Review of Freeing Anya

[Kourtney Bradley]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Freeing Anya" by Chioma Umeakaeze.]

---

3 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Freeing Anya is a short story written by Chioma Umeakaeze and published in March 2021. The author shares the inspirational story of the main character, Anya, as she is on a journey to self-discovery after living a life of oppression.

All throughout Anya's life, she was taken advantage of by men. In their culture, men treated women as if they were property and therefore, explicitly showed their ownership. She left her childhood home when she was purchased for marriage, only to then be owned by her husband, who seemed to have little regard for her happiness by continuously being abusive and controlling, even going as far as suggesting to have a second wife for his own selfish benefit.

Anya's story is told mainly through communication between herself and her daughter-in-law, Anita. Anita shares the minor difficulties she is currently experiencing in her marriage, which then encourages Anya to share her much harsher experiences. The two share an unlikely bond and their friendship allows Anya the opportunity to realize that she has only one life to live and that she should now be working towards finding her own happiness.

In a story that allows the main character to open up her mind and expand on her emotions, I was impressed with the main character's strength and determination despite being told what to do all of her life. Though her present-day life while sharing the story of her prior experiences is much different than she experienced in her marriage and as a child, it was still disheartening to hear how badly she was treated and forced to accept for most of her life.

I had a small complaint while reading, though it was minor and something I was able to disregard while finishing the story. There are a few contradicting instances where the main character is sharing information about the life she shared with her husband and the timeline for their marriage is unexplained. There are a few instances where she reflects on her marriage lasting thirty-five years, yet another instance where she refers to the marriage as lasting twenty-five years. Though this was a minor error, the novel is very short, only 40 Kindle edition pages, so a mistake such as this was rather noticeable. I did find one grammatical error while reading as well, though it was only a minor instance of no capitalization at the beginning of a paragraph.

I enjoyed reading Anya's story and was impressed with her ability to overcome all the struggles she encounters. Despite living under the hand of men for her entire life, the character growth at the end of the story is exceptional and shows that anyone who wants to find their own happiness should stop short of nothing to achieve that. Freeing Anya is a story that anyone who enjoys heartwarming character growth stories would also enjoy, and I'm happy to share my rating of 3 out of 4 stars with my fellow readers. This one is a quick read, but still one full of emotion.

******
Freeing Anya
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

[VictoriousReader]

I would definitely love to read this book. I love the main character's determination and strength. Great review!

[Kira Bonita Reece]

Imagine being sold into marriage! Anya must have felt so trapped and helpless. I'm happy that the author made her a resilient determined female. Great review