Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta

Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta

Rating: 5 stars

Blurb

Inspired by Nigeria’s folktales and its 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 eleven when civil war breaks out in the young republic of Nigeria. Sent away to safety, she meets another displaced child and they, star-crossed, 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 also wrecked and lost from taboo and prejudice. This story offers a glimmer of hope — a future where a woman might just be able to shape her life around truth and love.

My review on Under the Udala Trees

Since I first read this book in 2019, it has been one of my favourites books.

Ijeoma’s coming-of-age story is one full of grief, abandonment, love, and heartbreak. It starts with the biafran war, and how it affects her family.

The war had terrible effects on people, communities, schools, and Ijeoma’s dad’s mental health. In the beginning chapters, it’s very obvious that he was mentally exhausted from the war. So rather than hide in the bunkers with his family, he helped them hide and stayed in the house knowing the consequence. Following his death, Ijeoma’s mother becomes absolutely distraught and completely neglects herself and her daughter.

Ijeoma’s mother is a very annoying character throughout the book. Yes, she was in her rights to grieve, but to neglect her own child who was also grieving? Crazy. Even if she said it was the safest option, it was so unfair to Ijeoma that she left, and didn’t take her with her. She wanted to be left alone but the way she went about it was terrible. She just gave Ijeoma out to serve her late husband’s friend and his wife.

After many years had passed, Ijeoma’s mother finally came for her, though, only because the headmaster asked her to come get her. While serving the headmaster, Ijeoma met Amina. She didn’t have anywhere to go, so Ijeoma took her home with her. They both lived and served together in the headmaster’s house, then eventually fell in love. I wonder if she would’ve ever come for her daughter if Ijeoma and Amina weren’t caught in bed. Would she have just left her with the headmaster and his wife for the rest of her life?

Anyways, a while after finishing school, Ijeoma’s mum began to pressure her to get married. Although, it’s made clear that the major reason why she pressured her was the fact that she was drenched in loneliness after her husband’s death. She repeatedly said “With a man, life is difficult. Without a man, life is even more difficult. Take it from me”. The portrayal of Ijeoma’s mother as a lonely and desperate figure firmly rooted in religious and traditional beliefs was executed flawlessly. Knowing what a traditional woman can be like, her relentless attempts to “fix” Ijeoma — putting her hopes in prayers and the idea of marriage — were shown with remarkable accuracy.

After being separated from Amina, Ijeoma finds love again in Ndidi. However, she’s forced to marry Chibundu, her childhood friend, to please her mother. At first, I had even thought he was a decent man until he started to unravel himself after they got married. He was neither a good husband nor father, just because his wife had not birthed him a son. Because of the miserable status of her marriage, Ijeoma’s frustration at not being with Ndidi intensified. I was so glad that in the end, regardless of the pressure from her mother, she chose herself, left the marriage and moved on with her daughter.

The way that Chinelo, the author, looked at societal concerns as opposing forces that influenced Ijeoma’s identity, was really fascinating to me. Ijeoma’s journey saw a lot of conflict between her desires and awareness of her own truth, and the weight of religion and society’s expectations.

Another thing to love about this book was Chinelo’s writing. As a person from the igbo tribe, I enjoyed reading the subtle cultural integration, and how it’s explained to readers who might not understand. Her brilliant writing also brought the setting to life and stimulated vivid imaginations within the mind. I consider the ability to create such vivid scenes to be a superpower.

In conclusion, Under the Udala Trees is an extraordinary literary work. I enjoyed every aspect of the book, from its captivating writing style to the richly described setting and engrossing plot. It firmly holds a place among my favourite books of all time, with a solid 5-star rating.