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    Half of a Yellow Sun
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    Half of a Yellow Sun
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    Half of a Yellow Sun
    Ebook631 pages9 hours

    Half of a Yellow Sun

    By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJan 19, 2009
    ISBN9780007279289
    Unavailable
    Half of a Yellow Sun
    Author

    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.

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    Reviews for Half of a Yellow Sun

    4/5

    1,765 ratings144 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I don't really know how to rate this book. As most political novels do, this was widely hailed on publication. I found its perspective on the famine forced upon the Biafran population by the Nigerian government different and interesting, because it is personal and somewhat oblique. Otherwise we have capable storytelling of one small group's participation in the horror of the Biafran war for independence.I guess I don't approach fiction with much of a political mindset. If the praise, by contrast, is for the artistic merits of the book divorced from its subject matter, then I become confused. If books that deal with events such as these is your cup of tea, then this will fulfill your desire.
    • 5/5
      A powerful and well written novel about the Nigeria/Biafra civil war. Adichie is an astounding writer, advanced beyond her years.
    • 5/5
      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.)
    • 4/5
      Powerful. Complex. Terrifying.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      The World Was Silent When We Died. Adechie is an excellent writer. After discovering Americanah, her more recent work, I wanted to go back to her earlier novel about the Nigerian/Biafran war which took place between 1967-70. Adechie has relatives that fought and died in that brief quest for freedom where starvation became the weapon of choice and her book is dedicated to them and to those that lived. As a character in her books states: "Grief was the celebration of love, those who could feel real grief were lucky to have loved."The novel explores this time period through several narrators, using this technique to provide various points of view. We first meet Ugwa who is given the gift of being hired as a houseboy for Odinigbo, or master. This is a gift because this will provide a nice life for a poor village boy. Odinigbo teaches at the university and has many evening parties where the educated come to discuss the events of the country. Ugwa is encouraged to attend school and learned quickly from the conversations he overhears. "“There are two answers to the things they will teach you about our land: the real answer and the answer you give in school to pass. You must read books and learn both answers. I will give you books, excellent books.” Olanna is a Nigerian born wealthy beauty, "There was something polished about her voice, about her; she was like the stone that lay right below a gushing spring, rubbed smooth by years and years of sparkling water, and looking at her was similar to finding that stone, knowing that there were so few like it." She falls in love with Odinigbo and becomes part of the narrative and Ugwa's life. Finally there is Richard, a white Englishman who takes up the cause of the Igbo people and takes up residence with Olanna's twin sister, Kainene. The novel goes on to explore the life and loves of all these individuals, their infidelities and their fates. Once the setting has been established, we are then led through the conflict, seeing first hand the plight of the Biafran people, and an ill fated war. Some of the characters are historically accurate and this adds to the understanding of this event. Though in the novel it appears that Richard will write the great book about this conflict, there is a nice twist as to who in fact pens the book that so accurately depicts this time : The World Was Silent When We Died.But it is, in fact, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who has accomplished this. Highly recommend this novel and author. Some quotes:Ugwu had imagined the bald woman: beautiful with a nose that stood up, not the sitting-down flattened noses that he was used to. He imagined quietness, delicacy, the kind of woman whose sneeze, whose laugh and talk, would be soft as the underfeathers closest to a chicken’s skin.Here was a superior tongue, a luminous language, the kind of English he heard on Master’s radio, rolling out with clipped precision. It reminded him of slicing a yam with a newly sharpened knife, the easy perfection in every slice.“You know we soldiers wear boots all the time so they examined the feet of each man, and any Igbo man whose feet were clean and uncracked by har-mattan, they took away and shot. They also examined their foreheads for signs of their skin being lighter from wearing a soldier’s beret.”
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      Wow, what a great story with the creation and downfall of Biafra. Adiche tells the story of the creation and the violence of this time in Nigeria through love stories that make the reader feel they have been there. At times I wanted to put the book down, the violence was so horrendous. This history revolves around te tribal loyalties of Muslims and Christians. Of all the books I’ve read about Nigeria, this book is the most memorable.
    • 4/5
