[Poll Ballot] The Girl with the Louding Voice - 4 stars

[forsanolim]

This book's synopsis actually describes a fair bit of the plot quite well: Adunni, a fourteen-year-old Nigerian girl, is forced by her widowed father into marriage as the third wife of a taxi driver. After a tragic event in her new household, she finds herself working for no wages in a wealthy Lagos household. The book explores Adunni's coming of age in this context and her deep wish for an education despite and because of the many obstacles that she has faced in her young life.

This book was thoughtfully written, and I think that it did a good job of raising and discussing societal questions. The narrative voice of the novel was particularly striking to me: the book is told in a very literal way in Adunni's voice, with her incomplete knowledge of the English she learned in school. Though this came as a bit of a surprise to me, I think it was done very well--it felt thoroughly authentic and not patronizing in any way. Also, one place in which I will take a little bit of an issue with the book-jacket summary is that it describes this book as extremely sad. While, obviously, many of the situations that Adunni finds herself in are certainly very sad, it's not a dark book at all, but rather one that has (in a general context of darkness) its fair measures of friendship, love, and hope.

[Booknblues]

This is one which has been on my radar, so thank you for your review. It really made it seem like something I would like.

[Sue]

This is on my TBR - another one to read "soon". Its amazing how many books are at the top of my Read Next list.

[Jgrace]

I own this one. It was a book-of-the-month choice, one of those I've gotten since my son gifted me a 6 month subscription for Christmas. I need to pull out of my reading slump and read some of my accumulated titles. I'm so glad you reminded me of this one. Thanks!