A short story set in Nigeria about two old friends, one of whom stayed and the other who went to the USA. It is set in a rather improbable alternate world where women are dominant and men are expected to be house husbands as the Nigerian character is, and to put up with women's infidelity.

Really the piece is a rather heavy-handed satire, as all the disadvantages of women in reality are suffered by the male characters, and all the bad behaviour of at least some men in real life is exhibited by the female characters. Various points are reversed such as the real-life medical treatments which are based upon men (women in this) and therefore are not appropriate for the other sex. The husband has given up his aspirations to write poetry as his wife told him he wasn't much good, and has to turn a blind eye to her philandering. But implausibly, we're told that despite this adoption of "male" values, the women at international summits are only interested in talking about girly things such as breast enhancements, which seems to be a muddling of both tropes. It was interesting but didn't really work as a convincing story for me so I am rating it 3 stars.

The story does also come to a fairly abrupt and inconclusive end. It is very obviously a polemic in disguise about the inequality of women's position in society, but it is still rather disatisfying that the women are universally unlikeable characters who behave as badly as a lot of men. So

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This was an Amazon short story from Black Stars collection. Its the story of a man anticipating the visit of an old college friend. In this world, however, the gender roles are reversed. So he is a house-husband dealing with the success of his wife and living in a society that strives to get men in their place. ( )

A thought-provoking short story about what a world would look like if men and women roles were swapped. ( )

There's nothing really revelatory; one gender plays the main and another plays the support. There are people, and then there are the spouses/potential spouses/failed potentials of those people.

Basically this is just a short story highlighting the absurdity of the "traditional" societal gender roles, and it's been done by switching the gender roles from the conventional. The wife works and calls the shots, the husband does as he's told and keeps his mouth shut, while driving himself crazy trying to ensure his place in the wife's life.

The nigerian setting adds an interesting layer. ( )

As is true of anything, this story will land differently with different readers. Going in, however, you need to know that it is dystopic (but not by much), and definitely satirical (not funny, but satirical). I didn't read it as a condemnation of matriarchy, but I can see how the role reversal might not sit well even with those sympathetic to the message of the book. On that front, I didn't feel it did enough--it was too simple and binary. That said, I think it teases out some important issues and lays bare how much goes unsaid in our legislation and the assumptions that shape governmental power. And while the general gist might seem a bit binary, the characters are interesting and kept me engaged. ( )