Joy's Book Blog
Joy's Book Blog
I’ve been waiting for my name to be at the top of the library list for The Girl with the Louding Voice for awhile now, and I can honestly say this book was definitely worth the wait. I wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone!
To summarize the story, Adunni is a 15-year-old Nigerian girl born into extreme poverty. She’s smart, ambitious, and driven, hoping to one day become a teacher and educate the village children, allowing them to grow beyond their current poverty level and its limitations. In her own words, she doesn’t want just any kind of voice, she wants a “louding voice.”
And that’s all I’m going to tell you!
The book is told from a firsthand perspective, telling Adunni’s journey in her own voice. I love that author Abi Dare stays true to Adunni and her African roots, speaking to the reader in broken English and taking us from rural Nigeria to its capital city, Lagos. Along the way, Adunni suffers from every type of abuse imaginable, yet her beautiful spirit prevails throughout. By the last page, I didn’t want the book to end! Adunni has become one of my favorite literary characters and I miss her voice. Truth be told, I’m already re-reading the book because I’m not ready to let go of her yet….
I can’t believe this book came in eighth on Goodreads 2020 Best Fiction list! To me, it should have been third (behind The Midnight Library and Anxious People, but before American Dirt and Such a Fun Age). I’ve read all these books just to be able to form an educated opinion, and simply put, The Girl with the Louding Voice is one of the best books of the year.