Half of a Yellow Sun

Written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Narrated by Zainab Jah

THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION ‘WINNER OF WINNERS’

‘A literary masterpiece’ DAILY MAIL

‘An immense achievement’ OBSERVER

‘A gorgeous, pitiless account of love, violence and betrayal’ TIME

In 1960s Nigeria, three lives intersect. Ugwu works as a houseboy for a university professor. Olanna has abandoned her life of privilege in Lagos to live with her charismatic lover, the lecturer. And Richard, a shy Englishman, is in thrall to Olanna’s enigmatic twin sister. Amongst the horror of Nigeria’s civil war, loyalties are tested as they are pulled apart and thrown together in ways none of them imagined.

Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s masterpiece is a novel about race, class and the end of colonialism – and the ways in which love can complicate everything.

‘Vividly written, thrumming with life … a remarkable novel’ Joyce Carol Oates

‘Adichie entwines love and politics to a degree rarely achieved by novelists’ Elle

‘Absolutely awesome. One of the best books I’ve ever read’ Judy Finnigan

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Sep 28, 2017
• ISBN: 9780008225759

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the author of Purple Hibiscus, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize, Half of a Yellow Sun, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction; and acclaimed story collection The Thing Around Your Neck. Americanah, was published around the world in 2013, received numerous awards and was named one of New York Times Ten Books of the Year. A recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, she divides her time between the United States and Nigeria.

Reviews for Half of a Yellow Sun

[munchie13 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Easily one of the best books I have ever read. The story was intricate - I enjoyed the non-linear timeline, especially because it was so seamless I didn't even notice at first. The characters were all rich and the author did not shy away from difficult topics/actions that may cause readers to dislike them. The relationships between characters were complicated and felt more "real" than the simplified relationships in many other stories. 10/10 recommend.

[bell7_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the 1960s, a group of idealistic academics get together to talk about Nigeria and the direction their country is going. Odenigbo hosts, and his girlfriend Olanna, her family, and his houseboy Ugwu all get caught up in the tumultuous events of Biafran independence and the ensuing war.Though it's a sweeping tale covering several years, Adichie focuses so brilliantly on her characters that the reader is drawn in to their lives, dreams, and events that affect them specifically. In part, she drew on her parents' experiences during the Biafran war, and though she mentions in the author's note that she didn't always stay historically accurate for the sake of the story, Adichie clearly has done her research and includes a page-long bibliography for anyone interested in following up and reading more. I knew nothing of these events, but could still follow the story and the raw human drama and emotion she brings out in these characters. I may not quite be able to bring myself to read it again, but I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction or literary fiction with strong character development.

[eilonwy_anne · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I liked Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's first novel, Purple Hibiscus, so I picked up her second, more ambitious book. It's set before and during the Nigerian-Biafran War of 1967-1970.I don't call this book more ambitious than Purple Hibiscus just because it tackles a war within living memory. It has multiple points of view, and executes a few small chronological jumps. Each of the point-of-view characters, who differ in age, race, gender and class, traces a believable and human arc. This is no small feat, and Adichie pulls it off handily. Adichie's writing style is a little hard to describe. It doesn't draw attention to itself with virtuosic description, but it's very effective: she puts the right word in the right place, and is very adept at choosing the perfect detail to make a scene or moment come to life.The book starts out with a rather leisurely pace and following the most naive POV character, the houseboy Ugwu. This allowed a non-Nigerian reader like me to get her bearings, and then ensured I really knew the characters and cared about them before larger events began to affect their lives. The book is very moving, and occasionally hard to read. Even though I knew it was coming, the first outbreak of violence was shocking, an almost physical shock. She does a beautiful job of showing us large events through individual lives.Adichie tells a complex and disturbing story with a large, vivid cast, and draws it to an ending that feels true. A remarkable book.Notes on the audiobook: The narrator, Robin Miles, was amazing. She apparently won an award for this recording, and I'm not surprised: she does great voices of all ages, both genders, with accents from Alabama, small Nigerian villages, London, and combinations thereof. That's on top of great diction and dramatic sense. I may have a new favorite narrator (sorry, Davina Porter.)

