You don’t know, what you don’t know… until you do.
I joined this challenge, because I have been frustrated in my attempts to find note-worthy African authors. Clearly there are plenty, but without knowing who they are, Amazon is a wasteland. Which is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what I don’t know. At any rate, thanks to the wonderful advice from other Reading Challengers; I discovered this beautiful book. Which leads me to the next thing I did not know. Biafra. My goodness, what a rich story. Part of me is truly surprised that this story was COMPLETELY unknown to me… and the other resigned to the inadequacies of the American education system. At any rate, I began this reading this book… with zero background about the history. Which just goes to show how truly wonderful the storytelling is in this book. I was hooked from the beginning. I read and read and read, until at 2:30 am on the 3rd day of reading I was done.

A couple of things grabbed me. The sweetness and innocence of Ugwu, the arrogance of Odenigbo, Olanna and Kainene and their complex relationship, Richard the British ex-pat that reminded me so much of people I knew growing up in Central America. People who fell in love with a place they did not understand because they felt lost in their original places. Actually, Ugwu also reminded me of people I knew growing up… sweet and eager to please in their innocence and naivete. Grateful in a way I never understood. Always with that under-current of watchfulness that Adichie paints so wonderfully in this book.

Ugwu, starts out so simple. He is a child, soft, malleable, unformed. His growth tracks with the growth of the story, he starts out whole, soft, pure and ends scarred, tarnished, strong, and brave. Just as Nigeria is a young and innocent nation that finishes hardened and scarred. Both Nigeria and Ugwu are poised for a brighter future at the end of the book… but with so much lost.

Olanna and Kainene as twins are really two parts of a whole. Each uncomfortable in the world and taking polar opposite positions to try and find a place. Olanna walking away from money and power for love of a strong, rebellious, intellectual man. Kainene withdrawing into herself behind a mask of indifference and sarcasm. Olanna is sweet, soft, idealistic beautiful. Kainene is hard, handsome, acerbic, practical. Kainene’s man is weak and does not know himself… and her even less so.

Odenigbo starts off so confident. So, strong… and is worn down and broken by the war. He loses himself in drink and depression leaving Olanna the stronger of the two. While Richard, so weak, lost and mild before the war, learns to love, learns confidence, learns his place in the world… It is significant that he of all the characters really has nothing but himself in the end. He loses his love… Kainene, his novel… everything that he valued was gone. Never to return. The truth is it was never his. If only we could all learn that lesson.

Now the construction of the novel. The way it bounces around in the timeline. I am not sure, why that choice makes sense. I does make sense. I just don’t know how. I liked the contrast and the flickers of insight into the future/past that it gave me. I wonder how she came to put the book together in that way.

The scenes of Olanna visiting her family… wanting to just enjoy her time with them and at the same time repelled by their circumstances. Those scenes were so honest. Aren’t we all torn between idealism and reality? Ugwu goes through the same thing… he is less able to appreciate his family as he grows up. In many ways his education begins the separation that is completed by his war experiences.

There is so much more in this book than I can even begin to talk about here. Plus there is probably a ton of stuff that I missed completely. It is a wonderful, beautiful, sad book. Worth reading. So if you haven’t, please do!