From a childhood of war, a young Nigerian girl grows up at odds to the religious ideals of her country and family. Leading to a life fraught with sadness and difficulties.
A word of warning that the synopsis on the back of this book of being a 'coming of age' story and about 'young love' is misleading. The young love plotline is treated as a matter-of-fact stepping stone summed up in 25 pages of a 300+ page book and as a flashback. There is more focus and time spent in the book quoting biblical stories and sayings and rhetoric that pushes anti-queer love.
All that being said, I understand the strong sense of religiosity portrayed as Nigeria is a highly religious country and the story itself was well written with a good pacing structure to keep the reader moving despite the heavy content.
It is a beautifully written book, but also incredibly disheartening and ends with a sense of hopelessness. A strong impact to remind others that queer love is something still illegal, highly victimized, and punishable by death in some places. ( )

Listened to the audio. The narrator was very good. Not sure I could of read this without audio. ( )

Another book that is so difficult to read because of the real life issues people face. outcasts, killed all for being LBGQT ( )

Under the Udala Trees made me feel an extreme range of emotions. At times, there was joy for fresh young love. At others, there was anger at an unjust world. The strongest emotion I remember this book evoking is fear. Near the middle to end of the book, a once neutral relationship deteriorates into an extremely emotionally and sexually abusive one, and it is the imprint of those scenes that have left me with a raw, unsafe echo of a feeling in my chest. It’s not my favorite emotion to carry with me after I finished reading a book, but it means that the book made an impression.

And how could it not?

Ijeoma’s story is one of heartbreak and denial. Growing up during and after the Nigerian Civil War, Ijeoma remembers the pain of her country. A similar turmoil lives within herself as she fights to love freely in a society that would rather stone her to death than abide a same-sex relationship. Through Under the Udala Trees, we watch as Ijeoma discovers her sexuality and falls in love only to have her heart broken time and again. We watch as those closest to her try to cast the devil out, and those she once trusted betray her in the worst ways. We also watch as she loves, dances, and thrives within the quiet moments of her personal joy. I wish I could say Under the Udala Trees is a well-balanced book of joy and sorrow, but I would be lying. There is a lot more hardship in this book than there are triumphs, but it’s Ijeoma’s strength that impressed me through the entire novel.

This is a character-driven book, which means there was no particular plot but instead we follow Ijeoma as she grows up. As such, the pacing could be a bit slow at times. Okparanta’s writing never falters, and I found she has an intense ability to dunk the reader into a trough of emotions. Okparanta does an excellent job of stringing the world together in the background and still bringing it vividly to life. It was easy to become engrossed in Under the Udala Trees, and I was surprised how quickly I finished it. I spent so much time feeling a mixture of fear, regret, and foolish hope that the book flew past.

Unfortunately, acceptance of a variety of sexual identities is still not recognized in certain countries, including Nigeria where this book takes place. Situations identical to Ijeoma’s remain common. It is important to be educated and to fight for the rights of members of the community in countries that are less understanding. From an American perspective it’s easy to forgot that other countries are less excepting of members of the Pride community here, and even in our own culture, we still fight so many homophobic people. Under the Udala Trees reminded me to be grateful for the freedom I have to be a member of the LGBTQIAP+ community without fear prosecution.

This book overwhelmed me with emotion, although I really appreciated it’s scholarly approaches as well. If you have a chance to pick up a copy, I recommend reading Under the Udala Trees some lazy August afternoon. While it is by no means a “feel good“ book, I’m glad I read it once. ( )

I listened to this as an audiobook, so my review will reflect the particular version narrated by Robin Miles. I can see now why Miles seems to have a following in the audiobook world; Ijeoma seemed to be alive and telling me her story in the same room. It's a great way to read this one if you enjoy audiobooks.

The story itself is one that needs to be told. I'd never read a book about a queer woman in Nigeria before, and that alone attracted me to the book. Okparanta does Ijeoma justice; her life is shown as it happened from her perspective, and she feels like a real, actual person. I'm ashamed to say I really didn't know what life was like for women in Nigeria during this particular time in history, and I enjoyed being able to watch Ijeoma go through her life and give me that insight.

If there's anything that didn't work for me, it was the epilogue. I understand why Okparanta made that choice - the author's note seems to explain why - but I don't think it flows as well as the rest of the story. That being said, I don't know what I would put in its place; frankly, I'd have loved an additional hundred pages or so, but would that make for a better ending? I honestly can't say.

This is such an important book; I highly recommend it. Although the audiobook is wonderful, I think I might have to get my hands on a print copy so I can read it again to see what I might have missed in my listen. Do take heed of the content warnings, however - as one can imagine, heavy topics are dealt with, and Okparanta does not shy away from sharing them with the reader. ( )