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I listened to this book which was narrated by the stage actress Zainab Jah. She did a terrific job and it really added to the experience of the book to have her voicing the characters in, what seems to me, authentic accents. This book takes place in Nigeria during the 1960s and culminates when the Biafran nation is overcome by the better armed and financed Nigerian soldiers. I did not know much about the Biafran war and the quest for independence of an Igbo nation until this book and I thought the author did a fantastic job of bringing that period to life.Nigeria consists of a number of different tribes, chief among them the Igbo and Hausa tribes who have long been in conflict. The Igbo seem to be the monied and intellectual class which causes them to be resented by the others. The story centres on twin sisters, Olanna and Kainene, daughters of a rich merchant who have been educated in England. When they return to Nigeria Olanna becomes a professor in the Igbo university while Kainene goes into the fathers business in Port Harcourt. Olanna moves in with her Igbo lover, Odenigbo, who is a professor of mathematics. Kainene refers to him as Olanna's revolutionary lover because Odenigbo and his friends gather in the house most nights to talk about politics and reform. Kainene has a white British man, Richard, as a lover. He lives in the same town as Olanna and Odenigbo while he tries to write a book about Nigeria. The other main character is Odenigbo's houseboy, Ugwu, who comes to work as an uneducated village boy but with support from his master (as he calls Odenigbo) he goes to school, learns to read and write and becomes fascinated by the talk of the people who gather in his master's house. He is fiercely supportive of Olanna and very protective of the little girl raised by Olanna and Odenigbo who is called Baby throughout the book. There is an incident that drives Olanna and Kainene apart until the late days of the Biafran war. As the whole world knows the poverty in Biafra was extreme and even privileged people like the sisters and their lovers scramble for food. They are also both driven out of their homes by the invading Nigerian forces. Olanna and Odenigbo actually have to moves a number of times, each time ending up in a place worse than the previous. Finally they are taken in by Kainene and Richard and the sisters finally achieve a rapprochement. For a while Ugwu was missing having been captured by Biafran soldiers needing fresh recruits. Ugwu learned to make and detonate a crude explosive device and killed a number of opposing soldiers until he was badly injured himself. His experiences as a soldier haunt him as do all the deaths and rapes that occurred during the war to people he loved. Although Richard never completes his book Ugwu writes one that documents the war experience. This is a powerful book telling a powerful story. It truly deserves a place on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list.

[hazelk_9 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wasn't totally convinced by this prize-winning novel. It's the sort of book that makes one feel guilty if not highly praised because of its subject matter, the divisive and terrorising war in in Biafra. My problem was that except for the young boy, Ugwu, employed in the household at the beginning I had difficulty in caring overmuch about any of the characters.

[curatorial_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A great way to learn about Biafra, and a story told with an excellent sense of historical distance. But the prose can be clunky and the character development felt hazy. Great ending--very well done.

[chillybee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Once I started reading this book I could not put it down. The author gets you to really care about the main characters, and the historical context is tragic but compelling. An excellent book.

[theampersand · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A thoughtful, well-written novel about the Nigerian civil war. Many of the issues addressed here will be familiar to readers of post-colonial literature, but Adichie's honesty and insight separate this novel from the pack. She's clear-eyed about what it means to live in a divided society and is careful to stay away from stereotypes and easy generalizations. Nigeria's culture of corruption and its social inequalities are addressed head-on, and she doesn't apologize for the experiences of her better educated, more Westernized characters. Even the most admirable characters here aren't fuzzy-headed one-worlders – Adichie allows them to display their own ethnic loyalties and lets them get caught up in the excitement and blindness of war. It's these characters' very real imperfections, and Adichie's decision to introduce us to these characters well before the outbreak of hostilities, that will make a reader care about them to the very end. "Half of a Yellow Sun" is also a novel where you benefit from somebody else's research – I feel like I know much more about the Biafran conflict than I did previously, and I didn't have to plow through any dry history books to learn something about it. It's not a beach read, certainly, but it's recommended.

