Under the Udala Trees purports to be a testimony of what lesbian and gay lives are like in Africa (and more specifically in Nigeria), a way to bring them to light, to give them the visibility they lack or tend to only gain in a negative and/or tragic way.

This is laudable and rather ambitious task that Okparanta sets herself. And one that I think she doesn't quite manage to complete. Although there are over 300 pages to the book that plot seems very basic and thin, and could be summarised in a couple of sentences, I'm sure. My level of interest both with the story and the characters waned as the book progressed to become virtually null by the welcomed end.

The language is ok although sometimes a little odd, presumably because it isn't the author's first language. The inclusions of quotes in Igbo are not particularly helpful I found.

Under the pen of another writer this could have become a thing of beauty. To me this just fell a little flat.