Greetings, once again! 👋🏽
I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourself.
Welcome to another edition of The Reader’s Perspective newsletter.
The Baby Is Mine is a darkly comic story about two women fighting over a child. The author’s third book—published in 2021—is 95 pages long and makes for a great weekend or lazy day read. I read it in a few hours.
When Mide, Bambi’s girlfriend throws him out of the house during a lockdown in Lagos, he has nowhere to go except his uncle’s house. There, he meets his uncle’s wife and mistress, who both claim to be the mother of the newborn in the house.
“We are all just creatures of our base natures” - Bambi
This domestic noir unfolds steadily, like the author’s other books. It also touches on the rare matter of maternity tests, when Bambi suggests it to both women. It is often said that it’s near impossible for a woman not to know if a child is hers or not. The paternity of a child could be contested, but certainly not the maternity.
From separating fights and quelling accusatory arguments to being unable to sleep because of a cock crowing at odd hours and even eating sand in his meal, there is no escape for Bambi. He is caught between these two women who refer to the baby, the bone of contention, by different names.
They eventually settle into a routine of taking turns to look after the baby, but when blood appears on the wall and one of the women locks the other one in her room, Bambi is further confused about who to believe. The sketchy clues from his sister also do not help the situation.
“You are the only one who does not know the truth” - Esohe, to Bambi
The baby takes ill and in the panic to find a solution, the truth comes out unbridled, like water from an upturned bottle. In light of this, Bambi must do what’s best for the baby.
This book will leave you with many questions. For me, the question that has stayed with me since I put the book down on Sunday evening is: what if Bambi is the child’s father?
P.S: If you’ve had a reading slump or you belong to a book club, I highly recommend this book.
Have you read this book? What did you think about it? Leave a comment, maybe? 😉
If you read this book after reading this review, do come back and share 😊