This novel invites you to look into the cultural customs and ideas of a tribal society through a young girl's eyes. Within its pages, you will meet Helen. Helen is a headstrong, idealistic girl whose modern beliefs about beauty and marriage cause a tear in the cultural fabric of the tribe. Helen is forced to go through a coming-of-age ritual known as the fattening hut. The fattening hut is a Nigerian custom which a girl of marriageable age is forced to indulge in many meals to gain weight so she will be more attractive to her future husband. This novel is an oxymoron of American's ideas of beauty and that's what makes it so profound and moving.
While spending time in the fattening hut, girls are told to sleep, overeat and learn how to do handicrafts, such as basket weaving. The tribe believes this will allow the woman to take care of her future husband and family.
Helen is miserable and longs to once again be a child and play with her best friend Ashanti. She remembers the lazy, happy days they used to play together fondly. Her strong will has caused her to deny herself of food and soon becomes thinner.
Her sister, who is nursing her child, is also in the hut along with Helen. The tribe believes that a woman must learn certain things before she is allowed to join her husband after giving birth. She doesn't understand Helen’s insistence that women should be able to choose their own husbands, increase their size for a particular standard of beauty or have to go through the horrific process of female circumcision.
Female circumcision is performed in several countries and its mutilating effects cause problems with many bodily functions and childbirth. This is done for many reasons including removing a section of the body which is thought to be masculine to protecting a girl's virginity.
Thankfully, Helen has one ally in the form of her Aunt Margaret. Aunt Margaret is an outsider due to her strong belief that women should have control over their bodies and minds. She often brings books for Helen to read. Reading and education is considered unnecessary for girls. The only thing a girl should be able to do is take care of her husband and family. Aunt Margaret has never married and is shunned by her family and lives on the other side of the Island.
One day, Helen decides she can no longer bear life in the fattening hut and escapes into the jungles of her island home. She goes into the jungle fearful and alone with one thought on her mind: freedom.
Will Helen be able to escape the horrors of her tribe's rituals and find a place more accepting of her beliefs?
The Fattening Hut is a gripping story that will leave you breathless and wanting for more. Ms. Collins created a wonderful work of fiction which seamlessly blends fact and fiction into a truly magical piece of literature
