the way to and with her grandparents, and in the wild near the grandparental home. The book also includes three recipes for snacks and instructions for African braids. show less
Aya is a university student in 1970s Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in a working class neighborhood they call Yop City. Her two best friends, Adjoua and Bintou, are always getting into trouble in search of love. They all live with their parents and siblings, who get into almost as much trouble as they do. In volume 1, Aya is set up with her father’s boss’s son Moussa, to her chagrin. Adjoua and Bintou are newly interested in Moussa now that they know his family is wealthy, and Adjoua gets show more pregnant so she and Moussa get married. Bintou’s cousin Herve is interested in Aya, but she tells him he should find a career and date her maid Felicite instead. In volume 2, the father of Adjoua’s baby is revealed, and Herve starts a car mechanic business. Adjoua, Bintou, and Felicite enter a beauty contest, in which their frenemy Rita, just returned from Paris, is also a contestant. Things at Aya’s father’s job are not going well, and the whole family finds out when his mistress drops their two kids off at his house. In volume 3, Bintou’s father announces he’s going to take a second wife - Bintou’s rival Rita. Aya’s mother is pissed about her husband’s mistress. Herve and Adjoua go into business together, and we finally find out who Adjoua’s brother Albert has been secretly sleeping with this whole time.
I love Aya’s close-knit little neighborhood. Everyone is always in everyone else’s business, but mostly in a good way. The story isn’t really a slice-of-life, it’s heightened like a soap opera, which really highlights the changing times. Aya and her friends are smart and educated women, but their community (including themselves) sometimes struggle to break out of a more old-fashioned society where marriages are arranged by their fathers and women stay home to take care of many babies and do whatever the men tell them to. It makes for a very enjoyable read while also providing a lot to think about. The only thing missing, really, is Aya herself. She serves as an observer, helping her friends get jobs and sort out their lives and helping her mother stand up to her father, but we don’t get to see much of her own life. I’m hoping to get more in the future.
The art really suits the material, with lots of browns and yellows and greens. The backgrounds are interesting but not overwhelming. He does a great job with varying skin tones and depicting complex hairstyles. I did sometimes struggle to read the lettering (as far as I can tell, Oubrerie did all the lettering himself) but that improved over the course of the volume. show less
I love Aya’s close-knit little neighborhood. Everyone is always in everyone else’s business, but mostly in a good way. The story isn’t really a slice-of-life, it’s heightened like a soap opera, which really highlights the changing times. Aya and her friends are smart and educated women, but their community (including themselves) sometimes struggle to break out of a more old-fashioned society where marriages are arranged by their fathers and women stay home to take care of many babies and do whatever the men tell them to. It makes for a very enjoyable read while also providing a lot to think about. The only thing missing, really, is Aya herself. She serves as an observer, helping her friends get jobs and sort out their lives and helping her mother stand up to her father, but we don’t get to see much of her own life. I’m hoping to get more in the future.
The art really suits the material, with lots of browns and yellows and greens. The backgrounds are interesting but not overwhelming. He does a great job with varying skin tones and depicting complex hairstyles. I did sometimes struggle to read the lettering (as far as I can tell, Oubrerie did all the lettering himself) but that improved over the course of the volume. show less
Akissi, a little girl of the Ivory Coast, is such a fearless, mischievous scamp even Dennis the Menace would hide behind his mother's knees and say she's out of control. This time around she's dashing through traffic, doping the teacher who uses corporal punishment, handling two different types of feces, stealing crutches from a one-legged girl, and "borrowing" babies from the neighbors to use as living dolls.
Somehow she's just charming enough to pull it off and even get away with three show more fever dream fantasy sequences. show less
Somehow she's just charming enough to pull it off and even get away with three show more fever dream fantasy sequences. show less
Disclaimer: *it's been a while since I've read this, but I saw the movie recently. Yes, go watch it!
I enjoyed this series a lot. I'm someone who enjoys overly dramatic soap operas, so this was a perfect fit for me. Things get very messy with pregnancy drama ("You're not the father"- Maury), affairs, and general dating life. There are blatant sexism and dusty men who can't keep their drawls on throughout the story as well as an emphasis on education.
Aya is focused and doesn't get into a lot show more of foolishness nor tolerate it. Despite her parents wanting to marry her off soon, she would rather study medicine. Even with all the drama in this series, we see how the lovable characters march through their days in a vibrant, colorful community. show less
I enjoyed this series a lot. I'm someone who enjoys overly dramatic soap operas, so this was a perfect fit for me. Things get very messy with pregnancy drama ("You're not the father"- Maury), affairs, and general dating life. There are blatant sexism and dusty men who can't keep their drawls on throughout the story as well as an emphasis on education.
Aya is focused and doesn't get into a lot show more of foolishness nor tolerate it. Despite her parents wanting to marry her off soon, she would rather study medicine. Even with all the drama in this series, we see how the lovable characters march through their days in a vibrant, colorful community. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 38
- Members
- 2,052
- Popularity
- #12,527
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 120
- ISBNs
- 131
- Languages
- 10
- Favorited
- 1