Half of a Yellow Sun

It was time for me to revisit one of my favorite authors, Chimamanda Adichie. I'm waiting for the library to deliver my next book for the little web class I'm taking so in the interim I picked up an older Adichie book. I read her most recent book in July, and if you read my post about it then you already know I have a mild obsession. I actually thought I read Half of a Yellow Sun before, but I didn't.  I think I bought it in the past, but I may have loaned it out prior to reading or lost it in a move or donated it. Either way, I read it now and yes I enjoyed it immensely.

When I was reading this book, I was so vividly transported to Nigeria that the reading environment around me (coffee shop, my apartment, the park) would dissipate. I would look up and blink a few times and remind myself I was not currently in Nigeria or Biafra. The book also permeated my non-reading life in odd ways. For example, I made a stew the other day. While I was making it, I cut the meat for it into very small bits because I wanted to make sure there was meat in every bite.  In the book there is a lot of discussion about whether or not people have meat in their soups because there is a war going on and subsequent food rationing. Here I was cutting up meat for a stew thinking "I am glad I have meat in my soup".  That is a testament to the power of good writing. Adichie does this for me in all her writing.  She has a way of pulling you into the story and the story into your life.

The book is beautifully written. The story follows five main characters, Olanna and Kainene (sisters), Odenigbo and Richard (their significant others), and Ugwu (the houseboy) as they start off in a united Nigeria and are thrown into the Biafran war in the late 1960s.  It has all the expected drama of war; bombs, deaths, evacuations, displaced family, famine, starvation, and so on.  However, the personal experiences of each character and how they respond to their rapidly changing environment is the real story. I admit my knowledge of African civil/ethnic wars is abysmal. After reading this story, I did more research into Nigerian history and the Biafran war.  It made me appreciate the story so much more.  I am truly a fan of Adichie's work and I expect I will be a lifelong one.  If I taught a literature class I would make this required reading.  I highly recommend it.

Of note: I get very uneasy with the subject of rape and sexual exploitation and there are several descriptions of it in the book as a weapon of war. This was not unexpected, but I always like to give people a heads-up about it if you have uneasiness like me.  However, there are tender love scenes between the couples as well so the contrasting effect is helpful.