Half of a Yellow Sun

[sooperdooper]

By Chimamandia Ngozi Adichie - anyone read it?

I'm trying so hard to enjoy this book, I've heard such good things about it & so many people seem to love it but I'm about a third in & I'm struggling to care and could put it down any minute and never finish it!

Does it get better? What am I missing?

Following, because I gave up after a few chapters too. Would like to know if it's worth trying again.

We read it for book group some years ago. Half of us thought it was wonderful. I really didn't like it, and would not recommend it.

I really enjoyed it but it is very harrowing in places.
If you are not enjoying it don't sweat it. Life is to short to read books you don't enjoy.

Same here, I somehow read the whole book as I was interested in the history but there's something about the characters that seems distant or dispassionate, I didn't really care about any of them. I felt the same with Americanah which I didn't manage to finish.

Stunning book, I love Adichie. She's following on from Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. It's a film too, I think?

Her Purple Hibiscus is really accessible, and used to be a GCSE book till Gove banned it. It's about the parallel between totalitarianism and familial abuse.

What sticks in my mind from Half of a Yellow Sun is how a normal everyday lower middle class life can be turned upside down by political upheaval. The physical effects of sudden malnutrition are startling to read.

She has such a clean style, wonderful writer.

Thanks for the thread OP.

The first time I read it, I lasted about a quarter way through, and I very rarely give up on a book. I tried again about 2 years later and absolutely loved it.
Maybe leave for now and try again in a while?

As Clawdy suggests from her book group, it's a bit Marmite. But yes, why not wait a while and try again.

I found it really interesting from the historical angle, less so from the writing angle if that makes sense. Worth finishing I think.

I loved it.

I loved it too and am glad I finished it. I was threatening to give up after the first few chapters. Devastating how people's lives can be turned upside down by political upheaval. If someone had asked me what Biafra was before reading it, I wouldn't have known. I'm always grateful to finish a book and feel like I have been educated in some way as well as enjoying the read. I also have her very thin book on feminist teachings (which I have yet to read) - Dear Ijewele.

I loved it .it was so different and all about a country I am ignorant of . Americanah was even better

Why did gove ban her book

I read, but it was emotionally very difficult. Americanah was easier. But there's a whole world of books out there. Find something you like.

Loved teaching Purple Hibiscus, damn Gove, such an enriching novel. I would persevere, some writers you just have to get into a rhythm with. But let's face it you cannot enjoy everything and it is not a crime to dislike a writer. I hate Dickens, still teach him but loathe his prose.

She has written better books but this one was fascinating from a historical perspective. Is the Biafran war not taught in British schools?

Biafra and the famine aren't taught in UK schools. I loved this book although it did take a bit of time to find its rhythm.