The original text is written in French as it's spoken in the Ivory Coast and comes with a glossary at the back as part of the bonus features. The Mile End's graphic novel publisher Drawn and Quarterly located on Bernard Street is responsible for the English version of this series. But because the fifth installment has not yet come out, I decided to buy my favourite volume, number 3, in English and read it again. And we mustn't forget that we are not above polygamy here in Canada or the US. Most of these issues are not necessarily what we would associate with Africa in the late 1970s, as we were dealing with them ourselves here in North America. The series tackles a wide variety of issues, such as class difference, women's rights, infidelity, homosexuality, shot-gun marriages and polygamy. We see an Africa replete with intrigue and beauty (the work of Clément Oubrerie, the illustrator, is fabulous). One of the reasons that I enjoyed this series so much was that it looks at the daily lives of people in the Ivory Coast, rather than the problems in Africa. His news creates an uproariously funny fallout in the community. Not to be outdone, the skinny Koffi, Bintou's father, announces that he is going to take a second wife, the village beauty, who is the same age as his daughter. She stirs the pot in volume 3 when she arrives unannounced on his doorstep with two little additional surprises. We discover that Aya's father has a mistress. Aya is not perfect, and her family has its share of problems. She empowers the powerless, but also puts her friends in their place when they need it. Aya is a friend to many in her community. She is serious and plans to become a doctor, while her friends prefer the nightlife of the maquis, a type of outdoor restaurant and dance bar.

Aya is the eldest daughter of one of the families, while her two best friends, Bintou and Adjoua, are members of the other two.Īya is different from her friends.

Although I had the initial impression that the story by Marguerite Abouet revolved around the bright and studious Aya, it in fact revolved around three families living in a suburb of Abidjan, which the characters refer to as Yop City. What initially piqued my interest was finding a series taken from the point of view of a young African woman - indeed a rare occurrence. I thumbed through the first volume of the brightly coloured panels of the life of Aya, a young woman living in the Ivory Coast in the late 1970s. This past August, in dire need of some pure escapism, I came across the four-part AYA de Yopougon graphic novel series at the Park Avenue Renaud-Bray.

Aya de yopougon english