Purple Hibiscus

 

By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

 

I ordered this book online and first impressions of the cover when it arrived weren’t great. It looked like a promiscuous adult book and I therefore became a little embarrassed reading it in a public setting.

 

Not Adichie’s best novel, an important one with important messages none the less. It’s narrated by 15 year old Kambili. She and her brother Ja Ja are the children of Eugene, a wealthy man who can best be described as a religious fanatic, very controlling, physically abusive, extremely authoritarian, a nutcase really. He loves them dearly but needs them to conform to his every ambition for them.

Eugene’s widowed sister, Ifeoma, is exactly the opposite. While Kambili and Ja Ja stay with her enjoying a short vacation, she plants the first seeds of an independent alternative and the story grows from there.

 

At 307 pages, it was surprisingly quick to get through because it so jam packed. The writing style is easy and descriptive yet never allowing the descriptions to become tedious. We get a thorough understanding of Nigeria, politically unstable at this time.

 

An enjoyable read but not really a must read.