This book was a pleasant surprise, and since I came into it with really low expectations, it makes it that much better. I was not very familiar with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie when I started reading this, and her short story in 20 Under 40 didn’t impress nor depress me. She seemed like an okay writer, granted someone who was following too much in the footsteps of past writers who wrote about life in Africa. But sometimes and okay writer is all that is needed to weave an intricate story over 500 pages that was more entertaining than I thought it could be. It centers on the Biafra-Nigeria civil war that raged on in the late 1960’s (I think). I am really not that much into the historical notions that are in novels like this, and too be honest, my grasp of history is very rudimentary. So since I do not get caught up with historical accuracies in novels, a book like this that so relies on impact and validity of these past events, I am worried I am not going to see the book in all its glory, and I will not grasp its full potential and miss things that would make the read more enriching. The fact that I liked this book despite the fact shows how well the story shines through the facts that can bog a reader like me down. It centers on five different characters. We first meet Ugwu, a thirteen-year old house servant to Odenigbo, a smart, passionate, yet elitist university professor. He has a mistress, the beautiful Olanna, the daughter of a wealthy Igbo tribe leader, who is caught in her own culture war. Her sister, the distant and cold Kainene, is the object of desire for Richard and Englishman who is in Nigeria trying to write a book, which is one of the main arcs throughout the novels time passage. All these characters intersect in this tumultuous time, and face the hardships of being uprooted, and the mystery of whether their friends are alive or dead. It is definitely a story and subject that has been dealt with before, and the scenes of violence are of course heartless and jarring to those who witness it and the reader who reads it. But the real treat here is how well these five people interact with each other. Ugwu becomes somewhat of a moral base camp for the other four, he has his own (sometimes perverted) desires, but he never does takes a side in any of the petty arguments that occur when the two relationships go sour. The twins are polar opposites, Olanna being the caring if misguided one, while Kainene rarely acknowledges any kind of love for her prettier sister, but we somehow care for both when tragedy strikes. Odenigbo is the most knowledgeable, but is so arrogant about his beliefs; we question his bias and his knowledge. Finally Richard is the white man in the jungle, desperate to fit in, but unprepared for the horrors ahead. As the war rages closer to their lives, things get tense and turn violent and manipulative, until the real war shows up to change their lives. Again, nothing new here, but a damn fine book that I like and must recommend.
Rating: 5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment