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A review by riemannv
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
3.5
I struggled with how expository the first third felt, but once Purple Hibiscus picks up speed (around when Kambili first leaves to visit Ifeoma and her cousins), Adichie does not slow down.
Kambili is written beautifully!! She feels so human, her cocoon-like reaction to cruelty is so real, so urgent, and so easy to root for. All of the supporting cast in her aunt, cousins, brother, mother, and Father Adami are all funny and relatable, barring a questionable age gap between Adami and our main character.
Whenever an author tries to portray an event as serious as the violence from Papa, the writing needs to carefully ride the line between being too subtle and euphemistic to capture the horror, and too gratuitous to feel appropriate. Adichie succeeds with flying colors here.
An engine that takes a bit of time warming up, but is consistently good once it’s going.
7/10
Kambili is written beautifully!! She feels so human, her cocoon-like reaction to cruelty is so real, so urgent, and so easy to root for. All of the supporting cast in her aunt, cousins, brother, mother, and Father Adami are all funny and relatable, barring a questionable age gap between Adami and our main character.
Whenever an author tries to portray an event as serious as the violence from Papa, the writing needs to carefully ride the line between being too subtle and euphemistic to capture the horror, and too gratuitous to feel appropriate. Adichie succeeds with flying colors here.
An engine that takes a bit of time warming up, but is consistently good once it’s going.
7/10