Under The Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta: Book Review

Under The Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta is a beautiful and heart-tugging literary fiction novel that highlights the importance of forming your own personal relationship with a higher power and being true to yourself.

It is 1968 and the Biafran civil war is still raging throughout Nigeria. Nothing in this world could have prepared Ijeoma for her father’s untimely death and her entire life was turned upside down. Ijeoma’s mother wants to make a better life for them so she sends Ijeoma to live with close family friends until she earns enough money and finds a safe place for them to live. A once-in-a-lifetime encounter brings Amina and Ijeoma together and they are devoted to each other in every sense of the word. Their budding relationship will make Ijeoma question her beliefs and it will also make her open her heart to a love like no other.

What is the true cost of love? Are Ijeoma and Amina willing to pay the ultimate price?

The Characters

Ijeoma and Amina have both lost loved ones because of the Biafran civil war. These resilient young women are determined to live life on their own terms in spite of the religious and cultural practices that threaten their peace of mind and their newly formed relationship. There were a couple of times when I really wanted to reach through my kindle and give Ijeoma and Amina the biggest hugs ever because I could easily relate to some of the emotional and social issues they had to contend with. I don’t think I will ever forget Ijeoma’s insatiable curiosity, her straightforward manner of speech and her desire to have a deeper connection with a higher power because those traits endeared her to me.

The Writing Style

Chinelo Okparanta bewitched me with her flawless writing from the beginning and I remained under her spell until the very last page! I really felt as though I was seeing and experiencing everything that Ijeoma went through because this author did a wonderful job of giving me frank and unapologetic descriptions of the numerous challenges that Ijeoma and Amina had to deal with. Even though this story was told through Ijeoma’s point of view, I did not feel as though this story was one-sided at all because I was able to understand what made the other characters tick.

Pros And My Favourite Parts

I’m rather fond of stories that take me through a main character’s formative years until adulthood. This story stole a huge chunk of my heart because it took me on an emotional rollercoaster ride as I watched Ijeoma grow up and come to terms with her sexuality in the midst of so much intolerance toward LGBT people. This author definitely deserves the highest of fives because she has given me unforgettable characters and a vivid portrayal of the ways in which the Biafran civil war had affected thousands of Nigerians during the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Cons And Heads Up

There were graphic descriptions of civil unrest, death, murder and hate crimes against LGBT people.

The Conclusion

I’m a huge sucker for poignant literary fiction novels like this one because this story deals with love, self-acceptance, tradition, religion, painful losses and heartbreaking tragedies. I know that some of the issues and themes within this thought-provoking novel may not be for everyone but it is definitely worth the read.

TLDR (too long didn’t read)

This story is a literary treat and it will go down in herstory as one of my favorite re-reads!

Excerpt from Under The Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta

“The devil has returned again to cast his net on you,” Mama would surely say of what I was doing. Or “Adam and Eve, not Eve and Eve.” But even with those words in my head, I could not help myself.

I continued to see Amina. On evenings after classes, we ate our meals together, if not in the cafeteria, then on the veranda steps or inside our dorms, at our desks.

On weekends when we were allowed, or when more holidays rolled around, those holidays during which we did not go home, we strolled over to the river together. Sometimes we held hands as we walked, as inconspicuously as we could, making sure to present ourselves in a manner more like that of regular schoolgirls than that of two girls in love.

But we were in love, or at least I believed myself completely to be. I craved Amina’s presence for no other reason than to have it. It was certainly friendship too, this intimate companionship with someone who knew me in a way that no one else did: it was a heightened state of friendship. Maybe it was also a bit of infatuation. But what I knew for sure was that it was also love. Maybe love was some combination of friendship and infatuation. A deeply felt affection accompanied by a certain sort of awe. And by gratitude. And by a desire for a lifetime of togetherness.

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