Book Review: "And So I Roar" by Abi Daré - A Compelling Tale of Tragedy and Hope
On the night before she was due to join her new classmates for her first lesson, a terrible knocking at the front gate summons Adunni back to her home village, Ikati, where her dramatic story of resilience first began.
As Tia frantically tries to protect her from an uncertain fate, Adunni must try to save not only herself but all the young women of her village, and transform Ikati into a place where girls are allowed to claim the bright futures they deserve - and roar their stories to the world.
With themes of girlhood, gender-based violence and internalised-misogyny, And So I Roar takes us on a journey of hope and what it means to dream big and to believe in yourself no matter what!
Upon reflection, we see what Adunni goes through is not uncommon in Africa. The housemaid industry is so unregulated, unethical and dangerous as a lot of abuse can go unnoticed. Circumstances in which we are born in heavily determine our outcomes, which is can be so unfair when the cruelty of poverty is involved. The effects of trauma on mental health (think of Adunni’s dad) can negatively impact children when not managed or attended to properly. Although Adunni’s dad did many questionable things, as readers, we felt sorry for him when we learned of his story, how his mental health declined, the way he self sabotaged after learning Adunni was not his daughter and the passing of his wife. We are reminded of how complex humans are and how most situations aren’t black and white. A lot of bad decisions are birthed from those who themselves are hurting.
Abi Daré did a splendid job at displaying how the dehumanisation of the girl child is so deeply ingrained in many adults. We were also educated on how often times, women are enablers of abuse. In fact at our author link up with Abi, she mentioned how most book readers are women so she had written "The Girl with The Louding Voice" and "And So I Roar" with the intent for many women to read and be well informed of her advocacy for little girls who are abused and subsequently neglected by women. This is to help us do a better job at protecting and speaking up for these young and vulnerable girls.
We enjoyed the relationship Abi displayed between Tia and her mum as we don’t always get to read of unconventional or strained parent child relationships and its complexities. The also book provided an opportunity to learn of the impact of climate change on women. For example, women and girls are more likely to be affected by climate change because they are more likely to be poor, dependent on natural resources, and less likely to be in positions of power.
Similar to The Girl With The Louding Voice, we enjoyed Adunni’s dialect when it came to reading her POV. She continued to be funny, feisty and intelligent which was refreshing to read even when we could witnesses adversity she faces. We can conclude that And So I Roar was a thought provoking, evocative and hopeful read. One of our many favourite quotes from the book was:
“because I am Adunni. A person important enough because my tomorrow will be better than today!” - Page 67.
Here are the ratings of our book club members. Hope you can join us next time!
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