A beautifully written, moving novel (Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)

Member Name: gayle04

Product:	Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Date:	15/01/09 (44 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great story and characters, great themes, good narration, suspense

Disadvantages: None

This book written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of the best books that I have read in the past couple of years. It has everything you want in a story, good characters who you can relate to and feel for, a great storyline which is also often based on truth and excellent narrative which focuses on each particular character separately throughout the chapters.

The story is set during the Nigeria-Biafra War in the late 1960's, which I have to admit I knew nothing about until reading this book (I had never even heard of Biafra). It mainly follows a house boy called Ugwu, his master Odenigbo, Odenigbo's partner Olanna and Olanna's sister Kainene.

All of the characters are very different and although some may seem quite unlovable on the outside (Kainene for example), as you read the story you find yourself warming to them and understanding them. In fact, after finishing the story, Kainene ended up being my favourite character as she was portrayed as a strong, independent woman with her own money and business sense, something which we don't often hear about from Africa and especially in stories from so long ago.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie manages to touch on some very important themes throughout the story while also ensuring that it doesn't sound like a lecture, or like she is trying to make us feel bad. In particular she brings up the subject of foreign aid and how necessary it is for the people, but also she talks of the corruption and of the aid not getting through to where it should be going. Something which sadly still goes on today. There are also characters put in the book who are "typical foreigners" with their typical views of Africa and it's people and whereas some may find it quite offensive, I think they would have to agree that there are people out there who are that close minded and prejudiced.

The novel is written in a way which really creates suspense and makes you want to continue reading. The first section focuses on the early 60's, before the war, the next focuses on the late 60's as the war is just about to start, the section after this goes back to the early 60's, and the final section is again set during the war. By leaving you hanging after the first two sections, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie makes sure that you will read on to find out exactly what happened to the characters at these two times in their lives. There were twists and turns throughout, bad people doing good things, and good people doing bad things.

I genuinely felt saddened when I came to the end of the book, not just for what I had read about and the suffering that so many Africans had suffered, and continue to suffer in other regions of the continent, but also because I had finished such a well written, interesting book. I wanted it to go on forever.

Summary: One of the best books I have read in the last couple of years - and I read a lot!