Purple Hibiscus

is my third African backdrop book in a row. You'd think I might understand some of the African terminology (usually in reference to food) by now, but I don't. I'm too lazy to look it up.

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie is her first novel.

I didn't love it as much as Half of a Yellow Sun. Personally, reading the books in the order that I did, you can tell Purple Hibiscus is her first. Her dialogue and sentence structure is so much simpler. However she does a terrific job developing her characters. I was rooting for the main character, Kamaili, a fifteen year old, to speak up, define herself and get stronger. She and her brother were overpowered by their wealthy father and their very submissive mother. In contrast they visit their cousins who are free spirited and out spoken. Their transformation via exposure to the outside world makes it a very interesting read.

It is a much easier (faster) read than Half of a Yellow Sun and White Dog Fell From the Sky. However the content involves such male dominance over the family that it does make one uncomfortable for the family.

Again, the backdrop is Nigeria. Here is an interesting article detailing more of her background. If you read any of her books you will find she has pulled incidents from her real life into the novels.

Even though I found it to be less than her second book, I still found it to be worth my time to read. She is far better than Danielle Steele.