Comments (45)

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Jan 02, 2024daedalus4444 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
This book appears near the top of several best books of the 21st century lists. In my opinion, this is good, not great. The writing is very simple and straightforward, but the plot is quite engaging.
Feb 03, 2023funkynic rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This multi award winning book hardly needs any more reviews but 16 years after it was written, I can quite emphatically say that it is still relevant, still heartbreaking and still a masterpiece. Once I finished this book I looked up…
Nov 26, 2022variegata rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This novel is so good I really feel at a loss for words, but I'll stumble along here and say a few things anyway. I'm not a big fan of the word "great", but I'm tempted to use it. This book is really a major work. It is fantastically…
Oct 18, 2022rclane rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Very moving, emotionally fraught, exquisitely constructed.
Oct 04, 2022DrPaul_0 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Dramatizes the lives of some of the Nigerians who broke away to form the country of Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War. Entertaining, sobering. Good if you want to know more about the history of this important country.
Jan 08, 2022PankajMehra rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Chimamanda opened up a world that I had very little knowledge of and opened up Nigeria's history to me. Her protagonists represent diverse classes and backgrounds and evoke very clear images through their clothes, mannerisms, food and…
Dec 23, 2021
This novel was a total disappointment. I was hoping it would tell the story of the people of Biafra as did R. Mistry in A FineBalance. This was mostly the love life of two sisters.
Aug 14, 2021steverino4 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
A rare work of genius. Novel about the failed Biafran war of independence - but you don't need to know a thing about it to be swept up in the Tolstoyan range of her artistic vision. Amazing that so young a writer wrote this.
Jan 05, 2021yvettedun rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Another fantastic book by Ngozi that shows the, often ignored, dynamic environment that is the African continent. I loved it!
Oct 09, 2020Ficus rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This book. Is A-mazing. Adichie is a brilliant writer. All of her books are excellent but this one in particular is SO absorbing and interesting.
Sep 14, 2020BiblioKateB rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Poetic, raw, heartbreaking -- a portrait of the struggle to define an identity and existence in a world splintered by the reality of violence in a fight for freedom.
Jun 29, 2020
Well that was educational. I had zero knowledge of the Nigerian civil war and the country of Biafra. I find it appalling how humans treat each other and then promptly forget to put it in our history textbooks. This book was very well…
Dec 29, 2018Bududo rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
The setting for this novel takes place in post-colonial Nigeria - just before the Biafran civil war through to the end. Indeed, the title is from the Biafran symbol. The story is related in by a rotation of three viewpoints: a house boy…
Aug 05, 2018brangwinn rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Wow, what a great story with the creation and downfall of Biafra. Adiche tells the story of the creation and the violence of this time in Nigeria through love stories that make the reader feel they have been there. At times I wanted to put…
Jul 27, 2018lpreston214 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This is a story, mainly told through the eyes of three people: Olanna, Richard and Ugwu, before and during the Nigerian Civil war in the late sixties. Biafra declared independence in 1967 and fought a losing battle until surrender in 1970…
May 27, 2018LucasHill rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
"[S]he felt attacked, relentless clobbered, by loss." The story of two middle class Black Nigerian sisters, their loves and friends, the people who surround them, who suffer through the perils of the Biafran War, aka the Nigerian civil…
Apr 07, 2018kennethbhill rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This was second Adichie read. It was an emotionally tough novel to get through; however worthwhile to read as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie writes beautifully - agha ajoka (war is very ugly).
Mar 01, 2018pridi_o rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Nowadays, I am having a hard time reading novels: too slow, too long, too repetitive, too much sex. "Half of a yellow sun" explores interesting topics: Nigerian civil war, colonial politics, etc. But I think it could be shorter. :)
Feb 12, 2018hannah_way rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Adichie does such a compelling job developing her characters and making them seem so real. Also a great insight into the Civil War in the 1960s in Nigeria that I knew nothing about.
Feb 09, 2018SPPL_Therese rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This was a wonderful book. It was captivating and informative, with a gripping plot and well-developed, interesting characters.
Feb 04, 2018ArapahoeAnnaL rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Beautifully written tale of three people living the hope and disappointment amid the attempt to create a Biafran state in 1960's Nigeria.
Dec 14, 2017
This novel was one of the best I read all year, and in my opinion ranks up there with books like "A Fine Balance," as one of the best novels of the last 20 years. It takes place in Nigeria during one of its darkest periods, the war…
Oct 10, 2016lukasevansherman rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Sweeping, moving, and impressive novel about the Nigerian Civil War, something I knew nothing about. The book follows 5 major characters (2 sisters, their lovers, and a servant) as they navigate the tumultous political waters of late 1960s…
Jun 05, 2016TSCPL_ChrisB rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This is such an evocative and poetic novel. The language, the story, the characters, the setting—this is nearly a perfect novel. I was truly engaged and greatly informed.
Mar 11, 2016HollyDavis022 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Interesting introduction to a war I know little about