The Girl with the Louding Voice

It took me nine days to finish what is a comparatively short book. Even in the middle of the COVID-19 Quarantine, with plenty of reading time. Why? Because this is a hard story to read. Very Hard! And I kept wanting to put it down and escape.

THE GIRL WITH THE LOUDING VOICE will take you deep inside Nigeria (the most populous country in Africa.) From life in a small rural village (where young girls are routinely married off -aka sold - in exchange for a guarantee of a more stable food supply) to life in the main city of Lagos, where even business success and affluence provides neither a guarantee of political stability nor happiness. It’s a country straddling the divide between ancient customs and culture and the technological and show more social advancements of the modern world.

The story centers on 14 year old Adunni — whose beloved mother has recently died, forcing her to abandon the success she has had in school to take care of her father and two brothers. Living in desperately impoverished circumstances, she nonetheless dreams of returning to her education and eventually becoming a teacher. Unfortunately, opportunities are few in a rural village, especially for young girls. And so, for the good of the family, Adunni’s future takes a new direction that her father determines will be best for all.

It turns out to be a harrowing journey for Adunni, still a child with little control over her circumstances. Along the way, there is hunger, human trafficking, physical abuse, and sexual harassment. That’s the part that made this novel difficult to read. There are also friendships, protectors, and advocates.

The author has been extremely creative in the voice she gives Adunni, which adds to her believability and makes this read VERY distinctive. And for those who complete the book, Adunni turns out to be quite an amazing, spirited, intelligent and caring person!

Bottom line: I am glad to understand more now about a country I never learned much about. I have been reminded of how vastly different life experiences are for children, depending on the geographical accident of their birth location. But I also had to confront the horrible experiences children sometimes face when resources are scarce, when they are powerless, and where a single female life is undervalued. So, be warned. show less

4.5. I thought the decision to have Adunni (the main character) start the story narrating with very broken English and then slowly progress into more fluent English as she learned more about verbs and tenses was very interesting. I also really appreciated that although Adunni went through a lot of very horrible things, there were still multiple people who were kind to her with no ulterior motive and just wanted to help her. I think some people may say that these types of books (girls wanting to go to school and get educated, specifically across Africa) are overdone, but it is still important to read about and not become desensitized to because it's still a reality for so many girls in the world, even though we may take it for granted.

Fourteen-year-old Adunni is stunned when her father marries her off to an older man with two wives, for he had promised her dying mother that Adunni would be allowed to pursue an education. But her father needs the dowry money, and the prospective groom needs a boy heir. From a child bride in a remote village to a domestic servant in Lagos, Adunni struggles to find her louding voice and break free of those who would silence her.

This debut novel by Nigerian-born Abi Daré is an interesting addition to feminist coming-of-age stories from the region. It is written in a nonstandard English that the author chose as Adunni's voice. Although awkward at first, it becomes a sign of her growing facility with English and an indicator of her show more relationship with the person to whom she is speaking. Another interesting element is the dichotomy between the wealthy business owners in Lagos (Nigeria has the highest GDP in Africa) and the domestic help who work for them. The author's own family employed such help, and it influenced her decision to write about the disparity. Finally, I liked how the author excerpted facts from a compendium that Adunni discovers and uses them as chapter epigraphs. I am tempted to look for another book featuring Adunni that Daré has since written called [And So I Roar].

Trigger warning: child rape show less

When Adunni is fourteen, her father sells her into marriage to an older man. She'll be his third wife. When her mother was still alive, she'd managed to pay for a few years of schooling for Adunni, but with her marriage, the hope of returning is gone. Her new circumstances are difficult, and as the book progresses, Adunni deals with or witnesses a laundry list of hardships, always dreaming of a better life if only she could go to school, dreaming of having a "louding voice," a voice that people will listen to.

This novel is set in Nigeria, first in a small village, later in Lagos. The novel is narrated by Adunni and author Abi Daré allows Adunni's voice to be an uncertain English, guessing at the words she doesn't know, and very much show more that of a naïve teenager. And as Adunni improves her English and learns more about the world, her language changes. Choosing to put the novel entirely into Adunni's voice is a courageous choice for a debut novelist and one that pays off. Adunni comes across as likable and resilient.

