Ogadinma

Starred review from January 25, 2021
Olisakwe (Eyes of a Goddess) delivers a powerful tale of a young Nigerian woman yearning for freedom. At 17, Ogadinma’s resilience is tested by patriarchal violence, grief, and familial obligation. When Ogadinma’s father discovers she’s had an abortion, he sends her away from their home in Kano to stay with family in Lagos, all but ending her dreams of going to university. While in Lagos, she falls in love with Tobe, an older man, who turns violent after they are married and unjustly blames her for his business and legal troubles. After a series of misfortunes, abuse, and familial betrayals, Ogadinma must weigh the costs of forging her own path toward liberation. The twists and turns are fast-paced, creating a sequence of events that allows the reader to continue rooting for Ogadinma as she approaches insurmountable barriers. Olisakwe stunningly depicts how both Ogadinma’s and Tobe’s family members can be quick to protect and reject her with equal fervor. While Tobe is confronted by his uncle Ekene after a particularly brutal act of violence toward Ogadinma, Ekene remarks, “It is the family that bears the shame because the madman does not comprehend the concept of shame.” This smart, unforgettable novel sings out with an earnest hope for an end to intergenerational abuse. Agent: Claire Anderson-Wheeler, Regal Hoffmann & Assoc.

March 1, 2021
Ogadinma, a teenager in 1980s Nigeria, wants to go to school; she can't. The power of this novel by Olisakwe (Eyes of a Goddess, 2012) is in its depiction of the systemic, encapsulating effects of colonialist-encouraged, toxic patriarchy. Ogadinma navigates multiple environments of abuse and rape from which escape is discouraged. Her father returns her to an abuser, an Aunty speaks at length about a wife's role to accept, and a "healer" targets her as spiritual scapegoat. The emotional intelligence of Olisakwe's writing is impressive, portraying Ogadinma's learning to survive abuse by cultivating a hypervigilant attunement, reading moods, gestures, tones, looks in the eyes, and sets of jaw like tea leaves. Bookended with a memory of a riot and a coup, this novel expertly and simultaneously illuminates individualist and Nigerian sociopolitical narratives. Eventually, Ogadinma finds allies and carves options for her life, yet she pays huge emotional tolls. The novel's part three, Ogadinma's evolution into increased agency, may not rise to the level of the preceding pages, yet readers will finish broadened and expanded.

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