Under the Udala Trees | 
pickAt first I sat with how the world is frightfully efficient in trying to suffocate us out of our queerness & beating us into submission. But then it was the tone of the writing that finally got me at the end, that quiet tired monotone you tell your stories in because life has really made wisdom & exhaustion out of you.Life often takes us the long way round. Perhaps it doesn‘t matter, long or short, we eventually find our way to where we need to be.
so-soIjeoma is a lesbian Nigerian who is trying to find herself in a world that does not accept her for who she is. Okparanta did a good job exploring the emotions of someone trying to figure out who they are when the people around you tell you that you are full of sin. While I did enjoy the story, I felt like the story was a little chaotic with abrupt changes in subject or forgotten plot lines. Overall though, decent read.
bailed2/5⭐ I appreciate the importance of this book's message and setting. Unfortunately I didn't connect with the characters (they seem to have no personalities outside of being gay or being bigoted), and the story was slow and lingered on plot points for far too long. #bookspinbingo
pickBook #19 of the year: “Under the Udala Trees” by Chinelo Okparanta
The story starts in Nigeria during the Biafran War and follows the main character as she falls in love with a woman and faces the homophobia of her family and community. It does have a happy ending (relatively, given Nigeria‘s criminalization of homosexuality) so give it a read!
so-soThis book wasn't for me, or at least it wasn't for me right now. It's not exactly that I expected the coming-of-age story of a lesbian in 1970s Nigeria to be happy and uplifting, but I wasn't ready for it to be as brutal as it was. Content warnings for homophobic violence and domestic abuse.
#ReadHarder2021: a historical fiction with a POC or LGBTQ+ protagonist.
"About a year into the war, and the bomber planes were at it again, like lorries that had somehow forgotten the road and were instead tearing through the sky."
pickI knew from the first page that I would love this book. The writing just pulled me into the story.
It‘s 1968 and there‘s a civil war in Nigeria. We meet Ijeoma and her mother when Ijeoma‘s father dies and follow the aftermath of this and Ijeoma as she discovers that she falls in love with women.
It says in the author‘s note at the back that Nigeria is one of the most religious counties in the world only beaten by Ghana.
pickA bittersweet look at coming of age as a lesbian woman in a country where homosexuals face the risk of imprisonment or being murdered by mob violence. Okparanta does a good job of showing the inner lives and communal relationships of those who shape Ijeoma‘s life.
@CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
#lgbtq #lgbtbook #lgbtcharacter #lgbtliterature #queerbook #lgbt
I got off to a fitful start, but I‘m glad I stuck with this one. The voice develops over time, knitting a lush story that swoops between hope and despair and happiness and desperation. #bookspin #doublespin #blackvoices
Set in Nigeria, #Africa and one of my current reads. Makes me wonder once again why people can't just be nice to each other?
#LetsTravelJuly
Just started reading. So far I like the storytelling and narrator.
Breakfast at the new library. Otherwise it‘s great, but all the people here really annoy me. 😃
Wow. A coming of age story, lesbian love story, and a war story juggled superbly to balance evenly informing each part. Set in during the Biafran war. Lovely, bits can lag.
pickThis book has a quiet power. It's quite slow paced, so it took me a while to get into it but the audiobook narrator had such a lovely, expressive voice that I was hooked in the end. It's about a girl in war-torn Nigeria, sent away by her mother, who falls in love with another girl and the difficulty she has being gay in a country where it's not accepted at all and she can't even accept herself. #diversecharacters #AuginBooks18
pickKa udo di, ka ndu di. Let peace be. Let life be. This book was soooooooooo good.
Really excited to be reading this book. A first #lgbtq African novel for me. Shame on Nigeria for their harsh, unconstitutional, and treaty-breaking anti-LGBTQ law. #ReadWide #ReadWomen
#riotgrams Day 7: #blackwriters
Still haven't read a few of these, but aiming to read three (The Fifth Season, As Lie Is to Grin, Akata Witch) this month!
pickFelt it was a bit slow somewhere in the middle, but loved it nonetheless!
Since I'm still currently attempting to read all my partial read books I plan to have a mini readathon and try to get through the stack.
I'm also going to attempt some #audiocoloring with Under the Udala Trees
#HolidayReadingGoals
pickA coming of age story of Ijeoma, born before independence, her family struck by tragedy during a Civil War, sent away to boarding school and falls in love with a girl. Events occur that force Ijeoma to hide this part of herself, and where her life takes her as a result.
This gorgeous story is not exempt of queer suffering, but there are joyful parts that are lovely. Serves as a reminder that Nigeria still has brutal anti-queer laws in place.
pick#readathon book 3 complete! This #lgbtq romance set in Nigeria is at times heartbreaking but hopeful. I got the book at #mfob last week. The author said she was forbidden from talking about her plot outright on Nigerian radio, as LGBTQ relationships are punishable by law there. This book is so necessary to give voice to the voiceless.
