Aya of Yop City opens the story with a beautiful picture of a perfect baby. The eyes are deep and piercing with the roundest cheeks. The baby even has a little smile. The conversation begins with the fate of this beautiful baby being decided. Sometimes people hatch plans that sound good at the time, but blow up in their face. Adjoua and Moussa work together to devise a plan for Moussa to claim the baby as his and marry Adjoua.
Well the plan comes together until the baby makes a touch down to Earth. Let's just say the baby look nothing like his "so-called" father and Gradfather Sissoko knows it. See, Mr. Sissoko is a major business owner in the small town of Yopougon. His brewery is the only source of employment for most of the towns people. He is shrewd in his business dealings and dislikes Adjoua and her family, anyway, so posing a baby as his grandson who he sees is not only angers him even more.
This anger forces Adjoua and her parents to attempt to find someone in their family who looks like the baby. None of their family remotely look like the baby, but this isn't all Adjoua's friend Bintou has fallen in love with a Parisian. She forsakes her friends and family to spend every moment with her beloved, believeing he is a businessman from Paris. Bintou even sleeps with this man to prove her love. Let's just say plans are best laid when the truth is central.
Lies become the theme of Aya of Yop City, with Aya wanting her freinds to be honest. The title of the book is Aya of Yop City, yet Aya is not the main character of the book. She takes a lesser role of confidant and friend to Adjoua and Bintou. Aya is the voice of reason for her friends, even when they don't listen.
Marguerite Abouet, takes us into the realities of life in her small town in the Ivory Coast in late seventies. This graphic novel flows from story A to story B with Aya the so-called main character being a side charcter to her friends.Aya leads a life of truth, yet the people who have raised Aya to be honest are not all that honest themselves. Aya of Yop City is an awesome tale of the city. It reads like a soap opera and has fantastic graphics. You actually feel like you are right in the midst of the story. However, cliffhangers are not meant for television alone. Aya of Yop City leaves a cliffhanger that makes you want to jump out your seat. I can't wait for the translation of the next book.
2 comments:
This sounds like a really intriguing book! My only question for you is what would make this book a necessary read for students? Do you think both high school and junior high kids could relate?
I don't think this is a necessary read for HS students. Some books should be read for pure entertainment purposes. This book is pure entertainment and life lessons all rolled into one. Most teens watch One Tree Hill for fun not always enlightenment, even though there may be a scene or episode that brings a message that stays with the teen. I am looking for fun.... I am handing this book off to my 14 year old niece. I guarantee she will love it for entertainment purposes.
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