Under the Udala Trees

By: Chinelo Okparanta

Narrated by: Robin Miles

Inspired by Nigeria's folktales and war, Under the Udala Trees is a deeply searching, powerful debut about the dangers of living and loving openly. Ijeoma comes of age as her nation does; born before independence, she is 11 when civil war breaks out in the young republic of Nigeria. Sent away to safety, she meets another displaced child, and the star-crossed pair fall in love. They are from different ethnic communities. They are also both girls. When their love is discovered, Ijeoma learns that she will have to hide this part of herself. But there is a cost to living inside a lie.

As Edwidge Danticat has made personal the legacy of Haiti's political coming of age, Okparanta's Under the Udala Trees uses one woman's lifetime to examine the ways in which Nigerians continue to struggle toward selfhood. Even as their nation contends with and recovers from the effects of war and division, Nigerian lives are wrecked and lost from taboo and prejudice. But this story offers a glimmer of hope - a future where a woman might just be able to shape her life around truth and love.

©2015 Chinelo Okparanta (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Very interesting

I really enjoyed this book. It gave a perspective into a culture I was not familiar with. I must assumed that homosexuality was something more accepted than it actually is. The narrator kept me engaged.

Not at all what I was expecting!

At first I had to get used to the narrator's accent, then devoured it along with the author's detailed descriptions. I genuinely felt for the dilemma of the main character. The ending was fitting to the character's paradox, though I was sad to have it over! Superb writing and reading!

Good book that left me wanting more.

The narrator was excellent. The story at times left me wanting more, especially at the end. I felt the author should have developed the second lesbian relationship a bit more and given more insight into their reunion and lifestyle. The lack of this exploration left me with many questions and thoughts. The author addresses many important themes such as sexual identity, culture, tradition, religion and death to name a few. The author writes beautifully in full, rich detail.

Great story and great performance.

The narrator was perfect for this book and she added so much to the already lyrical and wonderfully written prose.

Stunning Imagery of a Young Woman's Struggle

First of all, the narration of this story is wonderful. A lot of times it can be hit or miss, but the narrator has plenty of emotion behind her words and tonal change to differentiate characters. It makes for a much more immersive experience. The story is very well written and uses a multitude of descriptive background to really set the scenes. However, it can be a little disjointed at times and skips around a lot. It was valuable for me to hear about this young woman's struggle with acceptance in a culture that was also undergoing it's own tooth and nail struggle for identity. As always, it is uplifting to find beauty in the tragedy of war and companionship in the desolation of loss.

beautifully narrated

in this colorful tale of a young igbo girl coming of age and learning who she is independently of family, religion, society I was taken on a wonderful journey. I was also able to experience a wide variety of emotions. ...the language is beautiful; learning some of the igbo words and having a peeping Tom's view into the culture was amazing. a pleasure to listen to.

Slower paced book, but very beautiful

The story itself sort of meanders along as it follows the life of the main character. That. Ring said, the moments in it are heartfelt and emotional. I kept getting stuck at some of the slower parts, but the ending left me crying. It was perfect. Highly recommended

Painting a picture

Beautiful story, but visually undiscernable. Some pieces took too long to get to the point.

Unexpected twist Disappointed

The voice was beautiful and learning about the conflict and recent history of that area was very interesting. I wasn't prepared, or interested in the first love/lesbian accounts. I appreciate the trials and struggles this young woman faced and others who are discriminated against quite cruellly in regards to same sex. As someone who is heterosexual and looking for a nice, informative novel to go to sleep listening to I found it too disturbing for my liking. I wold have appreciated it much more without the intimate scenes. It was too pornographic to my liking. Although it may have been the character versus the author, I believe it was the author, providing their antireligion views.

fantastic story with an equally fantastic narrator

This story was gripping, emotional, alternately heartbreaking and heartwarming, and the wonderful narration enhanced the experience, as Robin Miles' performance was able to take the words on the page and bring them to life.