When I decided to read more African literature this year, I didn't know what I was going to be up against. Throughout this journey, I've come across thrilling books, the not-so-thrilling books and the extremely terrible ones but never did I come across an African literature that messed with my diction and tenses like “the girl with the louding voice” did and here's why…
I do not know about others, but whenever I pick up a book to read, I do so with an open mind. Keeping an open mind is very important to me because there is so much one can learn from the pages of any book and I wouldn't want to miss out on any of that knowledge because I approached the book with a narrow mind.
After going through the very first page of this novel, I began to doubt my decision to even read the book. The protagonist's poor tenses were enough to make me set the book aside but the urge to learn about the same protagonist's dilemma kept me going. This sort of created a love-hate relationship for the protagonist; which in my opinion, is a good start.
About The Book.
The book “the girl with the louding voice” tells the story of a teenage Nigerian girl–Adunni–who was initially married off to a man three times her age as his third wife. After Adunni escapes from the husband's house, she finds herself in the position of a maid to an extremely vindictive mistress who beats her up every single day.
Adunni struggles with many things including her limited education that make it hard for her to communicate, abuse and poverty. However, Adunni is not fazed by the setbacks and decides that the only way she can pull through these challenges is by getting a proper education but the question is how? How does a poor girl with no source of income get an education?
This debut novel of the author Abi Daré was published in the year 2020 and fits snugly into the coming-of-age and contemporary fiction genres.
My Opinion
I like how well the author depicted sexism, poverty in Nigeria, child labour and marriage. By doing this he threw some light on a few of the outrageous practices that go on in the country. Take the marriage of female teenagers against their will to men old enough to be their fathers for instance. This practice still goes on in certain parts of the country and at this point, I think it has become part of their culture. Be that as it may, I believe marriage is supposed to be consensual and if it isn't, then it's a glorified bondage.
The themes of resilience, identity, women's empowerment, perseverance and humility were beautifully captured in the pages of this book. These themes were demonstrated in the way Adunni constantly strived to achieve her goals. Her curious and skeptical nature helped to propel her even further.
Although the author managed to throw some light, some of the themes and social commentary felt oversimplified. It felt like the novel didn't dwell on the important things that needed to be dwelled upon but rather, overemphasized other parts that needed little attention.
One very commendable thing about this novel was the author’s consistency with his writing style. The author kept the novel running smoothly while intermittently switching from poor tenses to polished tenses. I imagine this wasn't such an easy thing to do.
The development of the characters in this book was good. Optimal details were given to even the most insignificant of characters. This made it easier to understand why certain characters acted the way they did.
Recommendation and Rating
Although I initially had my doubts about this novel, I eventually realized that if one is able to mentally sift through the protagonist's poor tenses, the novel becomes a very educational and interesting read.
I particularly enjoyed going through the seemingly futile journey with the protagonist. With that, I would give the novel an 8.0/10 rating, judging from the engaging plot and the author's writing style. As such, I recommend it.
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Liebe🤍