Reviews

This is a tricky one. The subject matter is huge, and surprisingly not been written about (on my radar) yet but I remember so vividly the Bring Back Our Girls movement, the horror stories about kidnapped girls in Nigeria that took over social media and news stories. In January this year (2021) more girls escaped, the kidnappings happened in 2014, it's been 7 years and there is still an estimated 112 girls missing. Not only are these figures horrific, worse still is that mass kidnappings continue to happen, in February and March over 350 students were kidnapped from two different schools in Nigeria. How is this happening and how are we not hearing about it? It's absolutely horrific and heartbreaking.

It's a story that needs to be told, and something that absolutely shouldn't be forgotten but it has to be done right. So the subject matter gets 5 stars straight away and in absolute credit to this author she threw herself into the research, and worked to delicately understand and write a fiction book of one girl's experience based on the conversations and research with many of the girls.

The reason I am rating this book at a 3 and half stars is that it is almost foggy, coming in and out of consciousness, using tenses and time jumps, which worked for the story but just made it a little disjointed. It's fractured, as is the protagonist so there is merit to it, it makes sense why it has been done. However for what is an incredibly horrific and important story I found myself having to focus too much on changing tenses and timelines and characters to be able to be taken over with the horror and emotion I think a book on this topic needs to bring.

I really enjoyed the time span of the book and for a short book of 225 pages it packs a lot in. This book did make me feel, horror, shock, heartbreak and it did have some more positive elements shining through, the friendships featured are done well.

It isn't an easy book to read or review. I really admire the effort made to tell such a harrowing story.

There are rightfully questions about whether Edna O'Brien was the right person to write this book but I will save that for much more educated and eloquent reviews.

tinisabelle's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

bioarla's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Girl by Edna O’Brien focuses on the kidnapping of 276 female students by the terroristic organization Boko Haram in April 2014, in Nigeria. We follow the story through the eyes and thoughts of a single narrator, Maryam, and we are not spared any of the brutalities, including rapes and stoning, that she experiences or witnesses. She is given as a prize to a soldier and has a baby before being able to escape the camp. Surviving a perilous journey, she’s finally rescued by the Nigerian army and reunited with her mother and relatives. It is at this point that a second nightmare starts: in the eyes of her community she’s considered a “jihadi wife” and her baby daughter a “stain” for her family reputation, and Maryam has once again to fight for herself and her child.

It is undoubtedly a well-written novel, with a style characterized mostly by plain and terse sentences. I believe this choice is effective in conveying all the hideous abuses Maryam and the other girls had to endure, but I also found it to be a little de-personalising, like if you couldn’t get to the very soul of the narrator. I found more interesting the second part of the novel, when Maryam and her daughter are rejected by their family. After the abduction of these Nigerian girl by Boko Haram, the news travelled all over the world and we all become familiar with the slogan “Bring Back Our Girls”. However, after the official celebrations for the rescue of some girls, little news reached the mainstream media in my country, thus Girl also prompted me to go and read about the lives of the survivors and what is currently being done for the girls still missing.