      Although it doesn't quite have the same immediacy and power of Purple Hibiscus, this is still a striking, worthwhile read. Perhaps inevitably, especially early on, one of the characters at the center of the book pulled me in more than others, and one put me off somewhat. Yet, by the end of the book, the story as a whole felt more cohesive and I no longer felt disappointed when I turned a page to discover the next chapter's focus. The second part of the book did lag some--Adichie moves between the early sixties and the late sixties, by part, and the first section that jumps forward is slower, to the extent that I almost felt as if I was beginning the book anew and felt let-down. As with the viewpoints, though, the structure evens out and becomes a strength of the book as the war comes more into focus.As in her other work, Adichie's prose is graceful and brutal--it doesn't exaggerate suffering, but it also doesn't flinch. With its focus centered on the Nigeria-Biafra war, that means this is not an easy read. At the same time, her characters are themselves believable and flawed, almost painfully real. And, because of all of this, Half of a Yellow Sun is a stand-out book that should be read, and passed along.Recommended.
    • 4/5
      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...
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this novel even though I don't know much of the history behind the book. As with any book based on conflict it will pull at your heartstrings quite a bit! I was impressed with Adichie's story telling abilities. She made the history portions seem completely part of the story and if you didn't know that this was based on true events you could believe that this was a complete work of fiction.
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      This is a novel of twin sisters, Olanna and Kainene which follows them through the Biafran conflict in Nigeria in the sixties. It has really been highly praised by critics. I agree that Adichie does a good job of weaving the romantic and family issues with a compelling historical background. But in my opinion, her technique of episodically following four (or five) different characters doesn't allow her to very richly develop any one of them. I didn't feel well-connected to any of the characters, unlike my experience with her previous novel,"Purple Hibiscus" or her recent book of short stories, which were both brilliant. I would still recommend the book; I just don't think it's as astounding as some critics have claimed.
    • 4/5
      When the Igbo people of eastern Nigeria seceded in 1967 to form the independent nation of Biafra, a bloody, crippling three-year civil war followed. This book captures that period in African history with haunting intimacy. Adichie tells her story primarily through Ugwu, a 13-year-old peasant houseboy who survives conscription into the raggedy Biafran army, and twin sisters Olanna and Kainene, who are from a wealthy and well-connected family. This is a real page-turned that is also beautifully written. This book is notable for its depiction of the impact of war's brutalities on peasants and intellectuals alike.
    • 5/5
      really helped me to understand the Biafran conflict which I vaguely remembered, but only from a child's point of view.
    • 5/5
      a heartbreaking tale through the wrenching events of a country at war and the effects it has on the people involved. i was intrigued by this book from the first to last page. the characters and african culture and landscape were so vivid they practically came to life. what a wonderful and amazing book!
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book about Biafra written by this young women who seems so mature beyond her years. This novel tells the story of the Biafrian civil war which occurred in the late sixties and lasted less than three years through the wonderful character development of two twin women, a houseboy, some intellectuals, and an English expatriate. This is the same peoples, the Igbo that Achebe wrote about in his Things Fall Apart. A repeated phrase from the book; The World Was Silent When We Died really says it all. I knew about the starving Biafran's I was in highschool and nearing graduation. I remember mothers telling their children to eat because of the starving children in Biafra but I have to be honest an admit that is all I knew. I did not know that they were being killed off by the Islamic group. That it was because of war and blockades that these people were starving. England was involved. The U.S. wasn't involved, we were proabably too busy with the Vietnam War to get involved with this situation. France was the only large country that came to Biafra's aide and only because of Britain. The front of the book I read, tagged this book as political fiction. I learned something and besides this author is good. I would recommend this as a companion read with Achebe's book Things Fall Apart and I often recommend Heart of Darkness, Poisonwood Bible and Leopold's Ghost as companion reads with Things Fall Apart.
    • 5/5
      Powerful book, compelling writing, and informative about life during the Biafra Wars. Well-developed characters amidst a backdrop that draws readers in.
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      My sister bought me this book. When i read the back cover i didn't really think it was my kind of thing; however i quickly became absorbed in the story. The author has taken history and added her fictional characters to it. It really opened my eyes to the atrociates of civil war; it is a amazing story but so so sad. Beacause of the theme be prepared not to have a happy ending.
    • 4/5
      Depressing and captivating all at once. The ending left me feeling a little lost, but perhaps that was appropriate.
    • 5/5
