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nadiamasood's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I want more than just a voice, I want a louding voice. 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.
To reflect her incomplete education, the novel is written, first person, in Adunni’s colloquial voice (broken English), and it certainly took me some time to get used to it. However, don’t let this deter you from reading this novel. You’ll find that when the rhythm of her language grows easier the more you read, you’ll enjoy the book even more.
To better appreciate the novel, I highly recommend listening to the audiobook that’s beautifully narrated by Adjoa Andoh.
This book talks about the trauma of girls forced into marriage and the blight of domestic slavery in Nigeria. But it also talks about a young girl’s determination to fight for her dreams and choose her own future. The main theme centers on Adunni’s yearning for an education.
‘Your schooling is your voice, child. It will be speaking for you even if you didn’t open your mouth to talk. It will be speaking till the day God is calling you come.’ That day, I tell myself that even if I am not getting anything in this life, I will go to school. I will finish my primary and secondary and university schooling and become teacher because I don’t just want to be having any kind voice…I want a louding voice.
Though there were a lot of heavy topics, Adunni’s strength and courage pushed me to read through. I want to be with her on her difficult journey and see to it that she has a happy ending (which she did!).
Moderate: Rape, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Infertility, and Death
nkem_ani's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Reading this book was emotional, and sweet and I loved and rooted for Adunni through everything she went through. May her louding voice and the louding voice of the amazing author Abi Daré touch and inspire us all. This book has some sad and dark themes of child marriage, rape and indentured servitude and domestic violence. But it also tells the story of hope, of trials and tribulations, of mothers and their daughters, of education and family’s - both born and made - and of the desire to have better than you have and know better than you know. To learn what there is to learn. This book has touched me incredibly. I hope to write a book as good as this one some day. Abi Daré, you have inspired this fellow Nigerian woman to write.
This book has beautiful voice and an amazing and well crafted story. I wish Adunni well in her life. I know for certain that she has a louding voice. As I will have a window into her louding voice, forever preserved in history through this book. I hope the other girls in Nigeria and across the world will be able to have louding voices like Adunni.
I recommend this WHOLEHEARTEDLY.
Graphic: Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Slavery, Miscarriage, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, and Infidelity
Minor: Excrement, Stalking, Body shaming, Torture, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abortion
evewenham's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Slavery, Violence, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Domestic abuse and Rape
_fallinglight_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Grief
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
samhitha_reading's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Abortion and Miscarriage
bloodmaarked's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
read this in anticipation of And So I Roar which i just got the ARC for, and it's very easy to bump this up on reread to 5*. i love this, i love adunni, i love how it made me feel. i think being prepared for the broken english made this easier to enjoy, as i know it was a bit of a stumbling block for me the first time around.
✧ full review on my tumblr ✧
original review 17/06/20:
This book is a real gem of a story, and is an absolutely amazing debut from Abi Daré. Since reading the final page, my heart has felt so many different things!
The positives:
✧ The Girl with the Louding Voice is such a touching story. There are a lot of difficult themes tackled here: forced child marriage, rape, human trafficking, domestic servitude. It's not necessarily easy to read, and it pulls at the heartstrings. Several scenes throughout left me feeling awful. But at the same time, there are a lot of heartwarming scenes as well. Once I got invested, it was hard not to care. It's a story that really makes you think (something which I'll come back to at the end).
✧ Adunni, the main character, is just a star. My heart felt for her and her story the whole way through. You can't help but root for her and just hope that things get better. Other characters who look out for Adunni or act as parental figures, like Khadija, Tia, and Kofi, are also very compelling characters. The stories of Adunni and her supporting characters are sometimes heartbreaking, but also very uplifting.
✧ The Rebecca plot line is introduced pretty late, around 50% through the book. It wasn't a necessary plot, but I liked how it was handled. It added another element to the story without taking away from Adunni's story.
The negatives slightly less positives:
✦ This book is written using the voice of Adunni, a young girl from rural Nigeria with very little formal education. As such, the book is written entirely in broken English. This, for me, made it a little tough to get into the book at first, but after a while I got used to it and it ultimately didn't stop me from enjoying the book. It does lead me onto my next point though...
✦ It was a little slow-going at first. By this, I don't mean that things weren't happening or that the pace was too slow. Just for me, it was somewhere between 25-40% through the book before I found myself itching to pick the book back up again. I read this book for 11 days in total, but it was in the last two days that I read about 50% of the story, so you can see how it took some time for me to find my stride. This was probably partly down to the broken English used throughout, but I can't say for sure.
I really recommend this book and I look forward to reading it again. As I mentioned earlier in my review, The Girl with the Louding Voice makes you think, a lot. What really made this book so emotional is understanding that Adunni's story is unfortunately the story of so many young girls around the world. What happens to her is happening right now. So, I was moved to do a little research on the topic, and below I want to list a few charities that are working to help people like Adunni, and I hope that you can take a moment to look at what they're doing and even support if you are able.
Girls Not Brides
Plan International
End Slavery Now
Devatop Centre for Africa Development
ACE Charity Africa
Books For Africa
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Rape
Moderate: Pregnancy, Death of parent, Abortion, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, and Death
Minor: Infertility, Chronic illness, Excrement, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail
mine_gerber's review against another edition
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Grief, Racism, and Rape
leonormsousa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Moderate: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Child abuse, Infertility, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Trafficking, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Abortion, Blood, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Death, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse
itsjadenbaby's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Classism, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Alcohol, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Violence, Infertility, and Rape
Minor: Abortion, Cursing, Miscarriage, Slavery, Emotional abuse, and Blood
yourariesbby's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment