Under the Udala Trees

 It’s a story of Ijeoma coming of age and discovering her identity amidst the Nigerian Civil War and its aftermath. It’s a beautifully woven story of love, loss, desire, grief, and identity. I was pulled in immediately and loved watching Ijeoma grow up and develop throughout the novel. It’s character driven and was surprisingly fast paced compared to other character driven stories I’ve read recently. As I mentioned, it’s set against the Nigerian Civil War in 1968, but it wasn’t as big of a plot point as I expected (based on the blurb) so it’s something I want to learn more about. Even though it’s set in the late 1960s through the 1980s(?), the stories of Homophobia and the struggles of the LGBTQIA community are still seen today in many countries. Due to a lot of the graphic content and violence, it’s a hard read but it’s important.