I received a copy of this book free from the publisher via netgalley.com.

A soul wrenching account of the disappearance of the Chibok girls, stolen from their school dorm. This book looks into the effect on the survivors, families affected and the community as well as the events that led to this tragedy. ( )

Habila, a native of northern Nigeria, tells the story of the Boko Haram kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in 2014. He succinctly introduces us to the region—both it’s past history and geography, and more recent history, all while also narrating his return to the area. By the time we as readers reach Chibok, we are ready to hear the story of the horrific kidnapping of the girls and its aftermath through the voices of the local people and families who were affected, and in the last chapter we hear from three of the girls who had been kidnapped.

I have read all of Helon Habila’s fiction but had not thought to read this small nonfiction book until now. Truth be told, the book came out in 2016 and my attention and horror were elsewhere. The subject of the kidnapped girls came up recently when I heard a podcast discussion of Edna O’ Brien’s forthcoming novel, an imagined story of one of the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls. I’m sure it is not necessary to read the nonfiction before reading the O’Brien book, but it serves as larger context and a refresher of a harrowing and tragic story that the media so quickly seemed to move on from. ( )

A powerful look inside a horrible event, the aftermath, and what led up to it. Reading this feels like you are watching the gut-wrenching events unfold in front of you. It's information that the news never covered, and a story that needs to be told.

Received for review ( )

Religious and personal freedom only counts if you believe and outwardly support what the terrorists believe in Northern Nigeria. The author recounts the kidnapping and aftermath of 276 girls from a secondary school and the environment that supported such actions. This brief story reads like a long magazine article with a quick look at the people, governments, religious sects, and politics involved in the incident. ( )

a short book (around 100 pages) which is well worth your time if you wondered if there was more to the story than the Twitter campaign #bringbackourgirls
Habila's now a novelist and academic but here he writes as a journalist, drawing on his own experience of growing up in the supposedly 'muslim' north (there is a Christian minority, and a lengthy history of people tolerating those of another religion). The specific experiences of the girls at the school in Chibok are put in the context of Nigerian recent political history (where religious violence is a useful distraction from stare corruption) and of the growth of Boko Haram. At the end his is able to interview three girls who escaped, reflecting on the banality of their remembered experience, despite the continued loss of most of those captured, and the even large problem of those displaced from their homes by the violence and insecurely housed around the Nigeria/Chad border.
Recommended. ( )