Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree is a coming-of-age story that follows the life of an unnamed young Nigerian girl who is kidnapped by the terrorist group Boko Haram from her village Borno State. The unnamed girl, along with other girls including her best friends, women and children are taken to the Sambisa Forest where they become slaves and are forced to follow the radical beliefs of the terrorist group.
This book broke me. I wasn’t ready for the heartbreak. This book drew all the emotions in me.
This novel is based on the story of the missing 276 girls who were kidnapped by the terrorist group Boko Haram on 14th April 2014 from their secondary school dormitory in Chibok, Nigeria.
Author Nwaubani starts the story with a simple and beautiful description of an unnamed girl’s life in Borno State. She is the only daughter of her parents and is privileged to attend school despite the family poor conditions.
Yata, (a name affectionately used by her parents) wants to further her education and become a teacher in future. She is a brilliant student, a good daughter, a good friend, and a caring sister. Her dreams shatter and she becomes a slave and a wife when the terrorist group Boko Haram raids her village.
I fell in love with Yata, her family and her friends. I loved how Nwaubai portrayed Yata as a simple and free-spirited teenager before the terrorist kidnapped her. Events in the Sambista Forest broke my heart. The abuse, killing, death, betrayal, marriage, and being forced to follow the radical beliefs of the terrorist group were heart-wrenching circumstances I wouldn’t wish any teenager to go through. The novel did a great job of personalizing the 2014 kidnapping of the 276 girls.
Language and Writing: This is a linear structure novel with brief chapters that can be read in one sitting. The novel is fast-paced with poetic prose writing. For such brief chapters, I was impressed by how descriptive this novel is. This is a book I would recommend especially for young adults.
Religion: Nwaubani’s novel shows how Muslims and Christians coexisted in Borno state. Nwaubani juxtaposes Muslims such as Mallam Isa and Aisha to the Muslims in the terrorist group. The novel shows how the terrorist group Boko Haram used religion as a weapon to abuse and kill innocent people.
The Afterword: The Afterword of this book is written by Viviana Mazza, an award-winning Italian journalist who has worked in several countries. Mazza in the afterword shares details of her interviews and field research. The afterword is educative and revealing. The April 2014 kidnapping sparked an international outcry and a viral campaign on social media with the hashtag #bringbackourgirls. Seven years after this kidnapping, 82 were freed in 2017 after mediation, adding to 24 who were released or found. A few others have escaped or been rescued, but about 113 of the girls are believed to be held still by the militant group Boko Haram. Mazza’s afterword highlights experiences of the girls who escaped or were rescued, efforts by the Nigeria government in collaboration with western countries to rescue the other girls, efforts by the families to rescue the girls and the feeling grief, loss as well as hope of the families/friends of the missing girls.
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