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| First edition |
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Author
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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Country
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Nigeria
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Language
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English
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Genre
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Historical fiction
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Publisher
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Alfred
A. Knopf
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Publication
date
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January 15, 2007
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Media type
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Print (Hardback)
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Pages
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448 pp
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ISBN
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978-0-00-720028-3
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OCLC
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78988623
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The novel takes place in Nigeria prior to and during the Nigerian Civil War (1967–70). The effect of the war is shown through the dynamic relationships of five people’s lives including twin daughters of an influential businessman, a professor, a British citizen, and a houseboy. After Biafra's declaration of secession, the lives of the main characters drastically changed and were torn apart by the brutality of the civil war and decisions in their personal lives.
The book jumps between events that took place during the early 1960s and the late 1960s, when the war took place, and extends until the end of the war. In the early 1960s, the main characters are introduced: Ugwu, a 13-year-old village boy who moves in with Odenigbo, to work as his houseboy. Odenigbo frequently entertains intellectuals to discuss the political turmoil in Nigeria. Life changes for Ugwu when Odenigbo’s girlfriend, Olanna, moves in with them. Ugwu forms a strong bond with both of them, and is very loyal. Olanna has a twin sister, Kainene, a woman with a dry sense of humor, tired by the pompous company she runs for her father. Her lover Richard is an Englishman who has come to Nigeria to explore Igbo-Ukwu art.
Jumping four years ahead, trouble is brewing between the Hausa and the Igbo people and hundreds of people die in massacres, including Olanna's beloved auntie and uncle. A new republic,called Biafra, is created by the Igbo. As a result of the conflict, Olanna, Odenigbo, their daughter Baby and Ugwu are forced to flee Nsukka, which is the university town and the major intellectual hub of the new nation. They finally end up in the refugee town of Umuahia, where they suffer as a result of food shortages and the constant air raids and paranoid atmosphere. There are also allusions to a conflict between Olanna and Kainene, Richard and Kainene and Olanna and Odenigbo.
When the novel jumps back to the early 1960s, we learn that Odenigbo slept with a village girl, who then had his baby. Olanna is furious at his betrayal, and sleeps with Richard in a moment of liberation. She goes back to Odenigbo and when they later learn that Amala refused to keep her newborn daughter, Olanna decides that they would keep her.
Back during the war Olanna, Odenigbo, Baby, and Ugwu were living with Kainene and Richard where Kainene was running a refugee camp. The situation is hopeless as they have no food or medicine. Kainene decides to trade across enemy lines, but does not return, even after the end of the war a few weeks later. The book ends ambiguously, with the reader not knowing if Kainene lives.
Half of a Yellow Sun received the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction. The award is given annually for the best original full-length novel written by a woman in English; Adichie's prize amounted to £30,000. While Purple Hibiscus, her first novel, made the Orange Prize shortlist in 2004, Adichie believes that it wasn't taken as seriously as Half of a Yellow Sun, which was much more respected and reviewed.
The novel was well received by critics and included in the New York Times′s "100 Most Notable Books of the Year". In a review for The Seattle Times, Mary Brennan highlights the book as "a sweeping story that provides both a harrowing history lesson and an engagingly human narrative". The Observer's Kate Kellaway wrote: "An immense achievement, Half of a Yellow Sun has a ramshackle freedom and exuberant ambition." The New York Times had a more mixed reflection of the book, noting that "at times Adichie’s writing is too straightforward, the novel’s pace too slack" but also that "whenever she touches on her favorite themes — loyalty and betrayal — her prose thrums with life."
In 2008, a film adaptation was announced, with a screenplay to be written by playwright Biyi Bandele. The film premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in late 2013, and had its worldwide release in 2014. The film stars Academy Award nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor and BAFTA Award Winner Thandie Newton and AMAA award winning actress Genevieve Nnaji.
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