Jul 26

Jul 26 Half of a Yellow Sun

Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Publisher: Knopf (originally, 2006)
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Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

With effortless grace, celebrated author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie illuminates a seminal moment in modern African history: Biafra's impassioned struggle to establish an independent republic in southeastern Nigeria during the late 1960s. We experience this tumultuous decade alongside five unforgettable characters: Ugwu, a thirteen-year-old houseboy who works for Odenigbo, a university professor full of revolutionary zeal; Olanna, the professor’s beautiful young mistress who has abandoned her life in Lagos for a dusty town and her lover’s charm; and Richard, a shy young Englishman infatuated with Olanna’s willful twin sister Kainene. Half of a Yellow Sun is a tremendously evocative novel of the promise, hope, and disappointment of the Biafran war.

TL;DR Review

Half of a Yellow Sun is a heartbreaking novel about the Biafran war, which took place in Nigeria in the 1960s. It’s not an easy read, but it is affecting and an incredible feat of writing.

For you if: You are interested in learning more about the Biafran war, in a hauntingly beautiful way.

Full Review

“There are some things that are so unforgivable that they make other things easily forgivable.”

I read Half of a Yellow Sun as part of the #ReadingWomen challenge, as it won the Women’s Prize in 2007.

This book takes place during the Biafran War, which was a civil war in Nigeria in the 1960s. It switches back and forth between the early 60s and the late 60s, featuring five characters: a houseboy, his master, his master's girlfriend, her twin sister, and her twin sister's boyfriend.

This book is a hard read. War brings gore, sexual violence, and suffering children, to name a few. We get up close and very personal with these characters. We cry with them and hope with them and feel their pain so deeply. It’s masterful when it comes to craft, and it can't be denied that Adichie's writing does what it's meant to do very, very well.

There were some sections that were a little slower, but I do have to say that I really liked the multiple switches between the early and late 60s. She used that jump to build a lot of curiosity and keep me turning pages.

Reading this book also shone a glaring light on the substantial gap that is my ignorance about African history. If you're looking to start filling in gaps of your own, then Half of a Yellow Sun is required reading.