Half of a Yellow Sun (2006)

I really liked this book, but even though the writing is superb and the author crafts a good story, I did not love it. The main reason is that I usually enjoy historical fiction books, but in this instance, I remember this era and the news coming out of Biafra/Nigeria, especially the news of the starving children with the huge bellies. (A close friend of mine endlessly collected money for this cause, to which I generously donated. Turns out the food the money was to provide probably never did get to those who truly needed it.) While I didn’t know many of the details of this conflict, I was a young teen at the time and was familiar with the news of the war and the subsequent suffering. And, as I was reading this book what drove me crazy was I longed to know what was truth and what was fiction. I think I would have enjoyed a non-fiction book more, or this as a novel that was complete fiction. The other aspects of the book I didn’t much enjoy were that at times it read like a soap opera, albeit a good one; also, the way the story is told I didn’t feel as emotionally involved with the characters as much as I would have expected. (One character did get to me throughout.) ( )

this is a fascinating story and a vivid look at how ideas for the growth of a nation, and then war, impact regulars lives. i felt a little like it wasn't quite pulled together at the end and also felt jarred earlier on in the read by a major shift in time. these two things made me feel the flow of the story was not as smooth as it could have been. ( )

I heard an interview with this incredible Nigerian author on the BBC Bookclub Podcast and could not find any of her books at shops in the US. Now, in Hong Kong, I have found a copy of "Half of a Yellow Sun" and am finding it absolutely captivating. Beautifully written and telling the far-too-little-known-outside-of-Nigeria history of the Civil War there in the 1960s. The Guardian review places it alongside Pat Barker's Regeneration series and I think that is an excellent comparison in its clear, articulate understanding of a complex conflict and its psychological & intellectual aspects told through the viewpoints of several characters. Fantastic! I can't put it down! ( )

after purple hibiscus i have to try another! she reminds me a bit of julia alvarez

I read only about one-third of this novel. Adichie's (CNA) writing doesn't agree with me at all. And the characters are so flat they should be able to slide under a door trouble-free. The characters don't even bother to play their role with its limited definition. Instead they keep pounding their fists on a table and shouting out what their role is supposed to be: "I am a sardonic bitch.", "I am sooo non-racist you won't even believe it", "blah blah".

Ouch! My head hurts.

One type of characters I am almost certain to hate are the P.E.R.F.E.C.T. ones. And CNA stops just short of establishing Olanna's idol in a temple and worshiping her. We are constantly reminded of what a smart and benevolent person she is. And non-racist. She is always showing off her fancy London-based education, always talking about this charity or that. To make sure she is universally adored, CNA mentions her angel-like beauty almost every time Olanna is mentioned.

In CNA's world all rich people are by default super-shallow. Now poor Olanna had the misfortune of being born to rich parents. How do we fix that? Olanna leaves her parent's house to live with her boyfriend (does this count as a sacrifice?) and takes up a job. Her parents still keep trying to shove fancy cars and bundles of cash down her throat. She feebly resists, but has to accept them anyway. Very convenient!

Odenigbo - the revolutionary. His activism largely involves drinking with buddies in his living room and abruptly shouting out some out-of-context political dialogue. To hold up this forward and enlightened image of his he needs to keep breaking into such diatribes without any sense of place or time - so I am driving my houseboy to see his sick mom. I know exactly what the boy needs right now, my political rant. Yup.

Ugwu - So wait, you mean my mom is not dying, she is only terribly sick? Hurray, I can go back to fantasizing about Nnesinachi breasts.

Richard - super-lame white boy who has read a Wikipedia article (or some equivalent) about one Nigerian art form and now that's the only thing he will ever talk about. And hey, he claims to have interest in a local art form. What do you mean that's not sufficient to give him a non-racist badge?

...and a couple of more such posers. In terms of writing, CNA tries to be somewhat fancy and writer-ly, thus ending up writing in a style that doesn't come naturally to her. You can see her trying a bit too hard. One rule of thumb she seems to follow is to attach an unrelated, trivial sentence at the end of a paragraph. Is that supposed to impart depth to the writing?

I know I haven't reached the meat of the novel yet. There is a war on the horizon. Typically one can expect to see a transformation in someone who has lived through a war. Given what I have seen so far, these characters may jump from one assigned characteristic to another, if the author tells them to. I don't expect to see any realistic, believable transitions. I am just going to live without knowing who all make it through the war. ( )