Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - The Girl with the Louding Voice

That was an incredibly powerful story. I felt that the start was a little slow, that there are several elements which sit and remain unfinished, and that are resolved very quickly at the end. However, I really did enjoy this book in the end.

Reading (or listening) in a dialect can be a struggle for me. I found listening to this book was best for me. Once I got into the rhythm of it, I found it immersive. Paired with the slow start, which provides a lot of great material to expand the story, I struggled a bit to get into the story. I also struggled because I was trying to figure out what kind of story this was. Part coming of age novel, part mystery, part literary dive into another culture very different from my own. I was best served with just enjoying the ride and not worrying about the genre. It successfully was all of those and more.

Trigger warnings are a must! Child marriage, child rape, marital rape, physical and emotional abuse, assault and violence. There are a TON of heavy topics handled delicately and beautifully throughout. It was hard to read those scenes, yet it made it all the more real and powerful.

The ending is open enough to be satisfying yet wanting that taste more. And the final action did feel a little rushed with elements and events you really want to see come to pass not happening. I could easily see this being the start of a duology or series of books following Adunni from her youth throughout her life and experiences. I would like that, but am happy enough with where this book has settled me.

A wonderful book to bridge February and March, brining together Black and Women into one focus and frame that highlights the intersectional struggles of a young poor girl in Nigeria. A story of heart and fight, one where you feel like you are reading a thriller because it is exciting, this should be a must read for anyone. That is why,despite my few peeves, I'm still giving this a5 star rating.

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writingcaia's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

“Not his-tory’, I say. ‘My own will be called her-story. Adunni’s story’.”

This is indeed Adduni’s tale, a girl who lost a mother and her mother’s hope for her to escape a bound life like hers through education, but with her mother dead and without money her father forces her out of school at 12 and when our story starts she’s 14 and her father desperate for money sells to be a third wife to an old “rich” village man.
She wants nothing more than to escape, to study, to have a louding voice but it will take a year of tragedy and misfortune, and also miracles and love to make her dream again.
This is Nigeria, a country were women are the most hardworking and the least considered, where a women’s place is to bear children and suffer, a place that has forbidden child marriages and ritual killings but where they still happen, a country where the rich are so rich they’re the people who spend most in champagne and have the second biggest cinematic industry (first is India), but where superstition still claims lives, and also gives hope and thus, and incredibly so among such poverty and strife, they’re also the most optimist people in the world.
Adduni is somewhere in between, forced to be a wife when’s she but a child, to be raped and mistreated so she can bear more children that’ll suffer her same fortune, but when she’s faced with possible murder for a crime she didn’t commit and has no hope of being absolved from she escapes to Lagos (capital of Nigeria) with the help of someone who still owes her giving mother life and hope.
There she becomes a domestic, a maid working infinite hours in a house of violence and luxury, but it’s there she’ll meet her hopes and destiny but not before being confronted with inequality, drama, and facing the suffering of her women kindred.
There’s so much more to say about this book and its heroine, a young girl full of hope for her and her people, dreams of eduction, of own voice to speak for the countless speechless.
This book made me laugh and cry, Adduni is such a wonderful smart and naive character, with a heart of the size of Nigeria. And through her goodness she’ll bring forth people that’ll aid her in fulfilling her destiny.
The narrative is brilliant and the writing wonderful and made so it is part of the plot and narration, it’s sensorial, as to make you feel you’re truly there, the colors, the smells, the noises, the aromas of a country we have a glimpse through the author’s eyes.
Truly a must read book.

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samarakroeger's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I listened to the Adjoa Andoh audiobook version, which I’d give a higher rating on its own (~4.5/5), simply because Andoh did a fantastic job bringing Adunni to life.

However, the story itself is one giant Africa Cliche™️ that is inspiring and compelling, sure, but made the plot and hardships she went through pretty predictable. Would anyone write a book about a 14 year old Nigerian girl who is forced to marry an old man instead of going to school and dreams of a better life and end the book as dire as it started? Didn’t think so, and the feel-good nature of it got a bit old to me. (Can you tell that I hate inspirational books?)

I’d seen this book in bookstores but hadn’t gotten it because the whole thing is written in dialect (and a very broken version of the dialect at that, meant to reflect her semi-literate ness). I find dialect of any kind hard for me to read in print because I don’t hear words spoken in my head when I read. However, fear not! I found that the audio version was pretty clear to understand, especially given Andoh’s masterful use of tone and inflection. Some of Adunni’s word mixups were pretty funny, in an Amelia Bedelia sort of way.

I would love to read more from Abi Daré, as this was still a pretty solid debut despite all the cliches. I think she did a great job with the voice/tone/thought process of Adunni, the 14 year old narrator. It was believable in a way that many teen protagonists written by adults are not (looking at you, John Green). You can’t help but root for her.

plot: 2.5/5
main character: 4/5
narration: 4.5/5

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liesbethvv's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I read this book for a Reading Around The World bookclub and after our discussion, I kept my rating of 4 stars.
The Girl with the Louding Voice is the story of Adunni, a teenage girl being married off to an old man as a third wife who endures many hardships (do check the trigger warnings) but keeps insisting on trying to make life beter for herself and fighting for her education. She talks us through her experiences in her broken English, that gets better as she learns towards the end of the book. This is a gimmick that takes some getting used too, but certainly helped to transport me to Nigeria and Adunni's reality.
Sometimes Adunni broaches societal issues in a way that I feel is too unrealistic for a 14yo girl with a basic education and that made it feel a little forced sometimes, with social criticism being mentioned too literal to my taste. On the other hand, some of her returns are quite insightful or just plain funny.
Adunni's story captivated me, moved me and made me hope for better for her and many others in her life.
One thing to note is that this book was written for a western audience, published in the UK and might not be very representative of Nigerian literature.

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