Book Review: The Girl With the Louding Voice

 By Abi Daré

• Pub Date: 2020

• Genre: African Literature

• Where I bought this book: Lores Untold Books & Gifts, North Vernon, Ind. 

• Why I bought this book: I was on a tour of independent bookstores, and this one was in the owner's house, so I had to support it  

• Bookmark used: Ordinary Equality/Advocating for gender equality    

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    When we first meet Adunni in her small village in Western Africa, she is happy, idealistic, and striving to educate herself so she can realize her dream of becoming a teacher of other young children.

    But then her beloved mother dies, her father sells her as a child bride to a village elder, and she later becomes a house maid to a vicious business woman in the sprawling capital city of Lagos.

    Adunni doesn't like her lot, and while she tries to obey her elders, keep her mouth shut and do as she's told, she cannot help herself. She's determined. She's eager to learn, to listen, to read and write properly, and to speak with her "louding voice" -- one that will be heard.

    This is a daring novel, a devilish debut by a voice who rightfully demands to be heard. It opens up a world beyond our pale, as seen by one who has lived through its beauty and injustices.

    Adunni is our guide and our hope. She shows what's going on in her life and the world beyond as she experiences it. At 14, she's young and innocent, living a happy if hard life. Her mother is her hero and protector, and she learns and plays happily with her friends in her village. But there are signs of despair -- her father is often portrayed as an unhappy alcoholic, and her family life is simple but sometimes desperate. 

    The writing is exquisite. Adunni is a child, with a child's uneasy grasp of English as her second language -- her native tongue is Yoruba. The early chapters show what appears to be a different dialect, and she makes tactical errors that recur. But it's easy to read, and with we see her improvements as she struggle with words, tenses, and the idiosyncrasies of English.

    It's also bursting with emotions, as Adunni seeks to overcome her fears, find friends, and recognize kindred spirits. It's a coming-of-age story set in another country. As it tells Adunni's stories, it also helps us find love, understanding, and acceptance.

Book Review: Dreyer's English

Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style, by Benjamin Dreyer

Most books about grammar can be boring -- especially those that combine rules of writing (sometimes the rules are gathered willy-nilly and often are wrong), with long lists of misused words.

Dreyer's English keeps the boring part to a minimum, and makes up for it with splendid gems mixed throughout, such as this: "ATM machine: ATM = automated teller machine, which, one might argue and win the argument, is redundant enough as it is."

 

His list of rules can be forgiving, but not unduly so. He points out, correctly, that the entire purpose of language is to communicate, so you need rules to understand each other. But he notes the English language is constantly changing and adapting, which is good, otherwise we'd be speaking and reading Old English, with no words to describe modern life.

He's generous: He doesn't like the singular "they" but recognizes why people insist on using it. (I agree.) He agrees that "begging the question" is often misused, but people should get over it because it's here to stay. (I disagree; it should be fought at every turn.) He is adamant that "unique" is singular and means one of a kind, which cannot be modified by degree. (This may be my top crochet; I cringe every time I see "very unique.")

And his discussion regarding use of "woman" as a adjective instead of "female" is not only thoughtful and persuasive, but leads to his best line in the book.

"Whether you choose to characterize professionals by gender is not my business. How you do it is. Dammit, Jim, I'm a copy editor, not a sociologist."

This Week in Books, 5th Ed.

So. I found this list of new Irish writers in The Irish Times book section, and I have a sneaking suspicions I will be buying several of the selections. Their books may be hard to find here in the states, but I do have several options on the interwebs that do not include Amazon!!!  I am not a big fan of the megalith, mainly for its work helping to destroy local bookstores.

Indeed, several of my internet choices are local bookstores, even though they may be thousands of miles away. I define "local" rather broadly. figuring it's local somewhere. Right?

Adding to the stack

 Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson;
Dreyer's English, by Benjamin Dreyer;
and Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller

Speaking of local bookstores, I went to one this weekend and bought these,  which will be going in The Stack. >>>

^^^ Also, my daughter added to the stack by recommending Wife of the Gods, by Ghanaian author Kwei Quartey. Because one of my goals this year is to read more writers of color, it's a good choice, and I am looking forward to it.

<<< Then there was this run of about 5.5 miles along the muddy trails and up the Stone Steps at Mt. Airy Park in Cincinnati on a cold but sunny Saturday. You can see me there in the middle, I climbed to the top of those steps, which rise 276 feet over the span of a quarter mile, a grade that averages 20 percent.

That sharp rise in the middle? That's the Stone Steps