Great African Reads discussion

This thread is for the July/Aug 2025 regional read of The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré,
Discuss anything relevant to the read - and your thoughts on the book :)

I hope I will be finally reading a book with you: I own the Italian translation in ebook, so I will try to add this read to my July TBR

Looking forward to it! My copy is ready to go :)

I've read it and will comment a bit later when others are also ready. Really enjoyed it and look forward to your thoughts on the ending.

have also just downloaded this one. Was on my to read list!

Read 4 chapters and already feel transported in space. Touching.

I seem to have overcommitted my reading this month- not the first time. I'm reading four other books and have a nonfiction waiting to be picked up from library. Once I get a little farther in some of these I'll pause one and start this, like in a week. Louding Voice has 4 and 5 star ratings from many of my friends including my sister with the English degree who doesn't read many books by not-US-or-British writers.
I'm pleased to see so much interest in the book and am glad I nominated it.

I started this one two days ago and am enjoying it so far. I am amazed at the use of language. It's a mixture of pidgin and English simplified for readability. It changes across time. a strong character

Laura wrote: "I started this one two days ago and am enjoying it so far. I am amazed at the use of language. It's a mixture of pidgin and English simplified for readability. It changes across time. a strong char..."

The use of language is really one of the best bits!

Im halfway through and I really like where the narrative is going

I switched to the original version not to miss the broken English. so far it seems I can make it, but I am still at chapter 3

Yes, it's definitely worth reading it in the original. The author did a great job in the use of language. I loved the main character, her grit and determination and her compassion in the face of adversity. Thinking about it the plot follows rather conventional lines with the main character succeeding in her quest for betterment after a series of gruesome experiences. The main themes are child labour, sexual exploitation, domestic violence, but friendship and societal support are also there. As well as humour and irony.

My only issue with it was that the ending felt a bit contrived, like the author felt she had to have a happy ending to keep readers happy. I felt it could have been more open-ended to reflect the range of options that could have been possible.

yes, I agree Carolien. The characters of Ms Tia and the one of Big Madam at the end in her newly found 'reality' go some way to salvage the horrors of exploitation and slavery of the majority of the population. There is humanity in the driver, the cook, the other servants. The happy ending feels bi-dimensional and lacks the complexity of circumstances we have seen throughout the novel.

I got started on the audiobook read by (sounds like) "Agilla Ando", who does a very good job. I think she is probably Nigerian. I am on chapter 6, at 10%. The chapters are quite short- 56 of them in the novel. I am enjoying the writing and am thinking this girl is in a bad position, can she get out of it and if so how?

Anetq wrote: "This thread is for the July/Aug 2025 regional read of Ghostroots: Stories by Pemi Aguda.
Discuss anything relevant to the read - and your thoughts on the book :)"

It seems you missed putting the right book name in your first sentence Anetq. I didn't notice it until now.

George P. wrote: "It seems you missed..."
Thank you George - You know I count on you to catch my copy/paste errors :D

Glad everyone seems to be enjoying the read!

I'm nearing halfway through, and am liking it more as it goes on. When the main character goes to Lagos it adds interest to the story and more characters. Her exposure to the big city and its inhabitants brings some coming-of-age flavor to the novel.
07/31 update: now 80% through.

I sat down last night to read the first few pages and ended up reading through Chapter 7! I appreciate the realistic dialect.

I admit to being taken back to my own youth and realizing that at age 14 I still hadn't quite decided I was even willing to consider an "attraction" to boys yet. They were just other people to me until I was 16 or so! I would have been terrified to be in Adunni's predicament.

The patriarchic aspects of this culture horrify me. The lack of education. The lack of any aspect of helping the children learn much of anything other than the traditional survival skills. These aspects always blow my mind and remind me that we can never know what life experiences others have endured.

I finished the book yesterday. I am surprised that it's the author's first novel because it seems very well-developed and polished. I've learned that she has lived in the UK for at least 18 years and has two Master's degrees including one in creative writing. She has also now a sequel novel to this one about Adunni titled "And So I Roar", published last year.
As I mentioned before, the audiobook reader was great; she is a very experienced British actress named Adjoa Andoh who has narrated about 150 audiobooks. Her mother is British and her father an immigrant from Ghana. She has just been appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
Lynn's comments prompted me to ask Google Gemini what the high school graduation rate is in Nigeria- I got some interesting info. Generally it's about 50%, a little higher for males, much higher for urban and southern parts of the country than the rural parts Adunni came from. Kids like Adunni are probably very aware that many people in the world have much easier lives, especially "abroad". The novel did a good job of showing what it might be like to be one of them, a girl from a poor family.

George P. wrote: "I finished the book yesterday. I am surprised that it's the author's first novel because it seems very well-developed and polished.
Huh. I didn't realize this was her debut!

"Lynn's comments prompted me to ask Google Gemini what the high school graduation rate is in Nigeria- I got some interesting info. Generally it's about 50%, a little higher for males, much higher for urban and southern parts of the country than the rural parts Adunni came from. Kids like Adunni are probably very aware that many people in the world have much easier lives, especially "abroad". The novel did a good job of showing what it might be like to be one of them, a girl from a poor family."
Interesting statistics. And good to know there is a sequel!

Gonna take a break from reading this one for a little over a week as I have 5 books to read for IRL book club meetings! 😯

L Y N N wrote: "Gonna take a break from reading this one for a little over a week as I have 5 books to read for IRL book club meetings! 😯"

Have you been able to get back to it and maybe finish yet Lynn?

Hi, I finished this read last week. I rather appreciated it. It is a very interesting picture of Nigerian society, especially rural areas and I was glad I read it in the original version, to better appreciate the work the author did on the language, to reflect the thoughts and expressions of a young girl who was not able to go to school.
And yet her descriptions of the world around her are colorful and are able to tell the reader both what she sees and what she feels. This I really appreciated.
I also really liked the idea of inserting sentences from the Nigerian book of facts at the beginning of each chapter, as to underline what was happening to Adunni.
What I did not like: it is in a way too long. I think the author wants too much to depict the female situation in Nigeria, not only for poor girls like Adunni, and goes too deep into Big Madam's and Tia's personal events. That was too much for me and too didactic.
However I think this book does a good job in showing a real and serious situation.

In my opinion, better information than great literature, but a good read though

thank you so much for the company in reading this novel and in case of mistakes, please excuse my English: I am Italian mothertongue