[Lewis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A beautiful, powerful and compelling read. It shines a light through the shadows of history and leaves you questioning whether the present is that much different. "The world was silent when we died."

[wandering_star_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

When I started this book, it immediately drew me in. Ugwe, a village boy, is being taken to his new employer's home by his aunt. He is sure that she is exaggerating when she tells him that as a servant in this house, he will eat meat every day. However, as the book went on, it became less and less satisfying. The characters are - not one-dimensional exactly, but it seems as if each of them could be summed up in one line. This is frustrating, as their relationships develop over the story with the complexity of real life, but their personalities never quite catch up. For example, the relationship between the two sisters, one beautiful but rebelling against the moneyed world of her parents; the other sardonic and savvy, 'the ugly one' who takes over her father's business. This should have been a fascinating dynamic. But all the story gives you, even at the end, is one sister wanting to be liked, the other an aloof mystery. The other drawback for me was that everything in the story was made explicit - no piece of background or character's motivation was left for the reader to work out for themselves. Unfortunately, these meant that I never came to care very much about the characters. In fact, if I'd accidentally left this book on the train, I wouldn't have bothered to get another copy so that I could finish it. I can see why many other readers have enjoyed this book - it takes the reader to a place and time that most of us know very little about; its world is imagined in vivid detail; and some of the writing is beautiful. But for me, it felt like a missed opportunity.

[paradiseporch · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Set in 1960s Nigeria, before and during the civil war that birthed —and then snuffed out— Biafra, Half of a Yellow Sun tells the story of a small middle-class family, supporters of the new country. At first, only the ideal of the academics in southern Nigeria, the move to secede gained impetus after a shift in government power that resulted in ethnic killings, based on tribal lines. The “take-no-prisoners” approach to battle launched the country into a bloodbath from 1967-1970.Half of a Yellow Sun focuses on a middle-class professor and his family through the early 1960s and then through the war. There are reports of what the soldiers are doing, but for the most part, the emphasis is on civilians – why they supported Biafra and how the war affected them.(S)he unfurled Odenigbo’s cloth flag and told them what the symbols meant. Red was the blood of the siblings massacred in the North, black was for mourning them, green was for the prosperity Biafra would have, and, finally, the half of the yellow sun stood for the glorious future.Both of the author’s grandfathers lost their lives in the war, and Odichie writes with a familiarity of circumstance unavailable to an outsider. The story is powerful, even though it is removed from the front lines – or perhaps because it is. The exodus of refugees, erosion of living standards, and mass starvation are brought to life by this compelling novel.It was an eye-opening history lesson for me and raises the question again of the ethics of involvement in foreign conflicts.Read this if: you want an introduction to the history of Nigerian politics of this time; or you want to know why all those starving children stared at us from the UNICEF posters in 1969. 4½ stars

[lisayork-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Powerful book, compelling writing, and informative about life during the Biafra Wars. Well-developed characters amidst a backdrop that draws readers in.

[patl_53 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A powerful and well written novel about the Nigeria/Biafra civil war. Adichie is an astounding writer, advanced beyond her years.

[wendyrey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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

[reader3t · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

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.

[steve38 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A well written, well constructed book. The young author deserves a lot of credit for the sustained piece of work based on family memories and much reading of works by older writers who had direct experience of the Biafran War. A careful selection of characters and structure allows the story of the war to be told from different viewpoints all of them civilian. This is not a military history and all the better for it. The only caveat I would make is that the story is told very much from the experience of a well-off, middle class point of view. A Biafran story but very much with a setting familiar to a European audience. The experience of many Biafrans was much more horrific than the story told here. But it's a novel not an authoritative history and as such it does a very good job.

[gbelik_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a great read and a compelling story set in the late sixties during the struggle for Biafra's independence from Nigeria. It's a very sad story, but also a story of resilience and love. Highly recommended.

