Half Of A Yellow Sun

After reading Chimamanda's Purple Hibiscus I have been on the look out for her second book. And it is as brilliant and as realistic as the first one. Ugwu, Olanna, Odenigbo, Kainene and Richard do not get out of your head for a long time. It is not for leisure reading though. It shows the dark side of human nature at its starkest.

Purple Hibiscus

I read this book almost a month ago but kept putting off writing about it. I picked up this book simply on whim and loved it a lot. It is a story that talks about the life of oppression this little girl Kambili lives every day with her mother and her brother. Her "papa" is this religious fanatic, an angel to the world outside and a terror at home. But the book never blames but merely states and records incidents. She tastes freedom for the first time when she goes to live with her aunt away from her father. Life is never the same after that for her or her family. The Nigerian turmoil is also well recorded through the book.

Considering this Chimamanda's first book I am very inspired :) It took me just a day and half to finish the book. You cannot put it down. Though it ends on a positive note, it is a grim tale nevertheless.

My rating 3.5 on 5