Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-15
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Observer
'This powerful, delicate, intimate novel focuses on individual's
thoughts and emotions...'

Independent
'This magnificent novel is a gripping portrayal of the horrors of
war...A major new African voice.'

The Times
'a powerfully convincing account of one of the bloodier episodes
of post-colonial history.'

Customer Reviews

Absolutely loved this book
Even better than Purple Hibiscus.
Fantastic combination of fictional family in real history.
I was quite young when the Biafra War occurred, so had not heard of it.
What a great way to learn about the recent past.

Uplifting - a great novel
This is a great novel. After Tan Twan Eng's 'The Gift of Rain', it's the best I've read in the past year. It has excellent pacing and yet manages to be atmospheric and descriptive. All the characters have three dimensions and they change and develop convincingly as events overtake them. Ugwu and the cynical Kainene are especially memorable. I've never been to West Africa but the sights, sounds and smells came alive for me. Of course, once the horrors of the war appear, the author's descriptive power makes for some harrowing reading but it's uplifting too, dealing with love loyalty and redemption. I fully recommend it.

Keenly observed and very engaging
Half of a Yellow Sun is an excellent read. Easily my favourite novel this or last year.

Chimamanda has a gift for human observation. Her descriptive style is compelling and the characters sometimes cleverly invite you into their worlds. One often has to remind oneself that the author, being as young as she is, cannot have lived to see as much of life as her work represents.

I understood Odenigbo and Olanna perfectly but found Ugwu a little contrived. This is not to say he is not likeable: Ugwu is, without a doubt, the central character in this rich dramatis personae. He makes you laugh and cry far more than anybody else. Still, it is difficult to believe that an African houseboy - in a continent where labour is cheap and expendable - can occupy such a central part in the life of a family while growing up with little regard for his own future. Richard was the least believable of all. He was, for me, a cartoon character. A shallow Englishman suddenly finding himself a journalist deeply wrapped up in a war which has nothing to do with him takes a greater leap of the imagination than I was capable of making. I liked the detachment of Kainene and the supreme confidence of Madu.

The pages describing the war are clearly where the author had to do the most work. It is difficult to tell that she did not live through the war herself. A novel about a forgotten war written by an authentic Igbo is exactly what was needed - not another paternalistic travelogue/history book from yet another European "discovering" themselves and their writing skills in Africa's turbulent history. Brilliant.

You cannot read this book slowly - it is far too fast-paced for that. I will be looking out for more of Chimamanda's work; she has a superb future ahead of her.

A delightful surprise awaits you at the end. Lovely twist!