You know when you start a book and you know you are in for a heavy reading?
That’s how I felt when I started Abi Dare’s book and I’m done my heart is broken but so full and happy. I love a good Happy Ever After. This book is a must read and it is really worth it.
Beautiful plot, well developed, may have been easy to predict but touched on real life issues and concluded with so much hope, growth and optimism.
Set in Ikati, a small village, we meet Adunni who loses her mum at fourteen years of age and is left to take care of her dead-beat dad and her brothers. She drops out of school due to lack of funds, despite the promises her dad made to her mum, but she knows she needs an education because mum told her she needs a louding voice.
She is married off by her dad in exchange for “Agric fowl, very costly. Bag of rice, two of it. And money.” 🙄 and we are taken through Adunni’s journey as a wife, maid and finally to getting her louding voice.
This book is so beautiful, from friends who become more than family to grace unfounded. We meet all who shape Adunni’s life.
This book was written in Broken English according to mg book club members 😂 and I truly loved it, made the story more relatable and different from the norm we read. I’m still searching for more books written in Broken English, if you know any please send a message on twitter @thereadershut. 😁
The themes explores here include Education, this was the major theme, our louding voice; jungle justice, parenting, money and its effect on life, pedigree, marriage and it’s trials, domestic violence, family dynamics, friendship, feminism, the complexity of the female gender and the power they possess, religion, infertility, child labour, bleaching practiced by Nigerians and finally Freedom.
We see strong Female characters: Mrs Tia, Big mummy, Adunni’s mum, Mama Iya and strong Male characters: Kayus, Kofi and Abu.
Nigeria was wholly represented using Lagos and we also explore some political themes as this story was set in the year President Buhari won the election over former President Goodluck. The negative and positive expectations citizens had regarding President Buhari winning was observed and I loved the infusion of Nigerian facts.
Abi Dare is an awesome writer, she had a way of infusing wit and humor into the story even in sad scenes, which shows how Nigerian she is, I mean we laugh and joke about every issue we face in this country, it’s our coping technique.
On a lighter note, Big mummy is a clown😂😂, the description of her home color scheme and her makeup would definitely worsen my eye defect and please, who wears two bras and panties in this hot Nigerian weather?
Who washes their clothes with their hands and still wash them using a washing machine? If you practice this please explain to me in the comment section, why? 🙄
I mean typical Nigerians and suffer head mentality.
I also loved how the story portrayed that knowing how to speak good English and understanding English language doesn’t guarantee wisdom or common sense.
In conclusion, this book was a delight to read, a lot of lessons picked but majorly be good to people, one iota of kindness goes a long way. So much strength exuded in one book.
“I learnt the power of focus, of belief, of pushing on, of never giving up on one’s dreams, of being good to people irrespective of how they treat you” – Adams, Bookclub member.
This book was The Readers Hut bookclub read for the months March/April and we loved it. To get a copy you can place an order here
Till the next post! I will leave you with some excerpts…
The Readers Hut 
Firstly iv never been a lover of very serious books.
I feel the Nigeria we are doesn’t really support ones seriousness and now a book that typically depits what we as Nigerians esp the female gender have to go through just to get their voices heard is a amazing and sooths my entire weekend already.. with a language we all understand makes it an excellent one too, I haven’t read it yet but I think il need to do so..
Excellent review.. so catching..
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Thank you! You definitely would love it
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