BOOK REVIEW: half of a yellow sun

Half of a yellow sun is a Novel that explains the epitome of freedom never gained. A story that detailed pride, esteem, hatred colonial influence, war, hunger, err, strife and grief.       

       Pmonkz entertainment review the literary power of the international best selling Novel written by award winning author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This novel has been translated to over 40 languages and also subject to be produced in movie.

    The novel takes place in Nigeriaduring the Nigerian-Biafran War in 1967-1970. The effect of the war is shown through the dynamic relationships of four people’s lives ranging from high ranking political figures, a professor, a British citizen, and a houseboy. After the British left Nigeria, the lives of the main characters drastically changed and were torn apart by the ensuing civil war and decisions in their personal life.

However, the book jumps between events that took place during the early 1960s and the late 1960s, when the war took place. In the early 1960s, the main characters are introduced: Ugwu, a 13 year old village boy who moves in with Odenigbo, to work as his houseboy. Odenigbo frequently entertains intellectuals to discuss the political turmoil in Nigeria. Life changes for Ugwu when Odenigbo’s girlfriend, Olanna, moves in with them. Ugwu forms a strong bond with both of them, and is very loyal. Olanna has a twin sister, Kainene, a woman with a dry sense of humour, tired by the pompous company she is forced to keep. Her lover Richard is an Englishman who has come to Nigeria to study the arts.

Jumping four years ahead, trouble is brewing between the Hausa and the Igbo people and hundreds of people die in the massacres, including Olanna's beloved auntie and uncle. A new republic,called Biafra, is created by the Igbo. As a result of the conflict, Olanna, Odenigbo, their daughter Baby and Ugwu are forced to flee Nsukka, which is the university town and the major intellectual hub of the new nation. They finally end up in the refugee town of Umuahia, where they suffer as a result of food shortages and the constant air raids and paranoid atmosphere. There are also allusions to a conflict between Olanna and Kainene, Richard and Kainene and Olanna and Odenigbo.

When the novel jumps back to the early 1960s, we learn that Odenigbo slept with a village girl, who then had his baby. Olanna is furious at his betrayal, and sleeps with Richard in a moment of weakness. She goes back to Odenigbo and they take in his daughter, whom they call Baby, when her mother refuses her.

Back during the war, and Olanna, Odenigbo, Baby and Ugwu are living with Kainene and Richard where Kainene is running a refugee camp. The situation is hopeless as they have no food or medicine. Kainene decides to trade across enemy lines, but doesn't return, even after the end of the war a few weeks later. The book ends ambiguously, with the reader not knowing if Kainene lives.

This book is no doubt one of the treasures in Africa's literature we hold dear to our hearts, because it has demonstrated the true identity of blackpower and also detailed the ethnic affiliation that lauds our heart for war and spilled in desperate actions in the past. A Long lasting memory that excite the study of history in future. Half of a Yellow Sun a true hallmark of what Africa used to be before they came.