Half of a Yellow Sun in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Jan 18, 2015 Brandy rated it it was amazing

The synopsis on the back of the novel explains that Half of a Yellow Sun "illuminates a seminal moment in African history: Biafra's struggle to establish an independent republic in southeastern Nigeria during the late 1960s." It also mentions that the story is told through five unforgettable characters, and that is true, but while Odinegbo, Olanna, Richard, and Kainene are all integral to the novel's intrigue, the character who had the most profound effect on me was Ugwu. Readers follow Ugwu, a ...more

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May 31, 2016 Jessica rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle

I really like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's writing, and I found Half of a Yellow Sun completely gripping. It's set in the 1960s in Nigeria and Biafra and focuses on two sisters and their households during periods of peacetime and war. Parts of the book are set in the early 60s as Kainene and Olanna begin relationships with their partners, neither of whom are in any way satisfactory choices as far as their wealthy parents are concerned - Kainene's partner Richard is a white writer from England who I really like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's writing, and I found Half of a Yellow Sun completely gripping. It's set in the 1960s in Nigeria and Biafra and focuses on two sisters and their households during periods of peacetime and war. Parts of the book are set in the early 60s as Kainene and Olanna begin relationships with their partners, neither of whom are in any way satisfactory choices as far as their wealthy parents are concerned - Kainene's partner Richard is a white writer from England who has moved permanently to Nigeria, and Olanna's partner Odenigbo is a professor with a strong revolutionary streak. Other parts are set later in the 60s, when Biafra secedes from Nigeria and enters a three-year period of war and starvation as Nigeria attempts to quash the secession.

Toward the end, the book has some pretty difficult and gruesome scenes, particularly after Odenigbo's houseboy Ugwu is forcibly conscripted and has to serve as a soldier. However, what Half of a Yellow Sun does beautifully is ease the reader slowly from scenes of normal everyday life into more and more difficult situations. For much of the book, the main characters are leading vibrant, relaxed lives, and the focus of the book is on relationships and human drama. Then there's talk about faraway atrocities, and excitement over the new state of Biafra. Even after the new country is living in an obvious state of war, there's a long period where the characters experience it only intellectually, discussing faraway cities where the war is actually playing out. Kainene and Olanna's parents flee to London and are horrified that their children refuse to join them, but the family's wealth makes it easier for both Kainene and Olanna to relocate several times to safer cities in Biafra - though particularly for Olanna, we see the increasing squalor as she begins to have to move into whatever house or shared living situation becomes available. The reader hardly notices the point when the book stops being primarily about the relationships between the characters and instead becomes focused on each character's survival, but the effects of war and starvation become increasingly obvious until the book is entirely about struggling to find any food at all, hiding from air raids, dodging soldiers in the streets, and burying people on a daily basis.

I didn't love that the book wasn't entirely chronological - it's instead told in four parts that alternate between early and late 60s. I know Adichie did this to create some mystery (why have Olanna and Kainene stopped talking? why doesn't Olanna's daughter have a name?), but I think the book would have just as much punch if we came on those details sequentially. Other than a bit of confusion that came from jumping forward and backward in time, though, I really loved Half of a Yellow Sun and think it is very much worth reading in spite of its length and difficult subject matter. ...more

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Mar 15, 2020 Ruth rated it really liked it

Masterful, epic, beautiful. Read the first half on a hard copy borrowed from the Centre for Advanced Study in Oslo, second half on the plane home as an ebook.

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