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. ( )

The main reason I wanted to read Half of a Yellow Sun was the fact that it was one of the books my book group had done before I joined. For the same reason, I didn't actually spend more than half a second finding out what it was about. And even if I read a summary, I must have thought Biafra sounded vaguely familiar but it wasn't until I was well into the novel that I started realising what it meant, and went on to find out a little more before finishing the novel.

With three protagonists whose lives overlap, Half of a Yellow Sun takes the readers through the early years of Nigerian independence and the years of civil war that followed. The idealism and a sense of everything being possible start to fade when Biafra, after separating from Nigeria, becomes increasingly torn by war and hunger. I found those chapters increasingly difficult to read, and very much heartbreaking. ( )

Book-wise, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun just ravaged me. It's not fluffy but it's very, very good.

A brilliant novel with brilliant characterisations. I also really enjoyed how the narrative switched back and forth between a time before and during the Biafran conflict. I'm not sure in my own mind how this affects the novel's impact as a piece of war fiction. The waste of life is evident, but does the complacency and idealism of the university characters make them complicit in what happened, or is their early existence something to aspire to, something that would stopped the war if more thought along the same lines. Of course, the author does not let us know, but I found it a little frustrating not to be clear in my own mind. In part I think this was because of a lack of characters drawn in detail from more humble beginnings. Ugwu the houseboy does not count because he aspires in every way to be like his master. Superb novel then, from a superb storyteller; but just a bit more on the historical context, more characters from all sides and this could have added up to an African 'War and Peace'. ( )

I had to get well into this book before I began to really enjoy it, it took that long to develop the characters and set up the plot, but once I did it was an excellent read. Olanna and Kainene are twin sisters who could not be more different. They have grown up in the lap of luxury and are well educated African women who represent Nigeria's future in the 1960's.

Odenigbo, a black college professor and Olanna's lover, engages in intellectual discussions with other college professors who frequently examine the issues that lead to the war for independence where they hope to be a part of a new Biafra when its splits with Nigeria.

Richard Churchill, a white Brit and Kainene's lover, loves his African life and considers himself a Biafran even though not many other people agree with this dsecription.

Ugwu, is Olanna and Odenigbo's houseboy but they love him and send him to school and have plans to send him to college also, so he is really a part of the family.

The interactions between these five people make for an intriguing plot line that becomes more complicated as the war progresses. The war provides the background and the impetus for the coming of age story for Ugwu, redemption for Olanna and Kainene as they discover the lost joy they used to share with each other, acceptance by Richard as he realizes that he is not the one to tell the story of Biafra, and discovery by Odenigbo as he comes to terms with the new world order. All of this happens amid the horrors of a brutal war where children are the unintentional victims through starvation and conscription. Highly recommended. ( )

This one is set in 1960s Nigeria, not something I knew a lot about before. I learned a lot and the story and characters were really interesting to me, but in places her descriptions of people get a little repetitive. ( )

excellently written the book captures the lives of three very different characters throughout a time of turmoil in the country which they are inhabitting. The three characters chosen were brilliant because they each showed a different perspective on the war as they had different roles. Harsh and shocking the book is heart breaking but it is really an art the way that Adiche manages to give you an understanding of true hunger and poverty. Truely brilliant

I loved this book. I love this author. I have read Purple Hibiscus and loved it too.

There has been some criticism regarding the sense of emotional removal from the horrors of war in Adichie's writing. I know from personal experience that when going through such tragedy one has to become emotionally void at times. I think Adichie was able to express the gripping emotional turmoil in the characters as well as capture the essence of emotional shutdown some of the victims experienced at times. Just beautifully written. ( )

There are so many things to say about this novel. I was completely swept away to another time and place while reading it. It basically follows the lives of three main characters during the Nigerian-Biafran War (1967-1970). This was a brutal war where the Igbo or Ibo (eebo) were slaughtered just for being Ibo. As the world falls apart around them, Olanna and Odenigbo who have become accustomed to the finer things in life, are stripped of all their worldly possessions and forced to focus on survival.

