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The Middle Daughter

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The remainder of the novel concerns Nani’s efforts to get away from her captor. There’s a hitch, of course, and a big one: she needs to wrest her children from her husband. Nani’s sister, Ugo, has re-entered the picture at this point, just before fleeing to the US with Mother. The two will return to Nigeria when the investigation into Mother’s illicit business activities dies down. In the meantime, these two are urging Nani to come to the US without the kids. Marvellous and engrossing from beginning to end. Unigwe navigates points of view with the sureness and composure of a writer in her element as Nani’s raw and insistent voice drives the narrative’ SEFI ATTA As the story unravels, none of these characters can retrace their steps to how things used to be. “Even mother who used to carry church on her head no longer went.”

The Middle Daughter - Wikipedia

Chika Unigwe’s novel The Middle Daughter centers a wealthy Nigerian family. The father owns a printing business, the mother is a doctor in the public health system and they have three daughters- one is currently in America studying and the other two attends a private school in Nigeria. They are a very happy family, filled with hope and happiness for the future… that is until one night they get a call from America that changes the trajectory of their family and upends life as they know it. An important and accomplished novel that leaves a strong aftertaste. Unigwe gives voice to those who are voiceless, fleshes out the stories of those who offer themselves as meat for sale, and bestows dignity on those who are stripped of it’ BERNARDINE EVARISTOEven Ephraim’s, which I’m horrified by that I say it. I think that’s also one of the authors strongest assets, character building. Everyone is so unique and has their own clear voice even though we mainly follow Nani. Growing up, I primarily read Western literature. However, several outstanding Nigerian classics have remained etched in my mind over the years. While I’m familiar with the works of Chinua Achebe and Buchi Emecheta, I’ve not kept up with the works of newer writers. That’s why I decided to read The Middle Daughter by Chika Unigwe.

The Middle Daughter | Chika Unigwe | 9781838857899 | NetGalley The Middle Daughter | Chika Unigwe | 9781838857899 | NetGalley

Although baby factories have only become well known in Nigeria in the past fifteen years or so, they have always been there except the one I knew wasn’t called that. When I was a child in Enugu, a woman with whose children I was friendly had a clinic that was very much like the one Nani’s mother owns. She also had the reputation , like Nani’s mother, of “helping pregnant, young women.” She was also known to be magnanimous, a Christian and an exemplary community leader. When I started writing Nani’s mother, I thought of this woman who must have thought of herself also as offering an indispensable service. In a country where sexual assaults happen, where single mothers are stigmatized, where sex education isn’t encouraged, a young woman who must carry a pregnancy she doesn’t want may not feel exploited if someone offered them room and board and some money to take the baby off their hands. And the “savior” may not feel that selling on the baby conflicts with any moral values they hold. Afterall, they did not force the women and it could be worse. As it was for a young woman I spoke to in researching this novel. And for the sister of another. THE MIDDLE DAUGHTER is a hard, hard read. Equally hard to understand, for anyone, is Nani's decision to stay with her husband. Chika Unigwe writes with a moral urgency nourished by a nuanced understanding of the human condition and a prose that is elegantly calibrated. And for all the dark turns her work takes, it is suffused with warmth, hard won wisdom and a deep compassion.” I honestly tried to understand her, but I just couldn't; as a Nigerian neither as someone who has read a lot of broken characters. a b c Ejiaka, Delight. " The Middle Daughter by Chika Unigwe". World Literature Today . Retrieved 25 August 2023.I like Chika's writing style in this book. I found it relatively easy to read without having to stumble over words or reread sentences. These questions roil the core of the novel and when Nani finally resurfaces like Persephone or Eurydice, if you will, called forth from Hades by Aunty Enuka’s flute, one is not quite sure whether the story will end happily or not. This was such a hard-hitting novel. I immensely enjoyed reading about the misunderstood Nani - her journey was emotional and uplifting and I could not stop reading. It is a very composed novel, never saying more than it needs to; the pacing, the length, the character development was spot on.

