Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré

89 reviews

marilynfcameron's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Rape, Domestic abuse, and Slavery

tashtasher's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Rape, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Trafficking, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Grief, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Infertility, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

Minor: Excrement and Cancer

beckyjzw's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Slavery, and Domestic abuse

shadfield34's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.5

A heavy read, following the many hardships of a young Nigerian girl. Her endless optimism and dream of finding her louding voice was infectious.

There are lots of triggering topics in this book, but it was fast paced and each chapter leaves you wanting to know what will happen next, hoping for a better future for little Adunni.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Slavery, Rape, and Domestic abuse

joanna_banana's review

emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

This had been on my list awhile and picked it up because there was no wait at the library. Adunni’s Story, her-story, pulls you in from the first page. Her nonstandard English at first took me a minute to adjust to but it quickly felt familiar from when I traveled and worked in Nigeria in 2010-2013. That was just before the events in the book and I appreciated the author placed this in present day with the talk of the Presidential race and the abduction of the Chibok girls by Boko Haram. Adunni’s Story may be fictional but it is very real and happening to girls and women today. I loved Adunni’s transformation in the book and the help she gets along the way. The author still left some things unresolved which I thought was good. It’s a fast read but definitely not an easy read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Violence, and Child abuse

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Excrement, and Infertility

knitswhilereading's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Sexual assault, Grief, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Rape

Moderate: Death of parent and Pregnancy

Minor: Trafficking and Slavery

nadiamasood's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• 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

This is the story of Adunni, a 14-year-old girl who lives in a small village in modern-day Nigeria. She is illegally married off as the third wife of an older man, her bride price used to pay off the family’s rent/debt. Through a series of unfortunate events, she ends up in Lagos as the servant of Big Madam, but more like a slave really.

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!). 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Infertility, and Death

nkem_ani's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

This is my first 5 star read of 2024. And my first 5 star read in a good while. I am Nigerian like Adunni but Igbo instead of Yoruba. I was adopted and brought to London, England by my amazing mother where I live with her and my brother (also adopted). Adunni and parts of her life, particularly the second half of the book, could very well have been the life I could have led, had my mother not adopted me. A lot of girl children are not adopted and a lot of girls, like it was written in ‘The Book of Nigerian Facts’ work as maids or other serving roles from very young. It could have been me. 

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.

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Content Warnings

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

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Slavery, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Domestic abuse and Rape

maddb_96's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Child abuse

Minor: Trafficking, Religious bigotry, and Slavery