Reviews

This is a very difficult book to review. It's clearly well-intentioned in bringing this story to light, but I am very uncomfortable about a white western woman being the one to tell it to international acclaim. It also feels like tragedy-porn as the story is so brutal, and given how recent these events were it's an extremely uncomfortable read.

natashaball's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I read this as part of a book challenge - I wouldn't choose it a second time. Although child abduction and forced marriage is a very important subject that needs to be spoken about more in the news, I'm not sure fiction is the best for this topic. I appreciate that the book is well written, even though a couple of times the protagonist was a bit nonchalent about events that happened to her. However that could be the point seeing as she is still a child.

The return to her family was very upsetting, especially the hatred towards Babby

Content Warnings

coraskene's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

kirrasbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Beautiful, tragic, terrifying. A text I think that will stay with me for a king time.

juliavra's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

1.0

Ahhh no no no no no + why is a white Irish woman telling the story of a Nigerian girl

alanahhill's review against another edition

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1.0

I really need to stop listening to/reading books that I don’t care for.

bookedwithlex's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.5

full disclosure, i didn't know who O'Brien was prior to this book or what the storyline was about. i picked it up, because the cover is pretty.

It should have been an essay more than a fictional book.

i [kind of] feel ashamed to have read a book written by a white Irish women telling the story of Nigerian girls.

I was expecting to feel much more than I did, and the writing style made it hard to even focus on what was happening. It felt like I was just reading words without any links between them.

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