Started: February 10th
Finished: February 17th
TSM Rating: 4/5

This story was so consistently heartbreaking that I wasn’t sure how I would feel by the end.

For 307 pages, we live in the head of 15-year-old Kambili, a girl from a devoutly Catholic, Nigerian family. While a pillar of the community, her father is incredibly emotionally and physically abusive toward Kambili, her brother Jaja, and her mother. He’s abusive to the point where they are all afraid to express any emotion. At one point on the book Kambili said she doesn’t ever remember laughing and wouldn’t know what her laugh sounds like.

Through all the repression and fear, Kambili still desperately wants and strives for her father’s approval. Even after she and Jaja spend time with her father’s sister and her children, and they see what the world could be like beyond their religious oppression, Kambili still holds on to the belief that she is nothing without her father’s approval.

Over the course of the story, we see both Kambili and Jaja transform in their own ways to grow beyond their father. The way Achidie describes the physical changes in Kambili and Jaja as their personalities evolve is like watching flowers bloom.

It was an overall beautiful story of moving beyond what you know in order to find who you are. Changing your surroundings to change your mind set and breaking ties to move you forward, while strengthening others to find strength in yourself. A story of the things you hold on to in order to survive even in the most hopeless circumstances.