Half of a Yellow Sun Book Review

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of A Yellow Sun is a wonderful book inspired primarily by the events surrounding the historical Nigerian civil war.

The story portrays different aspects of life spanning from politics, corruption, and colonialism to gender, race, culture, and the frailness of human relationships. It mainly focuses on the casualties and pains of war.

The book contains a lot of fascinating characters; Odenigbo who is a revolutionary thinker, who struggles with the psychological effects of war, and in the process, losing his mother. He also struggles with turbulences faced in his relationship with Olanna, his wife.

Olanna is forced to adapt to the sudden removal from her comfort zone, she experiences various horrors such as the head of the girl she saw on her way back from the north, her rolled back eyes, the paleness of her skin, the death of children In refugee camps; their bellies inflated with hunger, the crying sounds of little children from the depths of their mothers, and even the loss of her twin sister, Kainene.

Kainene is nothing like her sister, she has that weird kind of boldness; the kind that can make her confront her father about a wrong thing he did. She falls in love with an English man, Richard and one fateful day, she leaves the house to trade across enemy lines and never returns.

Richard is a shy English writer who loves the Igbo-ukwu art. He falls in love with the daughter of one of the Nigerian elites, Kainene. One of kainene's friends offers him an opportunity to write for the Biafran cause which he accepts.

After Port Harcourt is taken over by Nigerian troops, he is forced to move with Kainene to Orlu. He attempts to write different books but never completed any of them. Ugwu is Odenigbo's house boy who exhibits natural intelligence and enthusiasm in learning new things. He transforms from an ordinary house boy to a brilliant young man who is like a son to his master.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie successfully captures the changes caused by war and overall, the book is captivating.

"We do not usually associate wisdom with beginners, but here is a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie knows what is at stake, and what to do about it . . .

She is fearless, or she would not have taken on the intimidating horror of Nigeria's civil war. Adichie came almost fully made" - Chinua Achebe