Set in Nigeria, this is a story about a girl who dares to dream, Adunni wasn’t given the choice when it came to leaving school. She wasn’t given the choice when it came to picking to whom she was to be married. But it’s the choices she does make that keep you turning the pages of one of the best stories I have had the pleasure of reading.
Her bride price was a way for her father to pay the rent and her “husband” has a daughter who is her age, just 14. He is on a quest to finally have a male heir, his first wife is on a quest to make everyones lives hell and the second just wants to survive her own pregnancy. The 3rd? Adunni, our main character, has dreams of an education. Of watering the seed planted by her mother years before.
Adunni has a strength that is, at times, unbelievable. Regardless of what is thrown at her; the themes in this book will have you questioning whether you would have the range at that age. Whether you have Adunni’s determination today, as an adult? I learned a lot from a 14 year old fictional character. I steer away from calling her “strong” to simply label and pinpoint the strength of our protagonist diminishes her struggles and also assumes that what she has to endure is somehow ok.
This book is brutal. We, the reader, are shoved into a story that is uncomfortable, heartbreaking and infuriating but in all of the ways it needs to be.
“I want to enter a room, and people will hear me even before I open my mouth to be speaking. I want to live in this life and help many people so that when I grow old and die, I will still be living through the people I am helping”
The Girl With `the Louding Voice
You root for her, you want her, need her to get her education and become the success she knows lays inside. A story that can easily have left you feeling like there isn’t really much hope, from daughter who cooks, cleans and everything in between- to house girl, which is a thinly veiled code for slave.
With the conversation around consent growing louder everyday, this book is a reminder to not forget those outside of our “western bubble” when we speak about women and our rights, fears and the conversations that are happening.
Poetic, emotive and pretty unputdownable are a few ways I would describe this book. The story is just as bold as the cover of the book in which it is kept. Adunni’s louding voice was heard not only with my ears but with every sense I possess.
Lets give it what it deserves 5 worms for a spectacular read
Be informed. Be Entertained. Be You. 