Purple Hibiscus in Reading with Style

May 03, 2009 Elizabeth (Alaska) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: twenty-first-century, awards-commonwealth-prize, women

Not sure what I was expecting on this one. I'm not able to point to exactly why I can't rate it higher - it's not as if it isn't quite readable. I just think it was intended for a younger audience, and also perhaps one who isn't so enamored of the more complex prose of the 19th Century. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 30, 2011 Bucket rated it it was amazing

Shelves: world-lit, reviewed, literary, diversity, religion, parents-affecting-children, culture, life-and-death, women, race

Kambili is 15 in Nigeria and lives with brother Jaja, father Eugene (a highly successful self-made man who is extremely Catholic and abusive), and her mother. Only slowly and quietly do we gain a sense of how the family suffers under Eugene's tyranny. Meanwhile, this evil part of him is complicated by the fact that he gives and gives to the church and the impoverished (so long as they're catholic), his sister and her family, and is actively opposed to the oppressive political regime. Over the co Kambili is 15 in Nigeria and lives with brother Jaja, father Eugene (a highly successful self-made man who is extremely Catholic and abusive), and her mother. Only slowly and quietly do we gain a sense of how the family suffers under Eugene's tyranny. Meanwhile, this evil part of him is complicated by the fact that he gives and gives to the church and the impoverished (so long as they're catholic), his sister and her family, and is actively opposed to the oppressive political regime. Over the course of the novel, as things grow dire politically, the family dynamic begins to fall apart.

Stylistically, Adichie is masterful here. This is a very intense, emotional and even visceral story, of tyranny, repression and abuse. But it is told in simple, quiet language in the beginning that echoes this repression and leaves the reader, who understands the injustice of Kambili's life feeling stifled and frustrated. As the story continues though, and Kambili begins to discover there are other ways to live life, the language Adichie uses slowly unfolds and becomes more visual and open. This is a relief to the reader, but it also leads to extremely intense and difficult-to-read scenes of abuse and fear - in particular, the scene where Kambili's father has the kettle and calls her into the bathtub got a strong physical and emotional response out of me - I can't remember the last time I've physically gasped and shuddered and truly felt hopelessness while reading like I did.

I was also extremely impressed by the character of Kambili and Adichie's sensitivity to how someone like her would realistically awaken to a new kind of life, and struggle between love and hatred for her father and his brand of catholicism.

Kambili is a silent person with no personality externally - life in her father's house has turned her into nothing but obedience and fear. Her thoughts reflect this early in the book - she doesn't question things, even internally, and her most frequent thought is that she wishes she had said or done the thing that her brother or mother said or did that made her father proud. As she begins to very slowly awaken though, she begins to have different thoughts.

She realizes, for example, when her cousin sobs hysterically: "She had not learned the art of silent crying; she had not needed to."

Even later, she begins to understand the oppression of her father as just that, rather than as moral uprightness and goodness: "It was what Aunty Ifeoma did to my cousins, I realized then, setting higher and higher jumps for them in the way she talked to them, in what she expected of them. She did it all the time believing they would scale the rod. And they did. It was different for Jaja and me. We did not scale the rod because we believed we could, we scaled it because we were terrified that we couldn't."

Overall, an incredibly impressive debut novel, and I look forward to reading Adichie's more recent work.

Themes: power, control, abuse, tyranny (political, social, familial), religion, awakening, Africa, Nigeria, women, defiance, coming-of-age ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 09, 2015 Erin rated it liked it

This is probably a 5-star book that simply wasn't to my taste, hence the rating.

Kambili is a 15-year-old young woman born to privilege amidst political upheaval in her home country of Nigeria. All is not what it seems though, as Kambili and here brother Jaja live in caged palace, smothered by their father's religious ardor and abusive tyranny.

There is some truly beautiful prose to be found in this novel, as well as thought-provoking themes and difficult moments. All the components of a great b ...more

Like · see review

Oct 15, 2012 Kathleen (itpdx) rated it really liked it

I have a hard time reading about child and spouse oppression and abuse. So this was a difficult read for me, occasionally twisting my stomach in knots. The story is told from the point of view of a teenage daughter, Kimbali, of a prominent and wealthy Nigerian man at a time of turmoil in Nigeria. The protagonist's father is a religious, generous and brave man but controlling and abusive at home. I kept hoping for something to make him understandable but realized at the end of the book, that the ...more

Like · see review

Oct 05, 2009 Joanna rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2009-read

I enjoyed the writing in this book, and thought the ending was appropriate and thoughtful if somewhat predictable, but I never really connected with the characters. Somehow, despite the wonderful descriptions of sights, tastes, and smells of Nigeria, the characters felt a bit flat to me. I want to read Half of a Yellow Sun, which I've heard from many people is a better book. ...more

Like · see review