In the end, though, I was uncomfortable with this novel. Adunni faces an endless stream of abuse and injustice and all she can do is endure. That the solution lies in the largesse of a wealthy woman raised in Britain, while the abuse all came from Nigerians was unsettling. This is also the second novel in which a western woman's fertility worries are given out-sized space in a novel about greater issues affecting Africans that I have read recently and I'm not a fan. The Girl with the Louding Voice would provide book clubs with plenty to discuss, but I hope that the discussions at least touch on the problematic aspects of this book. show less

I had mixed feelings regarding this debut novel about Adunni, a 14-year-old girl in Nigeria whose father marries her off to an older man who already had two wives.

This novel was narrated by Adunni in a variation of pidgin English, indicating that this character was less educated. At first, I found the language distracting, then I accepted it as part of the Adunni herself, but later I once again found it annoying. Asunni's goal throughout the entire story was to find a way to go back to school.

I liked learning about life in Nigeria, albeit this tale was difficult reading due to the incessant verbal and physical abuse received by Adunni. I had not been aware of the prevalence of child marriage and child slavery in Nigeria until I did show more some reading after finishing this novel. I like that the author uses her novel as a voice for women's rights and education and as backdrop to protest child marriage and child slavery in Nigeria.

There were no surprises in this book, though. I felt as if I knew what was going to happen throughout the story which unfortunately made it seem as if I were reading this novel only to confirm the ending. I found the characters rather disappointing because they were lacking nuance. They seemed extremely good or extremely bad. This took away credibility of the characters to the extent that I thought that Big Madam was telling a lie when she made the “big reveal” at the end of the book.

This book was an okay read, but it did not spark my interest enough to look for other works by this author in the near future. show less

Set in Nigeria, this book is the story of Adunni, a fourteen-year-old girl whose dream is to become a teacher and find her “louding voice.” Her family lives in poverty. After her mother dies, her father arranges for her to marry an older man, who already has two wives, in order to receive the “bride-price.” One of the wives is abusive, but the other befriends her. When her circumstances change, she is hired into domestic service, but her wages are stolen by the man who found her the “job.” Again, she finds friends. Though she suffers sexual and other physical abuse, she is tenacious and perseveres in her goal to obtain an education.

This book provides social commentary on women’s issues in Nigeria – child marriage, show more domestic slavery, and the lack of educational opportunities. The story is told in first person by Adunni, which is extremely effective in drawing an emotional response from the reader. I was aghast at what she had to go through, living in an oppressive environment where women are not valued except for their ability to produce children (and preferably boys).

I liked that it included both the positives and negatives in Adunni’s life. Often times these types of books dwell on the negatives to the exclusion of even small glimmers of hope, but this story is more balanced. I liked the descriptions of Adunni’s friendships, her determination, and memories of her mother’s strength. Adunni speaks in dialect, which was the least appealing aspect for me. I listened to the audio book, narrated by Adjoa Andoh, and she does a nice job in giving Adunni a distinct “voice.”

“My mama say education will give me a voice. I want more than just a voice…. I want a louding voice,” I say. “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.” show less

First up, I want to address the aspect of this that might scare off some readers. This is written entirely in broken English since it’s told from the point of view of fourteen year old Nigerian Adunni who had to abandon her education following the death of her mother. For me, the broken English wasn’t all that different from when I read Jane Austen or some other classic, it takes a moment, maybe a couple chapters to adjust to this version of English, but after awhile you get so used to it that it flows as easily as any other prose. As an added bonus, there are plenty of times when the way Adunni phrases things is more insightful and/or more beautiful than “correct” English would ever manage.

I loved Adunni, she’s one of my show more favorite characters I’ve met this year, probably one of my favorite characters I’ve ever met. Adunni is curious, loving, and brave. She takes you on something of an emotional rollercoaster, I would cringe with worry when she’d do or say something that may make her situation worse yet at the same time I’d feel so proud of her, so exhilarated by her for taking the risk, for standing up for herself, for trying to do right by someone she never even met. She’s incredibly endearing and even more inspiring.

There is some extremely tough ground covered here, rape, abuse, slavery, etc., it is bleak, but there’s light, too, there’s light in the friendships and there’s light in Adunni. show less