From the Bookshelf of Around the World in 80 Books…

Half of a Yellow Sun

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Start date: January 15, 2022

Finish date: February 15, 2022

Discussion: Group Reads Discussions

Why we're reading this: January 2022 selection for prize-winning book set in Africa.
[close] January 2022 selection for prize-winning book set in Africa.

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last updated Jan 18, 2013 07:12PM

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What Members Thought

Mar 28, 2007 Rachel rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, africa

I think I'm becoming desensitized to war, but this was still a great book. And definately a subject I knew nothing about, sadly. Makes me need to know more. There was a really good, brief section, in which one of the main characters comes into contact with a couple of American journalists, and it showed the insensitivity of them, while still being understanding, but it was good. I am not sure how much I liked the time frame being split up, from early 60's to late 60's and back again. The one par ...more

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Feb 06, 2015 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 100-best-of-21st-c, fiction, literary-schmiterary, all-time-favorites, 1001-books

I feel like this book has changed me some how. I'm not sure how. I mean, it's not possible to have travelled through this universe of sun, cashew trees, jollof rice, confusion, chin-chin, hope, idealism, garri, war, starvation, refuge camps, and red dusty roads, and not emerge on the other end without having been changed in some ways. Ms Adiche's writing is so natural, so seemingly effortless, that I would fall right in, as if falling into a pool and sinking to the bottom; but I never felt the s I feel like this book has changed me some how. I'm not sure how. I mean, it's not possible to have travelled through this universe of sun, cashew trees, jollof rice, confusion, chin-chin, hope, idealism, garri, war, starvation, refuge camps, and red dusty roads, and not emerge on the other end without having been changed in some ways. Ms Adiche's writing is so natural, so seemingly effortless, that I would fall right in, as if falling into a pool and sinking to the bottom; but I never felt the sensation, and when I set the book down, stood up, walked to the bathroom or answered the phone ... I would be startled to find myself at my desk, in a world with electricity and plenty of food and no war planes overhead.

I don't want to make this sound like a war story. It's not. It is the story of people, and they happened to live during war time and so yes parts of it are the story of the Biafran War.

Each chapter alternates between three main characters: Ugwu, Olanna, and Richard. I'll let the book blurb describe each of these people, since it does it better than I could. Ugwu and Richard were fine, but the character that really resonated with me was Olanna. I don't know if that's because Ms Adiche is a young Nigerian woman also, or if its because I am a woman, or something else entirely.

I found the occassional descriptions of another book being written to be distracting, but towards the end I understood better what the author was trying for with those.

During Ugwu's chapters, I often felt myself wondering, "is that really how someone like Ugwu would feel?" ... he comes across as a hopeless sychophant, and rather small-minded, and really rather unlikeable. Richard seemed far too spineless and unmoored and unknowable, and I often wondered why the author had included him at all (and I sometimes had the distinct impression that the author did not actually like the character she had created). But in Olanna's chapters, I really felt what she felt, I saw what she saw. (I loved the frequent appearances of her twin, the prickly Kainene, as well). That's not to say that I didn't enjoy Richard's chapters or Ugwu's chapters, I did. But I also felt myself to be at a remove from them, as if in the presence of "the Other," and never quite sure how to really feel, if they are being sincere or trustworthy.

I am not Nigerian, but the cadence of the Igbo pidgin is familiar to me, and it often came through crystal clear in the dialogue, and would make me smile. There is a saying, to describe a hangover, that I kept expecting one of the characters to say: my head, oh! my belly, oh!

And yes, this is a story of three different people during wartime, but the unifying theme throughout is not war, but belonging. Richard worries that he will never find a place or family to belong, he worries that Kainene thinks he doesn't belong, and he desperately wants to be part of Biafra from the beginning, so he will finally have a place to belong. Ugwu wants to belong to his Master and jealously guards him from interlopers. And Olanna spends the book searching for where to belong: so many options open to her, but she never feels she really belongs in Odenigbo's circle of intellectuals, and she doesn't realize that she is the glue that holds everyone together.

This book fulfills the "written by someone under 30" category of the 2015 Ultimate Reading Challenge. ...more

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Aug 27, 2011 Katie rated it really liked it

Shelves: female-author, historical-fiction, ___africa, _nigeria

This story begins in Nigeria in the early 1960s, shortly after the country has gained independence from Britain, and continues through the civil war of the late 1960s, when the eastern region of Nigeria claimed independence as the Republic of Biafra. The book tells the stories of several characters as they struggle through these challenging and horrific times.

The novel and its characters provide an interesting and relevant commentary on the lasting and devastating effects that colonization has ...more

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May 04, 2011 Jen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, africa, war-related, married-life, z-2013-read, around-the-world

A tale set around the Nigerian-Biafran War in the 1960's, as seen through the eyes of 3 different, but interconnected characters--a boy from the village, a beauty from a rich family, and a white Englishman. We see them in their lives and interpersonal dramas before the conflict begins, then into the troubles and horrors that the war brings. Adichie writes beautifully and creates characters that you want to follow, in spite of the harrowing circumstances they have to endure. And I learned some hi ...more

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Feb 25, 2019 superawesomekt rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-club, historical-fiction, twins-and-doppelgängers

Beautifully written historical novel set during the 1967-1979 Nigeria-Biafra war. Adichie's writing, character development, and sense of time and place are excellent.

However, like many war-time novels, there is language, violence, etc. that are not for the young or sensitive reader. For those, this is one you will want to skip. ...more

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