[Sharla Nicole · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I never knew of Biafra before reading this book. Shortly after I started the book I looked up documentaries on the war but it still remained a distant war.

Although the characters were fictional reading the book gave a better understanding of the emotional roller coaster people who live through wars suffer. Regardless of which side is winning, or social status, or intellect, so many lives were lost and others affected by wars. These wars ultimately brought on by greed and the need of a few to divide and conquer.

The story unfolds in parts and jumps back and forth in time, which I greatly appreciated, as it gave a respite from the macabre details of the war.

This story was based on events which occurred over 50 years ago, but still today, for so many people, this is their reality, this is their life.

[mrstreme · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Admittedly, it was with trepidation that I selected Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for my personal challenge to read Orange prizewinners. So many of my reading friends raved about this book. When a book is so highly regarded, I worried that it would be too high up on the reading pedestal – and in the end, it would disappoint. Furthermore, when I finally got this book, I scowled (just slightly) at its length – 541 pages. Chunksters (what I consider books over 350 pages) rarely hold my interest. Indeed, I was worried.However, once enveloped in this book, my worries quickly ceased. Half of a Yellow Sun was a book worthy of its praise and its long length. Quite simply, it was an astonishing, gut-wrenching read.Briefly, it’s the story of the effect of Biafra’s (in southeastern Nigeria) quest for independence in the late 1960’s. It’s also the story of family – both biological and assumed – and how those ties know no bounds. Colorful and unforgettable characters filled each page: Ugwu, the houseboy; Odenigbo, the revolutionary-minded professor; Olanna, Odenigbo’s beautiful lover and her twin sister, Kainene; and Richard, who is in love with Kainene. The reader was swept into Nigerian cultures and lifestyles. Without a doubt, it was an illuminating read.Adichie did not sugarcoat how war affects civilians. People died, family members went missing, homes destroyed, women raped and children became ill. This book is not for the weak of heart. As a reader, I was torn by my need to take a break from the content and my desire to continue reading because I was so caught up in the story.I highly recommend Half of a Yellow Sun to anyone interested in reading a profound novel about war, family and the effects of nationalism.

[tibobi · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[gregorymose · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I almost wish I had another star to give this one. Set in Nigerian in the 1960's, the book focusses on the lives of five very different people against the backdrop the the Biafra conflict. You don't need to know much of Nigerian history to enjoy this book - the focus is not on a specific war, or even on war in general, but rather on the lives and emotional conflicts of the characters. Adichie's writing ranks with the best, and in its unpretentious elegance blows away many of our own overly lauded literary luminaries. I wish more contemporary American writers would read this book and learn something from it. Clear and vidid prose, complex characters and an interesting and tangible storyline beat recondite vocabulary, quasi-intellectual supernaturalism and a distracting clutter of pop-cultural references any day. This is how a novel should look. My only real quibble is with the character of Richard, an Englishman who marries an Igbo woman and takes part in the Biafran cause. I'm glad Adichie included him, but is is clumsy and two-dimensional when compared with the other characters, and one can feel that he is there more for political motives than literary ones. Otherwise an amazing read. I was sorry when it was over.

[romonko · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great literature is a wonderful way to get a history lesson. Especially when a book is as well-written as this one. This book is about the short-lived history of Biafra. Biafra was an attempt by a small area in Nigeria to form their own country. There were a lot of ethnic and cultural tensions in Nigeria in the mid-60's. The tiny secessionist country was made up of mostly Igbo people, and the catalyst that really forced their hand to secede was a massacre of Igbo people by the Nigerians in 1966. The tiny country of Biafra was formed. The book covers this time frame as well as the entire Biafran war which ran from 1967 to 1970. It is rather timely to read about a catastrophic civil war such as this one was. There is so much civil unrest in the world today, and history has taught us that no one wins when countries take up arms against their own people. The casualties are usually enormous and tensions run extremely high so it's like living on a powder keg. Even those of us who live in relatively peaceful countries away from the maelstrom don't win. The horrific stories and the atrocities reduce our capabilities of feeling compassion because civil unrest is so prevalent. We think, "Oh, it's just another case of people fighting amongst themselves." This book utilizes a no-holds-barred approach to the Biafran war and we see the personal toll on the people who lived through it through the eyes of Ms. Adichie's characters. So many people died in this three-year span. Starvation was actually the cause of the most fatalities. The suffering that these people went through is horrific, and to think it came from their own countrymen. More than one million people died during this war. Ms. Adichie's characters are wonderfully drawn. The main three characters are an African university professor, his lady-love who comes from a priviliged Igbo family, and young thirteen year old Ugwu who is employed as houseboy by the professor. It shows their life before the secession and their lives as they flee over and over again from the carnage. It was a hard book to read because of the tragedy of this war, but there was hope here as well, portrayed so well by Ms. Adichie's wonderful characters. This is a book that I'm glad that I read. An important work that will be appreciated for many years I think. Wonderful job.

