The loss of her father greatly affects Ijeoma and her mother, Adaora. Unable to cope with the circumstances of the war and what it means for their lives, Ijeoma’s father gives up on life. Ijeoma is a middle-class girl living with her mother and father while trying to survive air raids and food shortages. Under the Udala Trees starts off during the Biafra conflict in Nigeria in the late 1960’s. Some of the characters in the book aren’t as well developed as I usually like but served their purpose for getting the author’s point across. Her descriptions are detailed without being overboard and allowed me to visualize the scenes and people she was describing. This is the first book that I’ve read by Okparanta and I found that I really enjoy her writing style. I couldn’t identify any real reason for being put off by the topic so I decided that I was being ridiculous and read Under the Udala Trees anyway. But, could it have also been that I was put off by the thought of reading about lesbians? I watch movies and tv shows that feature lesbian relationships with no issue so I don’t really know. I had to ask myself, “Why?” I’m not really a romance novel person and that could have been part of it. My initial thought was that I wasn’t very interested in reading about a lesbian relationship.

But, I was apprehensive when I realized that the book is also about the life and experiences of a young woman coming of age during this time as a lesbian. I was drawn in by the book’s description of taking place during and after the Biafran War in Nigeria. After checking out a few titles, Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta was recommended.įull disclosure, based on the description, I thought Under the Udala Trees seemed interesting but had second thoughts about reading it. I get a lot of my book recommendations from Goodreads and Amazon and take full advantage of their “You Might Also Like” features. Wanting to expand the diversity of books I read to include titles from across the diaspora, I was looking for more books that take place in and/or were written by authors from Africa, the Carribean, and Europe.

Under the udala trees sparknotes