Price Rs 299 (got it for 179 from homeshop18.com)
Fiction
I read Adchie's Half of a yellow sun first. I liked it so much that I ordered for her first novel Purple hibiscus.
The book is about Kambili (Kambili Achike)a 15 year old teenage girl and life through her eyes, set in Nigeria with Iqbu outset...Its about her fear, her constant looking upto her Papa(Eugene Achike) for constant approval, her first love, her bundle of fear,her happiness and of her faith..Inspite of being the daughter of a rich and affluent father who is generous at the outset exploring all horizons of philanthropy owner of many factories and a newspaper named "Standard", that gives publishes only truth..At home he is fanatically religious punising his family which includes her elder brother Jaja (Chukwuka Achike), mama (Beatrice Achike) for the slightest aversion from his orthodox religious mindset..We goes overboard with it by not allowing his children to visit his father who follows old traditional religion, beating Kambili so hard that she was hospitalized for not letting go off painting of her grandfather , beating up her brother when he refused for communion ..Her country is taken over by military regime way in the begininng , the tyranny is similar to the atmosphere at home..Character of Papa is too complex that I started to hate him when he pours hot water with tears on Kambili's and Jaja's legs just because she shared a house with grandfather who is a heathen...She is a brillaint student in school yet been shunned away by her classmates as being sloppy and pathetically snobby and its all because of the fear in her that has turned her upside down...
Its in Aunty Ifoema's(bold lecturer who can stand up to papa) home in Nsukka Kambili and Jaja taste real life..Her reflection to see her brother smile "I didn't know that Jaja had dimples" is as innocent as when she says "I Knew that publishing underground meant that the newspaper would be published from a secret location from secret location..Yet I imagined.. the staff in an office beneath the ground, fluorescent lamp flooding the dark damp room, the men bent over their desks writing truth" ..Its a different life altogether at her aunt's home filled with loads of love and laughter where they work together even when the money and food is scant, children talk back to their mom, pray and enjoy every moment being together , but at Kambili's home its all about schedule to study,eat , pray , sleepand sometime with family ..She feels strange when her aunt's family pray for smile laughter unlike her father who prays for faith...Her cousins Amaka, Obiora and Chima give Kambili insight about happy life getting her back to normal , far away from her shyness...Amaka is a thing of wonder to her with her bright lipsticks make up, jeans and trousers, loud music and clear thoughts of her own.. She is surprised to see her cousin questioning their mother while at back home all she knew was muted approval of her father's decisions..Father Amadi is another character I like who was instrumental in resurrecting faith in her and she experiences her first love..All this beautiful things comes to a standstill when Aunty decides move to America after being sacked and Father Amadi leaves for Germany with missionary work... With all the emotional crushings by papa, mama poisons him Jaja takes the blame on himself sufferes ill treatment in jail..At the end the novel gives a new hope for a better future where they have freedom and where they cam smile..As she puts is "Silence hangs over us, but it is different kind of silence, one that lets me breathe. I have nightmares about the other kind , the silence of when Papa was alive"
The book is full of weird normal events that happens everyday in Kambili's life The bright contrast between the elite and the middle to that the poor in market and how they are treated by the military coup is depicted with brilliance..The food they eat , day , night, weather are all minutely described with the flow of the story not being utterly dramatic yet striking hard note every now and then...All in all I loved this creation of Adchie's Kambili and her life...
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