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cocoonofbooks 's review for:
Half of a Yellow Sun
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
I don't know if I needed the audio version to bring this to life or if I was just cranky when I read this last time, but I enjoyed it much more this time around. I also did not remember any of the plot twists and, oddly enough, thought I remembered one that didn't exist, so it was almost like reading it for the first time. In any case, Robin Miles is an excellent narrator and I appreciated hearing the story in her voice.
Although I still had trouble caring too much about the characters' personal lives (aside from Kainene and Baby, everyone made stupid decisions I couldn't relate to), I did appreciate this for the way it provides a comprehensive picture of what it might have been like to live in Biafra, from the events leading up to its creation to the aftermath of its dissolution. In the United States, we get a brief, shiny version of the story of our independence from Britain, and the sacrifices our forefathers made seem worth it as part of that larger story, but without the support from France it could have instead been a story about the time a lot of people died for no gain. That is essentially the story of Biafra, except that they were at even more of a disadvantage not having arable land, so people died as much from starvation as from the war.
As in Americanah, Adichie uses an embedded format (in this case, descriptions of book chapters rather than blog posts) to insert elements of nonfiction in the novel. I'm torn on whether this added enough to the reading experience to justify its inclusion, as I found it so divorced from the narrative and so awkwardly written ("He writes about...") that it interrupted the flow of the book. Some of the facts were interesting, though — like the starvation of Biafra being the origin of American parents telling their children about starving children in Africa — and the reveal at the very end that ties the book's writing back to the primary narrative made it ultimately a valuable inclusion.
I still like Adichie's nonfiction more than her fiction, but I'm glad to have had the chance to revisit this story in another format and appreciate it much more.
Although I still had trouble caring too much about the characters' personal lives (aside from Kainene and Baby, everyone made stupid decisions I couldn't relate to), I did appreciate this for the way it provides a comprehensive picture of what it might have been like to live in Biafra, from the events leading up to its creation to the aftermath of its dissolution. In the United States, we get a brief, shiny version of the story of our independence from Britain, and the sacrifices our forefathers made seem worth it as part of that larger story, but without the support from France it could have instead been a story about the time a lot of people died for no gain. That is essentially the story of Biafra, except that they were at even more of a disadvantage not having arable land, so people died as much from starvation as from the war.
As in Americanah, Adichie uses an embedded format (in this case, descriptions of book chapters rather than blog posts) to insert elements of nonfiction in the novel. I'm torn on whether this added enough to the reading experience to justify its inclusion, as I found it so divorced from the narrative and so awkwardly written ("He writes about...") that it interrupted the flow of the book. Some of the facts were interesting, though — like the starvation of Biafra being the origin of American parents telling their children about starving children in Africa — and the reveal at the very end that ties the book's writing back to the primary narrative made it ultimately a valuable inclusion.
I still like Adichie's nonfiction more than her fiction, but I'm glad to have had the chance to revisit this story in another format and appreciate it much more.