A portrayal of the crippling civil war following the secession of the Igbo people to form the independent nation of Biafra in eastern Nigeria in the 1960s.

I bought this book because I was intrigued by the many raves and the recommendations in LT, but i'm afraid i belong to the tiny minority who are lukewarm to the novel, not finding it an exceptional work. The theme is without doubt noteworthy, and we feel the misery, the loss, the brutality of war, but Adichie's approach and treatment of the subject didn't leave much of an impact overall.

I didn't like that the book didn't seem to know what to get at even after 150 pages. It does get a bit better, and picked up much later but only towards the end. We meet the characters often, we see what's happening in their lives, it gives us a semblance of knowing them, but we never get to know them deeply because they do not engage us, we do not see into their psyche. Also, Adichie perhaps in her attempt to depict the "humanness" of the main characters (she calls it "emotional truth") overemphasizes their weakness instead so that they become very irritating -- for example, the characterization of Richard, the white man, as the spineless, needy and sniveling type, is repeated a lot of times that it becomes well, boring. Same thing with Olanna (one of the twin sisters) -- Adichie doesn't seem to have a very clear idea of how to portray her. I also found it disconcerting that the book doesn't give the reader the context, a background of events (historical and political) before the war unleashed -- the anchor is just not there, the reader gropes for an understanding but doesn't find it (in an almost 500-page book at that). Those many meetings by the academics and intellectuals at Odegnibe's house would have been very good venues for the author to provide this necessary background, but Adichie did not explore this -- we know what drinks these people liked, what hobbies they had, we know they made a lot of noise but we never get to know their opinions, their ideologies, their politics -- and they were supposed to represent the core intellectual and revolutionary elite on the verge of momentous events. Somehow it just doesn't connect.

Overall, i felt there was a lot of "noise" in this novel, a hesitation to challenge the reader to think, to reflect, there is plenty of skirting around without touching on a core theme, a lack of focus and depth. And she didn't seem to know how to end the book either...it seems to want to project uncertainty (with Keinene still missing) but is uncertain how to go about it, quite weak i should say. I'm glad I read it though -- it made me want to learn more about Biafra. ( )

Moving tale of lives affected by Nigerian civil war - an English immigrant, a glamorous woman and her mysterious sister and a houseboy. ( )

This is the powerfully told story of the Biafran War in Nigeria in the late 1960's. Following its independence from Britian in 1960, the different ethnic groups in Nigeria began experiencing more and more conflict among themselves as Nigeria struggled to establish itself among the nations of Africa and the world. In 1967, the Igbo people in the southeastern part of the country seceeded and declared themselves to be the independent State of Biafra, triggering a 3-year civil war which ended in Biafra being reabsorbed back into Nigeria. During the war, the Igbo people suffered terribly from famine, starvation and attacks from an overwhelming military force. This war was the source of many of the heart-wrenching photos of starving African children that were published in the US during that time.

The novel tells the story of the conflict from the point of view of 5 Biafran people: Ugwu, a village boy who becomes the houseboy of university professor Odenigbo. Odenigbo's lady friend, Olanna, is from a wealthy family and is London-educated and moves in with him and they eventually marry. Olanna's twin sister, Kainene, is a tough, no-nonense business woman who takes Richard, an English writer, as her lover. These 4 Igbo people flee their homes in the northern part of the country when the Hausa's begin a series of massacres of ethnic Igbo's. Richard, obviously not Igbo, still considers himself to be Biafran and works as hard to support their independence as anyone else.

I thought the book was excellent. Adichie manages to convey the horrors of war, the ravages of famine and starvation, the fear and uncertainity of being forced to flee from one location to another, leaving home and possessions behind, not knowing the fate of loved ones, the frustration of dealing with the bureaucracy of relief efforts, and the humiliation of needing to beg and depend on the generosity of strangers for food in a realistic manner without being too oppressive. She also shows us the optimism of belief in a just cause, the generosity of the destitute sharing what little they have, the corruption of power, and the guilt of deeds done.

I came away with the feeling that life is uncertain, nothing is guaranteed. Bad things can happen to anyone, and love and happiness can be found anywhere. I highly recommend the book. ( )

A novel set in the Biafran war era of Nigeria's history (late 60s) written by a Nigerian writer too young to have lived through the events. Told in broad brush-strokes by the actions of the main characters (Adichie says her aim is "to show, not tell") the result is powerful. Maybe the war is such a horror that any attempt to explain, through an omniscient narrator, what people were thinking would be a failure. A good book by an author to watch for the future. Read September 2009. ( )

A good description of African middle class in times of war and violence. The book enlightens international politics in Nigerian civil war and the day to day struggle of ordinary people. The time periods of the story sometimes cause confusion. ( )