Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Anchor Books 2007
Library copy
Fiction
543 pages
Rating: 4/5
What led you to pick up this book?
I can’t remember if there was anything specific, beyond the fact that I enjoy novels set in places I have never been, with cultures that are unfamiliar to me. Also, I suspect that given it won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2007, I was aware of it. (It’d been on my To Read list for a while.)
Describe the plot without giving anything away:
A story set in 1960s Nigeria, about twin sisters Olanna and Kainene and the people in their lives. The setting is the conflict in Nigeria that leads to the secession of the south-eastern areas and the formation of the state of Biafra, and the suffering caused by the resulting civil war.
What did you think of the characters?
Well drawn and likeable, even when they deteriorate, as Odenigbo does, when he starts drinking heavily after his mother is killed by Nigerian troops.
What did you think about the style?
Easy to read, even when horrific scenes are described.
People fleeing a massacre in the city of Kano by train (p.188):
A liquid – urine – was spreading on the floor of the train. Olanna felt it coldly soaking into her dress. The woman with the calabash nudged her, then motioned to some other people close by. “Bianu, come,” she said. “Come and take a look.”
She opened the calabash.
“Take a look,” she said again.
Olanna looked into the bowl. Shew saw the little girl’s head with the ashy-gray skin and the braided hair and rolled-back eyes and open mouth. She stared at it for a while before she looked away. Somebody screamed.
The woman closed the calabash. “Do you know,” she said, “it took me so long to plait this hair? She has such thick hair.”
The train had stopped with a rusty screech. Olanna got down and stood in the jostling crowd. A woman faited. Motor boys were hitting the sides of lorries and chanting. “Owerri! Enugu! Nsukka!” She thought about the plaited hair resting in the calabash. She visualized the mother braiding it, her fingers oiling it with pomade before dividing it into sections with a wooden comb.
What did you like most about the book?
Use of the local language (Igbo) and the descriptions of the cuisine.
Was there anything you didn’t like about the book?
No.
Thoughts on the book jacket/cover
The illustration is a montage of images taken by different photographers (sun, trees, woman all separate images). (I don’t normally pay as much attention to the cover as I have this time, to even note that it’s a montage! I either like it or I don’t. I like this one.)
Would I recommend it?
Yes, especially for the story of Biafra, unfamiliar to me prior to this.
I’m trying something different. This format, as seen on this blog. Usually sitting down and writing a proper review defeats me.