A beautifully told story of the dualities within family and country, told from the perspective of teenage girl Kambili in Nigeria. Briefly, Kambili's youthful world deconstructs through a combination of external conflict such as the fallout from Nigeria's Civil War, and familial conflict centered around her wealthy, powerful, generous, maniacally devout yet abusive, violent, and cheating father. At the same time, her eyes are opened to life not dominated by fear by visiting her poor yet educated aunt and cousins, accompanied by her brave brother Jaja and by spending time with the popular young Father Amadi, who is so different from her father.

The numerous juxtapositions and ironies blend together to make a portrait of a family and country, tied together by the symbol of the purple hibiscus, which represents the infancy and potential of both to become something unique. Privelidge and poverty, faith and secularism, new ways and old, outward benevolence and inner demons, loyalty to family vs to the community, fear and bravery, symptoms vs. causes, all these themes are intertwined as Kambili opens up to both the reader and her family.

This book is excellent for those looking for a poignant and rich story peopled by characters shaped with all five senses and diverse responses to a country in conflict. I recommend it - there's plenty in there for a lively book club discussion. ( )

This story is both heartbreaking and hopeful. Readers will find themselves cringing at the cruel punishments of Kimbili's father while also understanding her conflicted feelings of love and devotion. The characters' dimension and inner feelings are revealed through their actions rather than through didactic explanations. Readers will also fall in love with the beautiful descriptions of the characters and the love in her Aunt's family.

Purple Hibiscus is Adichie's debut novel. She introduces Kambili, a fifteen-year-old privileged Nigerian girl, along with her mother, father and older brother, Jaja. Kambili shares the daily experiences of her and her family's life and is exposed to her not-so-well-off relatives. Life inside the Kambili's home may not be so privileged after all.

I can't put my finger on the deciding factor that caused me to not enjoy this book as much as I had hoped, but I do know that there were several things that made me uncomfortable. First, it took me almost half the book to become interested in the story, and the religious and political views that represented the Nigerians was unsettling. In addition, the storyline and characters both were sluggish, but they all had their purpose. Even with all my dislikes, I found it to be a well-written, good book, but not one I can rave about. I'm thinking timing played a part in my rating as well. (3.25/5)

Originally posted on: "Thoughts of Joy..." ( )

This is a beautifully written novel that drew me in from the beginning. It is written in a manner that enables the reader to smile, cringe, weep, gasp, whatever at all the right times. It is about a family in Nigeria that from the outside looks absolutely glowingly perfect but on the inside is shockingly disturbed and all the family and the help are dedicated to keeping the horrific nature of the home life within the home. I was totally unprepared for the nature of the atrocities that occurred. (All in the name of love and betterment of the victims.)
This same story occurs daily world wide, but rarely are we enabled to read of it in such prose as to actually feel as if we were there. This young author is brilliant and has a wonderful future in the world of writing. ( )

A lovely piece of storytelling. ( )