B.O.A.S Rating – 4/5

This book made me feel. That’s how you tell a good book. I’m an African and save for the brief section in high school on post-colonial Nigeria, there wasn’t much I knew about Biafra’s bid for independence.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche introduces her readers, not just to the life of two sisters, but to the ugly truth of war. Starvation, death, separation, depression.

Told through the eyes of Ugwu (a houseboy), Richard (a British journalist) and Olanna, Kainene’s sister and Odenigbo’s love, the reader is shuttled across timelines and witnesses the outbreak of war and it’s aftermath. You can almost smell the heaviness of the streets and refugee camps.

But the book does not restrict it’s themes to war and political strife. The ideas of marriage and female empowerment ran strongly through it. After Odenigbo’s indiscretion and resultant developments, you see Olanna struggle with the idea of loving a man who has done her wrong and letting her life fall to the wayside. You can relate to Aunty Ifeka sage advice to her: You must never behave as if your life belongs to a man. Your life belongs to you and you alone.

This was the fourth book by Chimamanda that I’ve read, and I have to say that it has made me a covert of her work. I feel almost bereft that I have just two to go.

I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone looking for African literature that resounds with authenticity. There also lots of surprise twists at the end: some welcome, some heart-wrenching.

The whole books brims with life! I can’t wait to watch the movie adaption.

Update – The movie adaptation did not do the book justice, I’m afraid.