Reviews with content warning for Death - Ragazza

This is a fictional (but researched) account of a schoolgirl captured by the terrorist group Boko Haram in Nigeria, both during her captivity and after her escape.

I found this book very challenging. I went in not knowing its subject manner (I usually do this to preserve surprise and discovery), but this was a bit more than shocking to dive into unaware. I proceeded through it very quickly because of the sheer brutality and unimaginable horror of the events Maryam goes through; I wanted to get through it rapidly without lingering. I really wanted to stop reading it at several points, but forced myself to finish.

I'm torn about books like this. On the one hand, it's so important to bear witness to subjects and stories like this because I am in a privileged position simply by being shielded from such horrific adversity by the country of my birth. Even so, it's painful to the point of being damaging. Knowledge of the depths of human depravity (in this case, kidnap, rape, and dehumanization) can take a toll on anyone, and despair does not necessarily lead to change. It's important that fully half of this book is about afterwards; after Maryam is "free", she is still not usually safe, loved, welcomed home, or taken care of. Relief is ambiguous, treacherous, and at best temporary. There's a fascinating scene in the middle where the media and national government celebrate her "freedom" and return in a press conference, and the book grapples with this uneasy balance: powerful figures allude to her suffering, but are uninterested (or unable to support Maryam sufficiently for her eventually divulge) the true, horrible details of her suffering.

This is not a first person narrative, nor was it written by a Nigerian woman who was taken. Edna O'Brien is a white Irish author who researched this experience, traveled to Nigeria, and interviewed several survivors, according to her acknowledgements. I haven't yet looked into commentary outside her take there yet, but it's just worth stating.

I don't think I'd be able to read this again, but heck, I finished it. I stopped partway through Half of a Yellow Sun for the same sort of content that made this difficult to read. I don't say that to imply that muscling my way through this, when I couldn't get through the other, is an improvement. I was deeply emotionally affected by Half of a Yellow Sun, and couldn't bear the pain of its content. I think, having had that experience, I purposefully did not emotionally connect to this as much. I'm trying to hold this as knowledge of the world and experiences others have had to keep a little more distance.

Content Warnings