Half of a Yellow Sun

Admitted, I read this book solely based on the author’s brilliant TED talk “The Danger of a Single Story”. I did very little research on which of her books to read and ended up with this one because I liked the title and the cover.

This book seemed like it was written for me.

I do not know much of Africa and I am not one to be touched by stranger’s death on the news. Part of it is due to not being sentimental as a person, but most of it is due to large and inexcusable ignorance. For example, the book covers the Nigeria-Biafran war of 1967-1970. I did not know of this war before I started. I did not really give much thought to people in less fortunate countries than mine, but Kainene changed that for me. Kainene is not the main character; instead we follow Olanna and her houseboy Ugwu and we follow Richard, a white British man who falls in love with Olanna’s sister Kainene. I liked Richard because he was desperate to belong somewhere. I loved Kainene because she was a strong place for him to belong.

Read the rest of my review at: http://programmingandthecity.wordpress.com/2014/04/02/half-of-a-yellow-sun/