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_askthebookbug 's review for:
The Girl with the Louding Voice
by Abi Daré
• r e c o m m e n d a t i o n •
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"If it takes two people to make a baby, why only one person, the woman, is suffering when the baby is not coming? Is it because she is the one with breast and the stomach for being pregnant? Or because of what? I want to ask, to scream, why are the women in Nigeria seem to be suffering for everything more than men?" - Abi Daré.
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For a very long time now, African countries have been practicing unfair laws towards women. For instance, if a wife chooses to leave the marriage, she loses custody of her children instantly. Men in Africa enjoy more rights than women be it related to property or marriages. Polygamy is practiced freely, allowing older men to marry girls as young as teenagers. Adunni, the protagonist of the book is one such young girl who finds herself being married to a man who is of her father's age. At fourteen she wanted nothing but to go to school and then become a teacher but her mother's death made her father forget his promise of letting her study. After her wedding, she finds herself in a new house, her only source of comfort being the second wife of her husband. Adunni does everything in her ability to escape from a place where education is not a priority and when she does, she finds herself in a different hell.
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Adunni is feisty and has a sharp tongue which often gets her into trouble. But she also has an incessant need to educate herself and steals time with books for even just a minute. As Adunni jumps from one nightmare to the other, she also finds allies in the most unexpected of places. Her ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel no matter how dark it gets is inspiring even though it's a fictional tale. The story is narrated in broken English which to my surprise was easy to get used to. What I also enjoyed were the tiny facts about Nigeria that Daré seamlessly slips into the story. Although this story is of Adunni, it is very relevant to the many young girls across the world who have to fight desperately to win an education. I thought this book would break my heart but it did quite the opposite. It oozed optimism and inspiration that Adunni herself carries within her. A must read.
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4.7/5.
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"If it takes two people to make a baby, why only one person, the woman, is suffering when the baby is not coming? Is it because she is the one with breast and the stomach for being pregnant? Or because of what? I want to ask, to scream, why are the women in Nigeria seem to be suffering for everything more than men?" - Abi Daré.
.
For a very long time now, African countries have been practicing unfair laws towards women. For instance, if a wife chooses to leave the marriage, she loses custody of her children instantly. Men in Africa enjoy more rights than women be it related to property or marriages. Polygamy is practiced freely, allowing older men to marry girls as young as teenagers. Adunni, the protagonist of the book is one such young girl who finds herself being married to a man who is of her father's age. At fourteen she wanted nothing but to go to school and then become a teacher but her mother's death made her father forget his promise of letting her study. After her wedding, she finds herself in a new house, her only source of comfort being the second wife of her husband. Adunni does everything in her ability to escape from a place where education is not a priority and when she does, she finds herself in a different hell.
.
Adunni is feisty and has a sharp tongue which often gets her into trouble. But she also has an incessant need to educate herself and steals time with books for even just a minute. As Adunni jumps from one nightmare to the other, she also finds allies in the most unexpected of places. Her ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel no matter how dark it gets is inspiring even though it's a fictional tale. The story is narrated in broken English which to my surprise was easy to get used to. What I also enjoyed were the tiny facts about Nigeria that Daré seamlessly slips into the story. Although this story is of Adunni, it is very relevant to the many young girls across the world who have to fight desperately to win an education. I thought this book would break my heart but it did quite the opposite. It oozed optimism and inspiration that Adunni herself carries within her. A must read.
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4.7/5.