Half Of A Yellow Sun (#3)

While I certainly read books to educate myself, most of the time it is for purely entertainment purposes.  But time and time again, I find myself reading a novel and thinking "Why didn't I know anything about this?"

Such was the case with Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.  The novel takes takes place in the 1960s during a Nigerian civil war and the ultimately unsuccessful attempt to create an independent republic called Biafra.  The back cover calls the Biafran War "a seminal moment in African history," but again, I shamefully plead ignorance, though I am guessing I'm not alone. 

(If you want to read more/are curious, I encourage you to check out the Wikipedia entry for Biafra which gives a good "cliffs notes" version of war.  Spoiler alert... it does give away how/where Adichie got the title for the novel.)

But if you are thinking you are not really interested in reading a book about war and genocide/ethnic cleansing, well there is a lot more going on in this book which takes place just over a decade... but has a very epic feel to it. 

The narrative shifts among five characters:  a young houseboy (Ugwu) to a university professor (Odenigbo) and his lover (Olanna)... her sister (Kainene) and her British lover (Richard).  And yes, it took me awhile to get used to those names.  But in addition to a history lesson, the novel is plentiful in other aspects... exploring issues of race, social class, and gender... sibling rivalry... politics.. love... betrayal.  A very ambitious work, all the more impressive considering Adichie was only 29 years old at publication of her second novel. 

In my continued attempt to not 100% gush in these reviews, I did find my attention/momentum flagging towards the last quarter of the book.  I can not confidently lie the blame with Adichie.  It's likely my own preferences.  Over time, I've discovered I am not a big fan of the "war novel" and the war aspect of the book does dramatically shift from backdrop to forefront.  Or it could just be a kink in all the reading I've done, I've been on a blistering pace, and even if I like a book, I can (and do!) get tired of the act of reading from time to time.

Overall, a recommended read coming from such a young/fresh voice.  Adichie won the 2007 Orange Broadband Prize, a UK prize awarded to a female author of a "written in English" novel, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.  For my fellow readers, both lists are worth checking out.  It wasn't until after I finished this one, that I saw Sun was the 4th of the 5 NBCCA fiction finalists that I had recently read -- and all very good books (though the winner, The Inheritance of Loss, while still quite good was probably my least favorite of the bunch).

2008 1-2-3-4-5 Reading Challenge: + 541 Pages (Total: 1,246 pages - Finished: 1/27/2008)
241 pages ahead of pace (+101 since last book).

Comments

[Scott-O-Rama]

Good lord you read fast!