      Read this book for a host of reasons: it's beautifully written, deeply moving, evocative, historically accurate, and illuminating. I would say it teaches with delicacy and verve; I never felt pounded by any kind of agenda, an easy trap to fall into when the book's subject is as heartrending as Adichie's.Adichie gives her readers a glimpse into the lives of a group of people caught in the turmoil of the Nigerian civil war (1967-1970). Focusing on 2 Igbo sisters, twins from the southern part of Nigeria, the British boyfriend of one of the sisters, and the houseboy of the other, she traces their movements, their connections, their philosophies, and their fragile and concerted attempts to remain alive and in contact with one another. The result is profound. Don't miss this.
    • 5/5
      Wonderful book. I was there and Adichie tells it like it was.
    • 4/5
      A beautifully written, heart wrenching story of the Nigerian civil war. I clearly remember the terrible pictures of starving children in Biafra when I was a child in the 60's. This story brings the tragedy into the realm of ordinary people, with which any of us can identify, and to characters that we come to like as we watch hate feed on itself and turn ordinary people into extraodinary human beings, and some into the monster they never knew was within. As always the real reasons for the war are lurking in the background, wearing faces of humanitarianism and concern for the down trodden, and as in Rwanda, allow the tragedy to unfold without lifting a finger to assist, and ultimately leaving the mess for the people of the country to try to sort out. A must-read from a lovely young writer.
    • 4/5
      I am purposely writing this review before reading what anyone else has to say about this book, so that I am not influenced by others' comments and can write a truly personal response.I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone.Having said that, I have a few slight reservations: In my edition, the A. E. Housman poem begins "Into my heart on air that kills, From yon far country blows" but surely it should be "Into my heart AN air that kills..."? I wouldn't normally comment on the odd typo, but that one is a bit jarring.Once or twice the pace slowed a bit and I had to apply myself to maintain interest. Also, anything I read about Africa is coloured by my own experience of living there, so I find myself becoming a little impatient with the position that so much can be blamed on "the brutal bequests of colonialism".Reservations aside, the characters are vividly drawn - I could picture and sympathise with all of them. The last chapters, as the situation worsens, are rivetting. The African landscape is also vividly drawn - one feels the heat, dust, humidity, parchedness, lushness or whatever.I found myself wondering, as the end of the book approached, whether the characters I had got to know so well would survive, given what was going on around them. The way the book ended, in this respect, was entirely satisfying and very moving. I was left with a dull ache of loss. I also admire the way the mysterious snippets of a book, that appear from time to time, are resolved at the end.Savour and pass on...
    • 5/5
      I just finished Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I am very pleased that this group read spurred me into getting to this book sooner rather than later.The story takes place during the Nigerian-Biafran War (1967-1970). The author's grandfathers were both killed during the war and many others that she knew were affected.First of all, group read aside, it was just an excellent read. The plot, characters, and structure were engaging and memorable. The historical aspect was fascinating. I learned a lot about the beginning of the division between Western and Eastern Nigeria. The Igbo people were the victims of genocide and then seceded from Nigeria, attempting to establish an independent nation of Biafra. The story involves several memorable characters, each representing some unique aspect of the Biafran culture.First, Ugwu, a houseboy for a university professor, who is eventually conscripted into the Biafran Army. We watch him grow and mature and educate himself. In the end he is the record keeper. There are twin sisters, daughters of a wealthy Igbo politician, originally part of the Nigerian government until the war arrived. One twin rejects her parents' values of wealthy upper class life, and the other uses her background to further her love for the Biafran people. There are several love stories in this book, all affected by the war. A British man loves one of the twins, but it will never truly be his war. Ugwu loves a young servant girl who dies in the conflict. The other twin loves the university professor and raises his daughter who is rejected for being female.Many social and cultural issues are addressed through this complex and engrossing plot of people who try to survive while being loyal and trying to be good people. There is much loss, much love, and much pleasure in this book.My memories of television coverage of the starvation in Biafra are exactly as portrayed in this book. The video of emaciated children with swollen bellies and flies in their eyes; apparently the Biafrans could not understand why more help was not sent. They felt great hatred for Britain and the United States, and blamed them for much of the death and disease. The author's perspective is that what the people of Biafra wanted was recognitionFascinating read!
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      I found this book really hard to get into and if I hadn't have been reading it for a book club I would certainly have given up. I am so glad I didn't. It was heart wrenching reading about the war - so hard, but so necessary. It made me think - more than that - it made me feel. As I was reading about children living off rats and that being a luxury - my five year old boy came into see me covered in chocolate from his Easter egg - I nearly bust into tears. Hard work but worth it in the end.
    • 3/5
      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.