Summary

Through first-person narration in the present tense, Adunni, a 14-year-old girl living in a rural village in Nigeria, introduces the reader to her life. The narration is written in a personalized language and “slang” specific to Adunni’s own English capability, meaning that the description of events and characters in the novel incorporate Adunni’s biases into the writing.

She first introduces her family. Kayus is Adunni’s beloved younger brother who, at 11 years old, behaves as a very comforting and supportive force for Adunni. Alao, Adunni’s oldest brother whom she calls Born-Boy, is a strongly built nineteen-and-a-half-year-old working as a car mechanic at Kassim Motors. As the respected first-born-son of the family, Born-Boy works hard and does not have a very strong personal relationship with Adunni. Her father, to whom she refers as “Papa,” is an aggressive, alcohol-dependent, widowed man who...