Chinelo Okparanta

Inspired by her mother s stories of war and Nigeria s folktale traditions, "Under the Udala Trees "is Chinelo Okparanta sdeeply searching, powerful debut about the dangers of living and loving openly"

Under the Udala Trees

Presents a collection of short stories centering around Nigerian women as they build lives out of hope, faith, and doubt, following such characters as a young woman faced with a dangerous decision to save her mother and a woman in love with another despite the penalties.

Happiness, Like Water

Harry Sylvester Bird

Benji

Unter den Udala Bäumen

Sous les branches de l'Udala

SOB AS ÁRVORES DE UDALAS, da nigeriana Chinelo Okparanta, é uma história de amor e luta. Ijeoma é ainda menina quando acontece a Guerra Nigéria-Biafra (1967-1970), a Guerra de Biafra. Deslocada de sua terra natal, em função da guerra, Ijeoma conhece Amina, e se apaixonam. São elas de etnias diferentes — uma é Igbo e outra, Hauçá — e ambas meninas, o que provoca reações de conflito. Em um cenário social conservador e religioso, e sob os efeitos devastadores de uma guerra, a trajetória pessoal de Ijeoma, da juventude à vida adulta, desenvolve-se como uma história de amor, de resistência e luta contra qualquer tipo de discriminação. Trecho: "Não há como contar a história do que aconteceu com Amina sem primeiro contar a história de como mamãe me mandou embora. Igualmente, não há como contar a história de como mamãe me mandou embora sem contar também sobre a recusa de papai em refugiar-se no bunker. Sem sua recusa, a expulsão poderia nunca ter ocorrido, e se não tivesse ocorrido, então eu poderia nunca ter conhecido Amina. Se eu não tivesse conhecido Amina, talvez não houvesse história para contar."

Sob as árvores de udalas

“If you’ve ever wondered if love can conquer all, read [this] stunning coming-of-age debut.” — Marie Claire A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR * BuzzFeed * Bustle * Shelf Awareness * Publishers Lunch “[This] love story has hypnotic power.”—The New Yorker Ijeoma comes of age as her nation does. Born before independence, she is eleven when civil war breaks out in the young republic of Nigeria. Sent away to safety, she meets another displaced child and they, star-crossed, fall in love. They are from different ethnic communities. They are also both girls. But when their love is discovered, Ijeoma learns that she will have to hide this part of herself—and there is a cost to living inside a lie. Inspired by Nigeria’s folktales and its war, Chinelo Okparanta shows us, in “graceful and precise” prose (New York Times Book Review), how the struggles and divisions of a nation are inscribed on the souls of its citizens. “Powerful and heartbreaking, Under the Udala Trees is a deeply moving commentary on identity, prejudice, and forbidden love” (BuzzFeed). “An important and timely read, imbued with both political ferocity and mythic beauty.” — Bustle “A real talent. [Under the Udala Trees is] the kind of book that should have come with a cold compress kit. It’s sad and sensual and full of heat.” — John Freeman, Electric Literature “Demands not just to be read, but felt.” — Edwidge Danticat

Under The Udala Trees

From the award-winning author of Under the Udala Trees and Happiness, Like Water comes a brilliant, provocative, up-to-the-minute novel about a young white man’s education and miseducation in contemporary America. Harry Sylvester Bird grows up in Edward, Pennsylvania, with his parents, Wayne and Chevy, whom he greatly dislikes. They’re racist, xenophobic, financially incompetent, and they have quite a few secrets of their own. To Harry, they represent everything wrong with this country. And his small town isn’t any better. He witnesses racial profiling, graffitied swastikas, and White Power signs on his walk home from school. He can’t wait until he’s old enough to leave. When he finally is, he moves straight to New York City, where he feels he can finally live out his true inner self. In the city, he meets and falls in love with Maryam, a young Nigerian woman. But when Maryam begins to pull away, Harry is forced to confront his identity as he never has before—if he can. Brilliant, funny, original, and unflinching, Harry Sylvester Bird is a satire that speaks to all the most pressing tensions and anxieties of our time—and of the history that has shaped us and might continue to do so.

Chinelo Okparanta

About

Books

Join the club