What better way to spice your day up than to serve you with the review of Buried Beneath The Baobab Tree By Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani – A Review. It will surely make your day.
“Who is so ugly that he only comes out at night?” I ask.
“The bat!” Sarah replies. “Who beats up a child right in front of the child’s mother?” Sarah asks.
“Hunger!” I reply.
“Who does the whole world fear; he doesn’t know mother from father, he can’t tell rich from poor, or strong from weak, he wakes you up when your sleep is sweetest?” I ask.
“Death,” Sarah replies.
Buried Beneath The Baobab Tree is a fictional story inspired by the kidnapping of nearly 300 Nigerian girls from a secondary school in Chibok, by Boko Haram terrorists in 2014. It is based on interviews with young women who were kidnapped by these terrorists and includes an afterword by award-winning journalist, Viviana Mazza.
It is written in short vignettes, so it was a really quick read, I finished it in just a few hours.
We are introduced to the protagonist’s daily life, her family first, we get to see her as a little girl with dreams, hopes and aspirations.
Usually, when I hear about Boko Haram terrorists and the girls that were abducted, I’m so far removed from it, I see them as just another news story. Numbers. 340 girls kidnapped. 120 girls were kidnapped. So, so and so.
https://www.morganable.com/a-review-of-adaobi-tricia-nwaubanis-i-do-not-come-to-you-by-chance/
https://www.morganable.com/eight-redeemed-church-members-kidnapped-in-kaduna/
https://www.morganable.com/full-text-of-the-communique-issued-at-the-end-of-the-pan-yoruba-meeting/
https://www.morganable.com/whatever-you-give-to-life-it-gives-back-to-you/
https://www.morganable.com/israel-adesanya-beats-yoel-romero-to-retain-middleweight-title/
https://www.morganable.com/a-woman-is-no-man-a-review/
https://www.morganable.com/about-the-girl-with-the-louding-voice-by-abi-dare/
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36099188-buried-beneath-the-baobab-tree
This book makes you feel. It does a good job of reminding you that those girls/victims are humans with dreams and aspirations, with plans to better their lives until Boko Haram terrorists came and snatched them away, and if not for the grand lottery of birth, I could easily have been a victim, just because I happened to be born in that environment.
Our main character, an unnamed girl later renamed Salamatu is being raised in a village in Borno, Northern Nigeria, alongside her five brothers and has big dreams for herself.
She reads and works hard in school, with hopes that she’ll win a scholarship. She also has a crush on the Pastor’s son who brings her books to read.
Speculations are rife about Boko Haram and its activities in the villages surrounding them.
When her mother is off to Jalingo for a wedding, Boko Haram attacks her village, slaughtering the men and carting off the girls, women and little boys into the Sambisa forest.
Every night, the girl watches as the women are all taken by Soldiers to be raped, and She and her friend, Sarah are happy that they are still virgins until they realize that the virgins are being saved as a special reward for the Boko Haram Soldiers.
The girl is given as a bride to a soldier who wears a mask and goes by the name Osama. Her friend Sarah is given to a soldier who treats her kindly and begins to brainwash her till she betrays the ‘Girl’, turning her in for blasphemy and eventually accepts to ‘go to paradise’, by going on a suicide bombing mission.
Enough spoilers.
What hurts more about this story is the fact that as horrific as the events in the book are, they pale in comparison to the real-life events and experiences of the victims in the hands of the Boko Haram soldiers.
Trigger Warning: Sexual assault, Suicide Bombing, Rape, Murder, Abduction, Poverty, Starvation, Extremist religious views.
For me, it’s a ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Have you read ‘Buried Beneath The Baobab Tree‘? What are your thoughts about it? Do share your thoughts with me.
