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readingmostardently 's review for:
Girl
by Edna O'Brien
Girl tells the story of a girl in Nigeria who is kidnapped from her school by Boko Haram and her subsequent journey back to safety.
I didn’t really get along with this one, I’m not sure what it was in the writing but it was almost as if the chapters were so short and condensed that there wasn’t much build or a pace to anything. Terrible things continue to happen but I didn’t get the emotional punch that I wanted to feel, I think because there wasn’t enough time to explore the trauma and emotion of what is happening. The dialogue also had a strange and stilted quality to me.
There are some really interesting techniques in here, the dread that permeates through the whole book is really well done, the atmosphere feels almost post-apocalyptic in its desolation. Places of safety are transient and there are threats everywhere.
Maryam’s status as a so-called ‘bush-wife’ makes her reviled and feared, a dangerous liability as her captors might come back to get her at any time. There is a separation between her and her child, a resentment festering as they struggle to survive together.
I had some reservations about this book not being ‘Own Voice’ but it seems like the author has done a lot of research and injected that experience into the book, that being said I think she is still at a distance from Maryam and it didn’t feel like she was claiming to speak for her. I thought this was an interesting read but not my favourite from the long-list so-far.
I didn’t really get along with this one, I’m not sure what it was in the writing but it was almost as if the chapters were so short and condensed that there wasn’t much build or a pace to anything. Terrible things continue to happen but I didn’t get the emotional punch that I wanted to feel, I think because there wasn’t enough time to explore the trauma and emotion of what is happening. The dialogue also had a strange and stilted quality to me.
There are some really interesting techniques in here, the dread that permeates through the whole book is really well done, the atmosphere feels almost post-apocalyptic in its desolation. Places of safety are transient and there are threats everywhere.
Maryam’s status as a so-called ‘bush-wife’ makes her reviled and feared, a dangerous liability as her captors might come back to get her at any time. There is a separation between her and her child, a resentment festering as they struggle to survive together.
I had some reservations about this book not being ‘Own Voice’ but it seems like the author has done a lot of research and injected that experience into the book, that being said I think she is still at a distance from Maryam and it didn’t feel like she was claiming to speak for her. I thought this was an interesting read but not my favourite from the long-list so-far.