[m.belljackson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Amazing reconstruction of Biafra and its hideous war with Nigeria!Characters did not move as forcefully as the plot:Ugwu was ultimately disappointing as he predictably abandoned Baby, got conscripted, killed people,and gang raped a young girl. Many readers would have exchanged his disappearance for Kainene's.Richard's impotence with his lover is never explained or resolved.Olanna sleeping with him was way improbable and stalled the action.Odenigbo oddly loses his force following his Mother's death.Returning to the early 60s was at first confusing, then intriguing.Some people have responded that genocide is best treated as a civil war not to be interfered with by outsiders.I wonder what Jesus and Buddha would have to say...

[sihle hlabangwane · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is my favourite book by the author. I've read it lots of times. It was nice to listen too.

[litfan_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I cannot say enough good things about this novel; it is simply astounding. It is one of those rarest of books that make you forget who and where you are, for while reading it you lose yourself and live in the story. This is the story of the Biafran war told through the eyes of Odenibgo, a professor, Ugwu, his houseboy, and Olanna, his lady love, as well as her twin sister Kainene and Kainene's lover Richard. The novel touches upon themes of love, loss and betrayal, the triumph of the human spirit, and the horrors of war. It illustrates the impact of war on ordinary people as we see through their eyes the atrocities that were committed. It points to the impact of colonialism in Nigeria and the reverberating effects of European intrusion into Africa. The echoes of this story haunt the reader long after the final word is read.

[brenzi_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[sheilaref · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful book. I was there and Adichie tells it like it was.

[alexrichman_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Given the praise this book has garnered, I was a little underwhelmed. Adichie's writing is wonderful, and this book shone a torch on a part of history that many Britons aren't familiar with, even though we were responsible for so much suffering. That being said, the stories around the war failed to grab me, and I struggled to invest in the relationships - especially anywhere near as much as I did with Americanah.

[judithann_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book deals with the situation in Nigeria in the 1960s. The first half of the book describes the life of an academic family and their servant (he calls his boss "Master"). The boss' wife has a twin sister, who lives with an Englishman. The first half of the book describes the normal problems that couples and families deal with, while in the second half of the book, the war in Biafra (where they turn out to live) is very present. The professor and his wife, child, and servant end up in a one-room flat, without any prospects or much food. The health of their child deteriorates and all around them people die. Stil, the writing is not too confrontational or accusing. It touches on the terrible things that happened during the Biafra war in an almost matter-of-fact way. The book is never boring. The inclusion of an Englishman is probably for the benefit of non-African readers, so we could identify better with the people and the country, but I found this unnecessary. He did not add much to the story in my eyes. [I read the Dutch translation.]

[30oddyearsofzan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Powerful novel set in the run-up to, and during the Biafran Civil War. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie reminded me of Pat Barker with her cast of sympathetic but flawed characters forever changed by the horrors of war. This book really brought home to me how shamefully ignorant I am of Africa's post-colonial history - which considering I am from one of the colonial nations is doubly remiss of me. I shall be looking up her previous book, Purple Hibiscus, and am anxious to see what she gives us next.