I sometimes found the pacing choppy, but enjoyed my time reading it. #weneeddiversebooks
pickSad story of what happens when you are forced to live a lie. Although Ijeoma does find some happiness. A story that shows there is no hate greater than those who hate in the name God and Church. #U #LitsyAtoZ @BookishMarginalia
Can't stop listening to this book. Even though bible quoting mother is giving me some serious flashbacks to my mother. 😨
Need for Ijeoma to be happy.
Lunchtime #audiowalking
Ok, @Librariana , my favorite color is blue, so here's a blue stack for you! I've had a tough week, so I was a little slow to reply. Better late than never. 😉 #bookcolortag
bailedBailed just short of the halfway mark. Some lovely writing here, and a pioneering African lesbian novel. But I was bored out of my tree: whether it was her father's violent wartime death or her Christianity-addled mother's abusive attempts to pray away the gay, nothing seemed to bother the protagonist. Her interiority was virtually non-existent, other than sweet, positive feelings. Everything was just fine and lovely and wholly unbelievable.
This is how her mother tries to counsel Ijeoma out of her lesbianism, using good ol' Judges 19. (There is a lot of antihomophobic biblical apologetics in the novel, I'm finding, too much for my tastes but no doubt of some value to African Christian queers who are struggling.)
#QuoteOfTheDay
For my Litsy A-Z Reading challenge, this should've been my first choice for "U" all along – now that I've bailed on another one, here I go with this – probably the first and only lesbian novel to come out of Africa! I'm so excited!
pickThis book has been on my TBR list for awhile now, and it didn't disappoint. A beautiful, moving book about being gay in a culture in which that is a death sentence and the ways in which religion keeps people captive and trapped in a life that makes them miserable. So very highly recommended. Also, I can't get enough of this stunning cover!
pick🌟🌟🌟🌟
Wow, just wow. This is a brave topic for a writer from the continent to write (even in this day and age). This is a powerful war story (figuratively and literally), love story, and coming of age story. And poignant.
"Sometimes I sit with my Bible in my hands, and I think to myself that God is nothing but an artist, and the world is his canvas. And I reason that if the Old and New Testaments are any indication, then change is in fact a major part of His aesthetic, a major part of of His vision for the world. "
Nothing beats rushing home, bursting open the door and ripping into an LGBTIQA-filled package of books from the lovely team at Granta. Happy #PrideMonth! 🌈💃👨❤️👨👩❤️👩
#lgbtlit #booksthatmademe #queer
pickThis is a beautiful book about a lesbian in 1960-80s Nigeria who is Christian. Lots about how strong homophobia is there. It's not an easy read, but I recommend it!
Why I read it: #litsyatoz letter U
This might be a little on the nose for #underatree, but I read this book a few months ago and loved it! #splashintosummerreads
I got this image from a website and thought it was beautiful! http://parkerandme.co.uk/billy-elliot-style-home-twitter-book-club-littleloves/
This month's Norwegian book box had a queer theme! I haven't read either of them (EDIT: gah! Realized that I have read Isherwood), but Okparanta's book was on my TBR list here on Litsy.
This is the last line from a book I read this year that is a coming of age story for a young woman in Nigeria who is finds her LGBTQ+ identity coming in conflict with her extremely conservative culture. It is an absolutly beautiful story! #LGBTQPride #riotgrams #lastlines
pickI really enjoyed this book! It's a moving story of a Igbo girl who grows up during the civil war in Nigeria, and falls in love with a girl of a different ethnic community. This was an engrossing story that painted a vivid picture of what it's like to be part of the extremely marginalized LGBT group in Nigeria. My only comment was I wish I was able to get to know some of the secondary characters a little more. #startswithuvw #marchintoreading
I'm off to a wedding this weekend and this is my airplane book! I'm ready to explore a culture that I am pretty unfamiliar with so I'm also going to use this for #greatexplorations! #marchmadness
pickI am so glad this book was written even though it is painful to know how based in truth it is. As a queer woman, but a white, cis, USian one, my heart goes out to Ijeoma and Amina and Ndidi and the real people they represent who are far less privileged than I and who are at such grave risk for simply being as God made them. A poignant story that I only wish had gone a little deeper, but a very good read nonetheless. 4/5 ⭐
In the near darkness, our hands moved across our bodies. We took in with our fingers the curves of our flesh, the grooves. Our hands, rather than our voices, seemed to do the speaking. Our breaths mingled with the night sounds. Eventually our lips met. This was the beginning, our bodies being touched by the fire that was each other's flesh.
[Usually I don't go for sex scenes for reasons, but I like this bc yay queer girls and also it's so pretty]
I'm learning that novels that are largely character based make for slow #audiobook listens. There is not enough action to make the time go by.
Also, maybe next time I will be finished with the book before my bookclub meeting.
#audible #Nigerian #fiction #undertheudalatrees #bookclub
