A review by apagefromherbook
Girl by Edna O'Brien

3.0

Sad and triggering account of a girl who gets abducted by Boko Haram. The story should be acknowledged for it is an important one, but the story telling lacks rapture. I had a hard time enjoying the story because of the way it was told. There were many long sentences that felt like the story was being dragged on. The sentences had a similar feel to a long list, which slowed down my reading and engagement with the text. At the same time I do feel it made the story more real for the protagonist, having the details of her experience brought to life in their exactness. It made the account more personal for sure, for the reader as well. I will add that the choice of words used the describe events and situations made the writing interesting and metaphorical. At times you have to read beyond the words to make sense of what is even going on. It is this poetic tone that dominates the text but also diminishes it, bringing it down to just words taking up space, rather than telling a story that we can properly make sense of.