True story told by CNN reporter who kept the story alive of 276 school kidnapped by he terrorist group Boko Haram. It took two years for 21 girls to be released and the author does not want the world to lose interest in the plight if these girls. Because they are poor and women it once again shows how suppression of women’s education is the goal of uneducated terroirs groups.
I was glad to learn more about a story I only vaguely remember. Isha Sesay writes a riveting story. ( )

The story of the hundreds of girls and young women who were abducted from their school in northeastern Nigeria by the terrorist group Boko Haram in 2014 is an important one. Unfortunately, I do not think that Isha Sesay was the best person to tell it. True, Sesay had a front-row seat to some of the events described here in her role as a CNN correspondent. In addition to that, as a woman from a West African background herself, Sesay could provide some useful context on the importance of education as a lifeline for women in the region, together with pointed commentary on how the global media overlooks the stories of Brown and Black women.

However, it quickly became clear that Beneath the Tamarind Tree was intended to tell the reader about Isha Sesay, Maverick Reporter, as much as about the abductees. There's far too much telling, not showing, about her journalistic prowess, and often in prose that clunks (When she confronts a Nigerian official, Sesay tells us that "[her] eyes flashed and [her] jaw tightened" (140). Oof.). Sesay doesn't seem to have much of the on-the-ground reporting in Chibok or Borno State that would have provided her with the additional information needed to add texture and depth to her portrait of how Boko Haram operates there.

In fact, if you parse out the timeline of the book carefully, it's not apparent that she spent very much time in Nigeria reporting directly on the girls at all—something which sits uneasily with Sesay referring to them as her "sisters", and the way she seems to have imposed herself on a group of 21 young women who were released in 2016. These returnees had spent 2.5 years in captivity and had no clue who she was. Sesay's attempts to wheedle selfies out of them, her hugging them and touching them on the back (which she tells the reader was at least in part so she could personally verify just how thin they'd grown), her talk of how she needed to be there to "bring them home" for the last leg of their journey (when really she was just part of a news team attached to a military convoy that was actually transporting the girls to Chibok), and her pushing through a crowd of people to "comfort" a bereft mother (again, this woman didn't know her from Adam), all made me cringe.

More than a hundred women remain in captivity. I hope that they will get to return home one day very soon, and that they will be able to tell their own stories as they see fit. ( )

Oh, how disappointing.

This is an account of the kidnapping of over 250 girls, known as The Lost Girls. In April, 2014 an Islamic militants group, known as Boko Haram, entered the town of Chibok, Nigeria, and abducted the girls from their
boarding school. Boko Haram made sure the world knew why-Women Do Not Need Education. This story needed to be published, many of these girls are still being held, the world cannot just forget about them.

It is unfortuente that the author decided her story, for some reason, needed to be told in the book. The parts about the abducted girls kept me interested. The book was developed by interviews with 4 of the girls who made it out. I loved this portion of the story. Then, out of nowhere, a chapter would appear, talking about only Sesay and her mother. I get it, your mother was educated. She made sure you were educated. There was no need to tell your audience this 4-5 times, filling chapters with the same information. Sesay's background would have easily pleased me, had it been in the afterward.

If you want a "meat of the story" book, I would wait to see if someone else publishes it. All 3 stars I gave this book go to the Lost Girls themselves, none for the writing. ( )

In 2014, 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped from the city of Chibok in Nigeria. Over 100 of the girls remain in captivity or missing. This book outlines the history of the Boko Haram terrorist group, the history of the region, and some of the girl's stories.

The book followed 4 girls. 2 of the girls escaped immediately and were never spoken again. 1 of the girls remained in captivity and her story focused on her mother. The 4th girl was spoken about extensively. I wish the author had given each of the girls an equal voice. Every other chapter was about the author and her family. Although the author has an interesting story and family, I wanted to read about the Chibok girls, not the author. It also seemed that the author, a journalist, was obsessed with capturing photos of the girls and gaining an exclusive with them. This made her seem exploitative. I think this is an important story to tell, however I do not think it was told very well. Overall, this is not a book that I will re-read or recommend. ( )

The story of the abducted schoolgirls of Chibok - some escaped, some returned, and some still missing - as told by Isha Sesay, a CNN journalist from Sierra Leone (by way of the UK and US), for whom the girls' story has tremendous significance. Sesay includes her own story: of education as a direct and crucial means to a successful career and life, and her admiration and gratitude for her own mother having blazed such a trail and supported her. Their paths stand in stark contrast to the abducted girls', whose education was violently interrupted by Boko Haram. Sesay also examines the Nigerian government's dubious efforts to get the girls back, and its hostility toward the girls' parents and other activists in the Bring Back Our Girls movement.

Every day in Western newsrooms, news executives are making the calculations, asking themselves consciously and subconsciously, "Whose story matters?" and "How much screen time or how many column inches do they deserve?" (69)

Boko Haram...in Hausa, the region's dominant language, means "Western education is forbidden." (72)

Boko Haram's unbending opposition to girls' education is, in essence, an expression of its desire to silence them. To deny females a voice is to take away their ability to challenge the very practices and norms that subjugate and harm them. Successive Nigerian governments shaped a response to this tragedy that included minimizing and ignoring the voices of those fighting for the girls' return. (201) ( )