Reviews with content warning for Rape - Girl

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Girl by Edna O'Brien

27 reviews

laney_reads_22's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

I was expecting this story to be emotional, one of triumph and perseverance but the writing was so dull, I felt nothing. Very disappointed, I found myself rushing through the last few chapters to get it over with.

Following her kidnap, school girl Maryam is taken, along with her female classmates to a war camp where they serve as "bush wives" to the extremists waging war over Nigeria. Horrifically abused and subject to religious conversation therapy, Maryam is married to a soldier and falls pregnant. Shortly after giving birth to her daughter, the camp falls under attack by the military and Maryam escapes with her baby and friend. A large section of the book is then dedicated to their journey, before she returns home to find that her father and brother are dead and her mother is shamed by her. All of this should make for a heart wrenching read but some of the most important moments are almost skipped over! Particularly one scene, where the friend she escapes with dies and under extreme hunger and not having seen any other people for weeks, she decides to leave her baby to drown (although seemingly there was no water anywhere as it consistently mentions their thirst???). Literally in the next sentence, the baby is returned to her by some random nomads. The whole thing was utterly bizarre.

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thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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knkoch's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad

2.0

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.

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jenmachin_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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camprocter's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

The beginning of this book is tragic, but the more I read, the more disengaged I became. It was a quick read, but large parts of it were confusing because the plot was rushed, and the author switches back and forth between past and present tense with abandon, which is a strong pet peeve of mine in a book.

In writing this review, I've also just found out that this was written by an elderly white woman, which I wasn't previously aware of. I should've known, given how often the word "plonks" comes up in this book. I'm now questioning her choice of narration style here and wondering if her other novels are written in the same way, or if this was an attempt to emulate what she thinks a poor little Nigerian girl would sound like.

Anyway, didn't love it and probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.

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roromcg's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I didn't particularly enjoy the book. I would be very interested to hear accounts from people who had been captured by Boko Haram but this just didn't do it for me. It also brings up the question of who has the right to tell what stories. I found the writing unenjoyable and confusing to read and at times I wasn't sure what was happening. But unfortunately I wasn't bothered enough to even try figure out what I was missing because it happened too often. I also found it hard to connect with the characters and the story. Overall I was disappointed as I had been looking forward to reading this book.

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