I thought I’d post this title for Women’s History Month. This is a great contemporary novel by the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie called Half of a Yellow Sun. I picked up a copy in January because the author was on my mind, after her family suffered a great tragic loss during this past holiday season. The novel takes place in post-independent Nigeria, the late 1960’s. It concentrates on the Igbo side of the conflict during the Nigerian Civil War, fighting for an independent Biafra Republic
The story is told through five characters: Ugwu a thirteen-year-old village boy, brought by his aunt to a university professor, to work as a houseboy; Ogdenigbo a university professor and Ugwu’s master, with revolutionary, pan African ideals; Olanna, Ogdenigbo’s lover, educated abroad, is the daughter of a chief and wealthy businessman; Kainene, Olana’s fraternal twin sister, talented in business and heir to her father’s business empire; and finally, Richard, who is dating Kainene, is an Englishman that moved to Nigeria to study and write about Igbo art. Living among them, Richard is constantly reminded that he is an outsider, a colonizer. Caught between two worlds, he listens to Nigerians talk about whites and he listens to whites talk about Nigerians and he says nothing.
The novel highlights the common rift of the colonized, between those thinking European education, language, customs and technology is the way of the future, and village life, with its old customs, beliefs, language and superstition, is the past, with little value and sophistication. Even with this common rift, ethnic tensions remained strong, leading to coup and civil war, the Nigerian-Biafra War.
Through this couple, Olanna and Ogdenigbo, their friends, and family, the occurrences and effects of the war are noted. In the beginning, we see their normal lives, so optimistic, full of pride and principles, only to be shredded over time by the ravages, violence and horrors of war. They experience that no one is immune from loss. Particularly alarming was the loss of so many children, through malnutrition/starvation. Blockade of supplies, they learned, is also part of war.
Half of a yellow sun is part of the Biafran flag, to symbolize the glorious future, a rising sun. As mentioned, the characters were bright-eyed and confident about their future. Also, Olanna, Ogdenigbo, their family, friends and colleagues were mainly educated, belonged to the upper classes and were always afforded a certain amount of respect and privilege. They never visualized failure of this independence campaign and the consequences. Their journey from the heights of society to the day-to-day struggles of war is brilliantly and graphically written by Adichie. Just excellent.
The author drew on her research of history and stories from her parents, who survived the war, and family to create this novel. Adichie disclosed that her father would end his stories with the Igbo phrase, “war is very ugly”. Unfortunately, the decision to go to war is not left up to people like Mr. Adichie, you or me. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is just a wonderfully layered story of ordinary people, living through a violent, tragic period of Nigerian history. The author walks us through before, during and after the conflict. In the end, as is all wars, the losses all seemed so senseless and avoidable, and the scars changed the country forever – there was no going back.
The novel is beautifully written, and keeps you absorbed from beginning to end. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s storytelling ability is exceptional and invaluable. You really get a different, even a heartfelt, caring perspective, when African/Black authors write about the African/Black experience. And a woman’s voice and insight are always a value. I can’t emphasis enough how good this novel is. I highly recommend this title, Half of a Yellow Sun!