Ugwu, the boy servant who works for Olanna and Odenigbo, ended up being my favorite character. His innocence and boyishness is so well drawn. There were times where I just wanted to shake him and say, "Silly Ugwu! What were you thinking?" We really get to know Ugwu and his thoughts as he cares for Baby, Olanna and Odenigbo's young daughter. Ugwu is a constant reminder of the class differences within Nigeria. Although he is often considered part of the family, he quietly takes his place as the houseboy and never questions his place within the household.

There are other characters within the novel that I enjoyed as well. Richard, the Englishman that falls in love with Olanna's twin sister, Kainene. Richard is a misfit of sorts. A struggling writer who believes in the freedom fight and will do anything to win Kainene over. Although educated, he struggles with his place in the world.

Adichie's portrayal of a war-torn state is vividly real at times. There are some violent scenes within the book and depictions of rape. I do not have a strong stomach when it comes to rape but these scenes accurately depict the horrors that the Ibo people were forced to live with during their quest for freedom.

My book group met last night to discuss the book and it was a good discussion. Most fell in love with the characters and found the writing quite easy to follow. Although the novel is 500+ pages, you do not notice its length as you are reading it. Although it deals with a heavy subject matter, there are moments of hopefulness and even humor at times. I highly recommend this novel. ( )

I don't tend to read books set outside of North America and I'm not sure why. I'm a social worker and am very conscientious about diversity, but if you look at my bookshelf (or even my virtual bookshelf here at LT), you'll see mostly authors from the US and Canada. After reading Half of a Yellow Sun, I'm going to be change to this. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie told such a compelling story about a part of the world and during a time that I know close to nothing about. And I believe that part of her argument in this novel was exactly that: the US and other "major" countries tend to be very ignorant about what's going on in the world and look at other countries' struggles through a very simplistic lens.

This novel was set in Nigeria during the 60s. Because of interference by the British government, different regions of Nigeria hated each other. Southeast Nigeria seceded from the rest of the country to become the independent nation of Biafra. This book switches back and forth between very different characters and chronicles their pain and their struggles throughout the war.

I won't go into describing the characters, because you can get that from simply reading the back of the book, but there is one character that I'd like to mention. Richard is a white Englishman who has fallen in love with the country and one of it's inhabitants. He so desperately wants to be considered a Biafran, but that will never happen because of his white skin. There is one passage that really struck me, which happened right as the massacres were beginning. He was in an airport and watched the brutal murders of several people. Afterward, he realized that he was living his life the same as before and he had these thoughts (page 211 in my edition):

But he couldn't let himself be. He didn't believe that life was the same for all the other people who had witnessed the massacres. Then he felt more frightened at the thought that perhaps he had been nothing more than a voyeur. He had not feared for his own life, so the massacres became external, outside of him; he had watched them through the detached lens of knowing he was safe. But that couldn't be; Kainene would not have been safe if she had been there.

It was this realization that he knew he wouldn't have been hurt simply because of the color of his skin, so he couldn't be one of the people that was being targeted. He could not be an Igbo, so he would be fine. I believe this is an important part of Adichie's story: when we are not the ones being targeted, we're not as affected and we're more willing to turn a blind eye or be silent.

Now, I realize the irony of singling out the only white person in this entire story, but I think he was put in the story for that very reason - to point out that there will always be people who won't be affected by war and injustice, but that is not reason to be silent or complacent.

This was a very powerful book and I recommend to everyone, regardless of age, sex, or nationality. ( )

Half of a Yellow Sun follows the lives of three characters whose lives are connected. Ugwu is a thirteen year old boy who leaves his village to become a house-boy for a university professor. He realises his life is not like the life of other house-boys. They do not sleep in a spare room within the homes of their Masters, nor are they encouraged to read books the way that Ugwu is. Ugwu is eager to please and proves himself constantly to be a valuable asset to his Master's household.

Olanna is the professor's mistress. She and her twin sister have led priveleged lives in Lagos, due to their father's status. She gives up that life in order to live a more exciting life with her "revolutionary lover" as her sister often describes the professor.

