false 2916023 27944 126381 0007189885 9780007189885 253 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171914358m/126381.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171914358s/126381.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/126381.Purple_Hibiscus 3.90 1382 Purple Hibiscus, Nigerian-born writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's debut, begins like many novels set in regions considered exotic by the western reader: the politics, climate, social customs, and, above all, food of Nigeria (balls of fufu rolled between the fingers, okpa bought from roadside vendors) unfold like the purple hibiscus of the title, rare and fascinating. But within a few pages, these details, however vividly rendered, melt into the background of a larger, more compelling story of a joyless family. Fifteen-year-old Kambili is the dutiful and self-effacing daughter of a rich man, a religious fanatic and domestic tyrant whose public image is of a politically courageous newspaper publisher and philanthropist. No one in Papa's ancestral village, where he is titled "Omelora" (One Who Does For the Community), knows why Kambili's brother cannot move one of his fingers, nor why her mother keeps losing her pregnancies. When a widowed aunt takes an interest in Kambili, her family begins to unravel and re-form itself in unpredictable ways. --Regina Marler]]> 11291 4.06 4723 1090 2003 3 0 false Thu Sep 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 10 14:01:56 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 18 00:33:39 -0700 2009