Half of a Yellow Sun

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Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This is the first Adichie book I've heard of or read, and she is going on my list of authors I need to read more of. Her writing is beautiful. And tragic.

The story revolves around a small constellation of people in Nigeria and explores their personal relationships. All become involved in the Biafran independence movement of the late 1960s, and we see how war and hardship change them.

Some background information: Biafra was an attempt at secession from Nigeria in 1967, and it only lasted a couple of years; Nigeria declared war and few governments wanted to encourage post-colonial African independence movements, and the Biafrans were massacred or starved. The title refers to the Biafran flag.

This is yet another title recommended by Eva, so she gets the credit. And, I'm counting this as my modern fiction entry in the Mixing It Up Challenge.

Comments

  1. EvaJanuary 3, 2012 at 9:23 AM

    Yay! I'm so glad that you liked this one. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nancy LeekJanuary 3, 2012 at 1:24 PM

    That sounds really interesting. I remember the Biafran cause---it was prominent when I was in college. In fact, I still have a Free Biafra button.

    ReplyDelete
  3. JeanJanuary 3, 2012 at 2:42 PM

    Goodness, do you really?? I'll have to get a look at that.

    ReplyDelete
  4. CarylJanuary 22, 2012 at 8:48 PM

    I've had this one on my shelf since it first came out, and I haven't gotten to it yet. Hopefully, soon! I loved Adichie's Purple Hibiscus.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Esther | Chapter AdventuresJanuary 8, 2020 at 11:16 AM

    I am taking the 'reading all around the world' challenge more seriously this year and I finally sat down today to write down the list of books I already read. This one entered my list for Nigeria. I read it a while ago and I remember loving the writing style. It was also amazing to learn about Biafra because I had never heard of it before. Such a coincidence to see it on your blog!

    ReplyDelete

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