Then there is Richard, Unlike the rest of the characters within the pages, Richard is a white man who is eager to make his life in Africa. He is obesessed with Olanna's twin sister, who is very different from Olanna, as she is a very strong, fearless, and independent woman.

Their lives change when war breaks out - the book re-creates the struggle of the 1960's between Nigeria and Biafra - and as igbo speaking people, they find themselves fighting for the right to live.

I don't know where to start with this book. I fell in love with it in a way that is rare for me. The characters are each filled with such energy and very distinctive, and I think what surprised me the most with the characters, is that even those who make a brief appearance were wonderfully defined. The detail of the war itself is phenomenal and often brutal. Chilling scenes are often described such as when Olanna is on a train on her way back home. Olanna is seated on the floor, urine spreading on the floor of the train and a lady asks her to come and take a look at something. Olanna looks into the bowl that the woman is holding and there is a little girl's head with ashy-gray skin, braided hair, rolled-back eyes and open mouth. That's an image that will stay with me for a long time.

Raw emotion leaps from the pages in this novel and I often found myself biting my lip as I worried about the characters. Thanks to the brilliant detail, each of them is so easy to feel attached to and I had to keep stopping myself from skipping ahead to reassure myself that they were all fine.

The glimpse of another culture was definitely what made this book something special for me though. I enjoyed learning about the foods, the language - there are words in igbo sprinkled throughout the pages -, the people, and the landscape. It was just an amazing novel. It says a lot that it's a little over 400 pages and I practically inhaled it in just over a day.

This one is a definite must read.

Author's website: http://www.halfofayellowsun.com/ ( )

Have kept this book as it was a gift from my son, however I didn't really enjoy it, and didn't finish it. Gave up 3/4's of the way through. Is set in an era and country that does not interest me. 1960's Africa. ( )

I don't really know how to rate this book. As most political novels are, this was widely hailed on publication. I found its perspective on the famine forced upon the Biafran population by the Nigerian government different and interesting, because it is personal and somewhat oblique. Otherwise we have capable storytelling of one small group's participation in the horror of the Biafran war for independence.

I guess I don't approach fiction with much of a political mindset. If the praise, by contrast, is for the artistic merits of the book and not its subject matter, then I become confused. If books that deal with events such as these is your cup of tea, then this will fulfill your desire. ( )

Complex well written novel set before and during the Biafran war .Evocative but somehow cold and distant descriptions of the effects of starvation .Yes I know that sounds daft but it seems to present starvation in a cerebral and emotional way but somehow misses the visceral physicality of hunger.
Interesting and readable ( )

Set during the Biafrian conflict in Nigeria. It certainly taught me a lot about a conflict that I heard about regularly in the news but didn't fully understand. The characters and the emense change in their lives brought it to life. Very engaging. ( )

ma critique

a story of love, family and class with the backdrop of the Biafra separation movement. The characters are so alive and you see them change both because of personal events (love and loss thereof) and the world around them. An excellent read which also educates (without being pedantic). ( )

‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ is captivating. I have told myself that I need to read non-Caucasian female authors (as they are a group that seems to be singularly missing from my reading log); so I was easily sold on buying a copy of this book. (And if you check out the amazon.com page for this book you’ll see that it even has it’s own video for marketing). I was a very young child when the Biafran/Nigeria conflict was occurring and I only have distant and vague recollections of calls for aid to Biafra. This story will leave you in no doubt about the nature and cost of this conflict. It is disturbing and wonderfully affirming in measure, turn by turn. I found the Englishman, Richard to be a some what flattish character cut to a complex design, but flat all the same, and in some places the dialogue had me thinking about grading High School Papers (good ones but…) so I wasn’t as enthralled as some people have appeared to be having read this novel. I do think it is a gripping story told extremely well and I would not hesitate to recommend it; the impact on me has been such that I have gone out of my way to learn more about that period in Nigerian/Biafran history and I don’t always follow up my reading with that sort of work! ( )

a heartbreaking tale through the wrenching events of a country at war and the effects it has on the people involved. i was intrigued by this book from the first to last page. the characters and african culture and landscape were so vivid they practically came to life. what a wonderful and amazing book! ( )

A very interesting and revealing novel which throws some light on the history of Nigeria

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is not about the Biafra war. It's a family drama set before and during the Biafra war. It is to Ms. Adichie's great credit that the reader does not have to know anything about the setting or the events of the war; her story will tell us all we need to know without trying to teach us outright.

