Official Review: She is free indeed

[Arite Seki]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "She is free indeed" by Ntombozuko 'Talitha Cumi' Sibande.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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She is Free Indeed by Ntombozuko 'Talitha Cumi' Sibande delves into the many challenges that women face in today’s world, specifically in an African context. The title is borrowed from a bible verse and refers to the freedom that women can achieve through Christ, despite not having many freedoms in the world. Women face many difficulties that include self-identity, femicide, intimate partner violence and even raising children without emotional and financial aid.

These issues are explored through the gaze of Christianity. The author uses the Bible and various scriptures in order to draw parallels between these challenges and religion. I found that this was done in an interesting manner and allowed me to consider points that I had not before. For example, the author refers to the story of Adam and Eve and proposes that even though Adam knew that eating the apple was a sin, he partook in it because he did not wish to be alone and separated from Eve once more.

My favourite aspect of this book was the extensive use of external sources and bible verses. There was a lot of information, but the author supported her views with credible sources. I found that this strengthened the arguments and taught me information that I did not know. My least favourite aspect was how it seemed as if some of the blame for male actions was placed on women and what women can do in order to mitigate these occurrences. However, the author did acknowledge that men should still be held accountable for their own actions, and further stated that this book is focused and aimed at women. This focus is why the author opts to not go into detail on the role of men in these complex social issues. I understood that point and so I would say that overall, there was nothing that I disliked about this book.

I give She is Free Indeed a 4 out of 4 stars rating. The book is well edited with thoughtful integration of quotes and bible verses. There are numerous ways to approach the problems mentioned at the beginning of the book, each with different solutions, but I felt that the points that the author chose to put forward were argued well and substantiated with interesting reflections. The book deals with heavy themes that are generally painful in their nature, but there is a prevailing hopeful and uplifting tone throughout the book.

This book is written with women in mind, but I do believe that anyone could read it and gain a lot of insight. There is no use of vulgar language or any explicit content, which makes this book appropriate for all audiences. Although, I do feel that an older audience would benefit more from this book as they would find it more relatable and understand the difficulties which are explained within the text.

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She is free indeed
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[VictoriousReader]

I fell gender-equality is a battle that women will have to fight for a very long time, unfortunately, especially in Africa where culture plays a major role.

[F N Chamomile]

Thank you for the review. The book sounds interesting and extremely relevant. I'm glad the author doesn't partially put the blame on women, and I think it's justifiable to ask women to take precaution or action because the book is targeted to women. I just hope the book isn't too preachy. I'm not against religion and I'm decently religious myself, but sometimes a book can put me off if the author sounds like trying to feed people with religion.