A review by fearsome_to_behold
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

challenging emotional hopeful tense
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This work of fiction is more honest and real than many non-fiction works about colonialism and oppression. Adichie aptly creates a narrative in which there are no clear answers - no dichotomies, only grey. She so precisely shows how colonial oppression trickles down into every single nook and cranny of daily life, from family relationships to crashing economies, from unattended potholes, to education corrupt governments.

To me, both Aunty Ifeoma’s and Eugene’s families were victims to colonialism in their own ways.
Eugene was a victim since childhood, of deep indoctrination and abuse that made him hate his own culture, language and even his own father. His internal conflict is so tangible - even what he does FOR his community and his family stems from self-hatred and shame. The depiction of Eugene as the abuser was accurate, but the real underlying abuse was the domineering presence of white religion forced onto brown communities. Beatrice was made to endure endless abuse, and her only way out in a broken system that would offer her no support, was to commit violence herself. 
Aunty Ifeoma’s family is not free of victimhood either. That family was forced out of their home because they spoke against injustice. They  spoke truth to power and lost their means to survive. Her friend Chiaku says it best:  
“The educated ones leave, the ones with the potential to right the wrongs. They leave the weak behind. The tyrants continue to reign because the weak cannot resist. Do you not see that it is a cycle? Who will break that cycle?” 
Ifeoma saw that it was a cycle of course, but she, like most immigrants, chose the least of two evils. She left a country that did not appreciate her to go to another country that did not appreciate her. Because they were both ruled by colonialism. Because the colonialist/white supremacist system is designed to grind down those who threaten it. 

But thankfully, Adichie does not leave us without hope. Obioma gets a scholarship to a private school, one where he thrives. Kambili finds her own and asserts herself and her identity - she chooses love and hope over fear. In the end of the book there is the echo of what purple hibiscus has symbolized the entire time: the power of love, connection, education and speaking up to create new life - life that we can prune and share and replant elsewhere. 
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