September 2023: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer who came to prominence with Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun - the first is a story of post-colonial Nigeria and the second a story of (and set it) the Biafran War.

What do you plan to read in September?

I'm up for this one - have read several of hers and have great respect for what she has to say.

I have read Half of a Yellow Sun (3*) and Americanah (4*), just in the past year. If I decide to participate (so many books/authors) I will see if I can get Purple Hibiscus for the library. Depends on if I feel I can handle severe domestic abuse or not.

Ive read half a yellow sun, purple hibiscus, we should all be feminists and Americanah Im sure there is something I have missed.

Ive read half a yellow sun, purple hibiscus, we should all be feminists and Americanah Im sure there is something I have missed. ETANotes on grief Havent read that thing around your neck or her other short story collection so Ill start there

I completed We Should All Be Feminists, a 50 page essay that argues that everybody, including men, should be feminists. I think that: 1) Adichie does not define what a feminist is 2) Adichie makes a good argument for bridging the divide between males and females and it must begin with how we raise our boys and how we raise our girls. Witty

I have started Half of a yellow sun and I am very much impressed with the writing. I'm savouring this and don't know yet if I can finish it in time...

And I have finished it. This was a great reading experience, learning about a very unfamiliar place. I liked the way she changed the viewpoint in each chapter to another person, but felt a little baffled by her decision the move back in time for the third part. And the descent into war and the atrocities is described so deceptively calmly, unsensationally. It grows on you slowly and stays in the memory.

read notes on grief remembering it was excerpted in the NYer a while back. Really good writing and very moving