Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
69 of 70 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping plot, powerful themes, excellent..., 25 Sep 2006
`Half of A Yellow Sun' confirms Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie as one of my favourite authors. Following up a very successful first novel is always difficult but this is exceptional writing.
While tackling a difficult subject, the lead up to and the course of Nigeria's Biafra War in the 1960's, it is told in a very readable and accessible way. The events unfold through the eyes of three central characters who are swept along in the chaos of civil war. There is Ugwu, the houseboy of a university lecturer; Olanna, the lecturer's partner; and Richard, an English journalist who lives with Olanna's twin sister. They are forced together and separated in unexpected ways throughout the war, each witnessing events that affect them deeply.
Interwoven in the main plot are other important themes, the necessity (for the innocent people displaced by war) and ineffectiveness (through corruption and misappropriation) of emergency relief aid; the use of child soldiers and horrors they are forced to endure; how the West perceives Africa (a good example being the situation when two American reporters are more interested in the death of one white journalist than one thousand local, black civilians); how religion, tribal loyalties and the political elite can tear a country apart; and how many of these factors can be traced back to the impact that colonialism had on the country. There are significant lessons that can be drawn from this novel, particularly with regards to how the world is dealing with the current crisis in Darfur, for example.
The structure of the novel worked well, creating intrigue and suspense throughout. It was gripping from start to finish but the tension that built in the final section meant it had to be read in one session - there was no way it could be put down.
It is one of those few books that leave you staring at the final page, not wanting to believe that it's all over. Needless to say, given the topic, it is quite a harrowing and distressing account of war. But the author's passion and dedication for her country (especially since she lost a number of her own relatives in the war) shows throughout the book. The way she describes its resilient people, traditional food (except for Harrison's rather amusing obsession with Western food), and local traditions leave you with a feeling that you have been to Nigeria yourself.
It will undoubtedly be a major contribution to African literature and is highly recommended.
|
|
|
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Ties That Bind . . . in Peace and War, 7 May 2007
Highly recommended!
Strip away the thin veneer of civilization, and history teaches that you can quickly fall into savagery. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie disagrees with that conclusion. She sees elemental nobility in people that overcomes for most even the most trying conditions. As a result, Half of a Yellow Sun is a very hopeful work, despite recounting the horrors of the Biafran attempt to separate from Nigeria in 1967-70. She also realizes that even the best people will slip up . . . and deserve forgiveness when they do if they repent.
However, betray someone at a personal level . . . and that's much harder to take than mere life-threatening and degrading challenges. The contrast between surviving external conditions and personal betrayal is deftly and powerfully made in this kaleidoscope of how world politics, colonial policies, religious differences, tribal influences, geographical prejudices, racism, economic class consciousness, business activities, family connections, friendships, sexual desire, obligations, and personal favors interplay.
At the center of the story is one household at rural Nsukka University comprised of the socialist-leaning professor Odenigbo, his beautiful mistress Olanna, daughter of Chief Ozobia, and their houseboy, Ugwu. The plot also heavily involves Olanna's fraternal twin sister, Kainene, who runs the family business interests and her lover, the ineffectual English writer, Richard Churchill. Intellectuals from Odenigbo's university circles also stand-in as surrogates for various attitudes in society. In fact, each character is clearly symbolic of one part of the story or the other. Follow their fates, and you get a good sense of the author's ideas of what happened to the overall social fabric.
Two things make this book special: First, Ms. Adichie has captured the psychologies of different times in Nigeria and Biafra in a subtle and interesting way. Her book is very much more about the psychological landscape than about the physical one. No doubt she was helped by her interviews with her relatives and others still living who experienced those days. Second, she takes the time to endow ordinary life with extraordinary meaning. It's a beautiful gift.
The book has two weaknesses from my perspective: Ms. Adichie curiously decides to turn some of the personal events into a mystery so that for some pages you see characters estranged from one another . . . but without knowing the reason. I felt like this approach simply served to make the story harder to understand . . . as though the reader didn't really qualify to know family matters. The other weakness is that many characters are drawn very superficially while Ms. Adichie shows enormous skill in portraying great depths concerning Olanna, Ugwu, and Odenigbo.
For those of us who don't live in Africa, it's always exciting to see events there from the perspective of Africans . . . rather than American journalists and visiting politicians. I felt deeply rewarded by reading this fine book.
|
|
|
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Igbo perspective, 11 Jan 2008
It seems one has to go to authors from the developing world to get good novels these days, Afghanistan or Nigeria. Yes it is still Nigeria despite this book by an Igbo author being a great apology for Biafra. Other Amazon reviewers do not seem to pick up as to how one sided this perspective is. Northerners resented the Igbos for their intelligent commercial acumen. When they staged the first military coup, retaliation was sure to come. The one thing I found incredible in this book was the assertion that some expatriates encouraged the killing of Igbos in the North. I had friends in the North who witnessed the murders, They were horrified and traumatised by the butchery and never recounted any expatriate approval let alone encouragement of genocide.
This is a powerful well told story. The life of well to do Nigerians and expatriates in the newly independent Nigeria is well related. But were Nigerian sixties women as free with sexual favours as the twins i this novel?
The horror of the civil war is graphically portrayed and makes for uncomfortable reading. I found the reversion to earlier years part way through to be a confusing weakness in the story.
This is well told from an igbo perspective. Biafran soldiers are portrayed as brutal rapists. Not only their enemies were wicked. But not all Nigerians on the federal side were vandals.Gowon is an upright Christian and his magnanimous words in victory ae recorded. There is no explanation of why the British government backed federal Nigeria against much of public opinion. I believe the British were indeed indirectly responsible for this tragedy whem they kept missionaries and therefore education out of the Muslim North for so many years. They left a new country where educated southerners felt educationally superior to Muslim Northerners who believe the y have a divine right to rule.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
Watch the author talk about this book in Windows Media
Player format: 
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
by Irene Nemirovsky
by Khaled Hosseini
by Chinua Achebe
by Stef Penney
See all Product Description
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). 
Amazon Home