Scan barcode
A review by jenbsbooks
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré
5.0
I liked this a lot. Not totally sure it's a 5* read for me, but looking at other recent 4* ... and I liked this so much more, so I guess it has to be! It's also one that is still stuck in my head a few days after reading it. Such a distinct "voice" ... the writing and the narration. Our MC is Nigerian, having learned English as a second language. So it isn't a perfect flow, but it's perfect to tell this story. I just adore how she says "the mobile of the telephone" ... later on as she improves her English a bit and just calls it a mobile telephone, I was a bit sad.
This reminded me just a tad of [book:Her Name Is Knight|56985443] by Yasmin Angoe. With the broken English, the young girl ripped from her family, being abused but surviving. Knight is a little more "Jason Bourne" assassin/spy whereas Louding stays within the realm of what is realistic.
It was interesting to learn more about Nigeria. Not only within the storyline, but as Adunni is expanding her education and learning "facts" (which she shares with others, and us, the reader).
Super sad story for the most part, just heartbreaking that anything like this is still happening today. Adunni is a wonderful character, that readers will love and by inspired by. One they cheer on. Love the "louding voice" and how the title is an intricate part of the story.
There is rape and physical abuse, but nothing super explicit. No language/proFanity. Pretty "clean" although not without triggers and it can be a difficult read at times. There were a lot of questions that didn't really get answered, but that is how life is at times, you move on and you don't really know what happened.
Simple numerical chapters (56), 1st person/present tense, all from Adunni's POV. The narration in the audiobook was superb! I note when a song is sung in a book ... is it sung in the audiobook by the narrator (or spoken). Here, it was sung. That song stuck with me. I don't know if that is a "real" song or if the tune was created for the book. This is a book that makes me want to research further, look up interviews with the author, read other reviews, etc. There is a short Author's Note and Interview in the Kindle copy (one reason I always try to grab the kindle copy in addition to audio). Also some discussion questions ... which I appreciate, but these ones didn't totally spark discussion ideas in my mind.
This reminded me just a tad of [book:Her Name Is Knight|56985443] by Yasmin Angoe. With the broken English, the young girl ripped from her family, being abused but surviving. Knight is a little more "Jason Bourne" assassin/spy whereas Louding stays within the realm of what is realistic.
It was interesting to learn more about Nigeria. Not only within the storyline, but as Adunni is expanding her education and learning "facts" (which she shares with others, and us, the reader).
Super sad story for the most part, just heartbreaking that anything like this is still happening today. Adunni is a wonderful character, that readers will love and by inspired by. One they cheer on. Love the "louding voice" and how the title is an intricate part of the story.
There is rape and physical abuse, but nothing super explicit. No language/proFanity. Pretty "clean" although not without triggers and it can be a difficult read at times. There were a lot of questions that didn't really get answered, but that is how life is at times, you move on and you don't really know what happened.
Simple numerical chapters (56), 1st person/present tense, all from Adunni's POV. The narration in the audiobook was superb! I note when a song is sung in a book ... is it sung in the audiobook by the narrator (or spoken). Here, it was sung. That song stuck with me. I don't know if that is a "real" song or if the tune was created for the book. This is a book that makes me want to research further, look up interviews with the author, read other reviews, etc. There is a short Author's Note and Interview in the Kindle copy (one reason I always try to grab the kindle copy in addition to audio). Also some discussion questions ... which I appreciate, but these ones didn't totally spark discussion ideas in my mind.