comment on structure

The novel is broken into three sections, which are marked by selections from Robert Browning’s poem, “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.” The novel’s three sections loosely follow Ya Ta’s trajectory. The first section focuses on Ya Ta’s life in her village, and ends only with a chapter titled “Bang,” when Ya Ta’s life there is interrupted by the arrival of Boko Haram. The second section focuses on Ya Ta’s new life among Boko Haram, and is dispersed across her experiences with first one camp and then the other. In this section, the reader watches as Ya Ta is forced to reinvent herself as a Muslim woman and bride, and as she loses her friend Aisha and grows increasingly alienated from her friend, Sarah. This section ends in a chapter called “Boom,” showing the arrival of the Nigerian Army at the Boko Haram camp and the madness and chaos that this intervention provokes. The final section, which is also the shortest, focuses on Ya Ta’s interactions with the Nigerian government and international aid agencies, all of which are trying to help her and to hear her story. The novel ends with Ya Ta and Pastor Moses being reunited, a connection that suggests that Ya Ta will soon be reunited, if not with her family, then with her village community.