The Middle Daughter - Kindle edition by Unigwe, Chika The Middle Daughter - Kindle edition by Unigwe, Chika

The resulting grief leads her to find comfort with a preacher man, but she soon finds herself trapped in an abusive marriage. The Middle Daughter is set in contemporary Enugu in the heart of eastern Nigeria. It revolves around a family who suffered tragic loss and the ways their trauma-coping mechanisms complicate life, while commenting on Nigeria’s upper-middle-class echelon and the dichotomy of moving up or down the social ladder through marriage. It explores the vulnerability of grief and fragility of relationships. It takes a cursory look at the family unit and considers how pressure can pull apart a once steady family structure, while shedding light on the health-care system, women’s reproductive rights, “surrogacy,” and baby factories in Nigeria. In the end, the book bored me. I think a lot of the problem comes down to Ephraim. It’s not that I haven’t known pompous, righteous, and even emotionally abusive types; it’s that Unigwe hasn’t made him feel real. Come to think of it, none of the characters is particularly interesting or credible. I needed to believe in these people for the story to work, and I simply could not. if you hate men don’t read this book because it’ll make you hate them even more! jokes aside, this was one of the most heartbreaking books i’ve read lately; 17 year old nani’s world is plunged into darkness as she loses her father and sister. experiencing loss after loss, her heartache is only multiplied when she meets ephraim, the “man of God” who almost feeds off of her grief and despair. not to mention a mother who’s years have hard work have hardened what should be a soft heart for her daughters to seek refuge in. there were so many times where i had to physically put this book down let out a sigh of exasperation at the actions of not only nani but also ephraim, because one thing i’ll never understand is how someone can do evil to a person yet claim to love them. but i’m getting ahead of myself, just read the book!! I'm not going to lie, I blamed Nani for marrying him. For deciding that marrying her abuser was better than facing her family. Their relationship had deteriorated, but it had not gotten that bad. The consequences of her decision to go to Ephraim made my skin crawl.First let me say- I was warned twice before reading this book that is was very heavy and covered dark themes that will leave your soul aching. I am not sure I was prepared enough because in reading this I got very angry. The writing of this book will have you feeling a lot of different ways and I guess that is the mark of a good writer. Chika says the novel was triggered by a true life story “where a young woman gets into the kind of relationship Nani does with Ephraim; and for similar reasons, I’m still rooting for that girl. I spoke about my desire for justice. I wanted to right the wrongs done to Persephone and give her a voice, make her in charge of her own story”. nobody hurts you like the people who know you the best. but nobody knows you the least like people who think they know you best." The May 2023 issue of World Literature Today ponders “The Future of the Book,” featuring a marquee interview with Azar Nafisi and contributions by others on the subject of books and book culture. The book review section rounds up the best new books from around the world, and additional interviews, poetry, short fiction and creative nonfiction, culture essays, a postcard from the former Yugoslavia, and an outpost from Berlin make the May issue your perfect summer reading companion.

Chika Unigwe Chika Unigwe

This was a very sad book. Even the end didn’t make me feel better. It shows how grief can tear a family apart or bring them closer. Chika Unigwe’s modern retelling of the myth of Hades and Persephone is pitch perfect - it is a meditation on the need we all share for belonging, and family, and love; a commentary on the journey we must all take in search of freedom’ HELON HABILA Udodi’s death was the beginning of the raging storm but at that moment, we thought that the worst had already happened, and that life would treat us with more kindness. Unigwe’s book did begin with some promise. For one thing, it has an interesting structure. Most chapters are told from Nani’s first-person point of view, but there are some sections concerning the youngest sister, Ugo, which are written in the the third person. Other chapters are presented as a poetic chorus from the point of view of Udodi, the dead sister. These contain many lines in Igbo and sometimes make reference to myths I’m unfamiliar with. Having left the earthly plain, Udodi has a clear view of events but can do little more than make philosophical remarks about them. The Middle Daughter is a social novel written by Chika Unigwe and published by Dzanc Books in 2018. [1] Unigwe drew her inspiration from the story of Hades and Persephone. [2] Characters [ edit ]First notes: I put in a request for a proof copy of this novel based on the synopsis and me wanting to read more varied works of fiction, so when I saw this novel was set in Africa, centered around family dynamic and touches upon delicate topics like abuse and manipulation, I asked if I could read it. I'm very grateful that Nani's story ended well. These stories sometimes don't. I'm grateful to the author for giving us that. This book was apparently a modern reimagining of the myth of Hades and Persephone, but since I didn’t know that story like I thought I did, it was basically just a story about abuse. I’m sure there were parallels, but this does not, under any circumstances, feel like a myth or a retelling of a cultural myth. I really wanted to like it, but was sadly disappointed. In the words of Sidney Sheldon, “The pain of disappointment is the price we pay for hope.” The language of The Middle Daughter is English, but a Nigerian reader will catch the peculiar Nigerian cadence in the sentences as in the one above. What Unigwe has done is express Igbo and Nigerian sensibilities with English words in ways that colonise the language in subliminal ways.

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