There are five main characters. Central to the story are two sisters, twins, Olanna and Kainene, daughters of privilege with very wealthy parents and the best educations money can buy. Olanna gives up her wealth to become the mistress of Odenigbo, a passionate, young professor who holds regular salons where the issues of the day and plans for the future of post-colonial Nigeria are discussed. Kainene takes an Englishman, Richard, as her lover. Richard, who is white, can move among the inner circle of the Europeans who continue to live in Nigeria after Independence. He is also fluent enough in African languages and customs to achieve a quasi-insider status among Kainene's circle. The fifth character is Ugwu, Odenigbo's houseboy, who provides a window into village life and the lives of the lower classes in 1960's Nigeria.

The family drama that plays out among these five characters would be sufficient to fill a lesser novel. But this story is set in 1960's Nigeria, and the characters are all Igbo, even Richard initially stayed in Africa to study Igbo artifacts. In the 1960's, violence broke out between the largely Christian Igbo in Southern Nigeria and the Muslim Huasa in the north. The Igbo were brutally massacred in several northern locations and forced to flee the the southern part of the country. In response, they declared independence, and set up the country of Biafra. Nigeria, went to war to reunite the country and bring the land of Biafra, and the oil underneath it, back into the fold. Nigeria was supported by most of the world including England and Russia. Biafra was officially recognized by only a handful of African nations and never relieved much more than humanitarian support, and not very much of that. In spite of this, the tiny nation managed to survive for three years before finally surrendering to Nigeria.

I am not expert enough to comment on Ms. Adichie's presentation of Biafra's history, but as far as the novel goes, I don't think it matters if she got all of the details correct. The broader picture is accurate, and it's the novelistic details that really matter here--the story of how one family tried to survive famine, war and each other while the rest of the world largely turned its back and looked away.

Half of a Yellow Sun is a big novel, in the 19th century sense of the word. Ms. Adichie takes her time introducing the cast of characters to us. Each of the initial chapters is devoted to one or two characters, giving us a chance to really get to know one before we meet the next. Ms. Adichie takes her time introducing the war, as well. The book is divided into four sections that go back and forth between the early sixties, years before the war began, and the late sixties when the war took place. This works to help make an unbearable subject bearable. We need to know the what the characters and their lives were like before the war began to fully appreciate what happened and how the war changed them. The Biafran war itself is rightly remembered, when it is remembered, as one of the great horrors of the 20th century. Telling that story for 200 plus pages would make for very difficult reading. (Ms. Adichie would surely lose most of the members of my book club in the process.) The third part of the book flashes back from wartime to the more peaceful early sixties. But make no mistake, this is not a book that shys away from its subject matter. Each of the two sisters, Olanna and Kainene witness a very specific event that haunts them throughout the rest of the novel. Ms. Adichie is able to drive home all the terrible crimes of the Biafra war through these two events and through the changes Ugwu undergoes once he is conscripted to fight for Biafra.

I was struck by how much Half of a Yellow Sun reminded me of what I like most about Olivia Manning's Balkan and Levant Trilogies. Manning's six novels are about a British couple who spend World War II in civilian jobs, he is a professor, in Yugosalvia, Greece and Egypt, one step ahead of the fighting. They are set during wartime, but they are really the portrait of a marriage. What's memorable about Ms. Manning's work and about Half of a Yellow Sun is the characters, their lives, their loves, their struggle to survive and to stand for their principles under great duress. Both authors write to pay tribute to the people they depict, but Ms. Adichie also writes to pay tribute to an idea, Biafra, to remind us what happened there, to make sure the world does not forget. ( )