Reviews with content warning for Racism - Jumătate de soare galben

What can I say? Firsthand narratives of war aren't new to me, and yet this book managed to be so harrowing. The hopelessness of the situation settled deep into me while reading, as if I was experiencing the war right along with the protagonists. The first part of the book paints such a hopeful narrative, only for it to turn around into years of dread and terror. And somehow, the most striking thing of all is how people must have been so bored, to wait around for three years for aid and a ceasefire to come.

Admittedly, the sex scenes at the beginning felt a bit gratuitous. I do still wonder whether all of them were necessary. At some point it felt like the author playing up to the trope of conventional white-man literature being full of unnecessary sex. But in the latter half I understood how those scenes were meant to contrast with a situation in which nothing was normal. In which the simple act of laying with each other was a rebellion against the constant fear for life. When nothing is as normal, mundane acts become revolutionary in a sense.

The ending of the book, revealing

Ugwu as the writer of the book all along, was wonderfully satisfying. I dreaded the white man writing about an African war and centering his own narrative. Ugwu stepping up to become the author almost has a meta-textual meaning:

We, from the Global South, from disenfranchised communities, should be telling our stories ourselves. Half of a Yellow Sun is itself a marvelous example of that.

Content Warnings

deparme's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Content Warnings

crazytourists_books's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

During the 80s and early 90s in Greece, something that adults couldn't tolerate (adults that lived through the famine of the German occupation) was the waste of food. Kids were too often persuaded to finish their food given as example the kids of Biafra (and later Ethiopia) that were starving. A country that no longer existed, the death of children that were probably not even an afterthought in Europe, played such a vital role in our upbringing.
This story is an important one to tell (and read about), and it should not be told by white bystanders.
Adicie writes really well, I liked her prose, and I enjoyed her use of Igbo throughout the novel. The characters could have been better developed, though, their behaviour more realistic.
A good book overall. It is very sad that Adicie has sided with the TERFs , I am not someone that can easily separate the art from the artist, especially when the artist is still alive. Even though this book is of a genre that I enjoy I wouldn't have read it if it wasn't given to me a few years ago. Now I can let it go, and with it, Adicie.

Content Warnings

selimhannah's review against another edition

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informative inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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