There are some books you are sad to finish, and some you are glad to finish. For me, Half of a Yellow Sun came into the second category. Not that it wasn't good, I just got bored.
Set in Biafra and Nigeria before and during the Biafran war, the most satisfying part of the book was the beggining and the end. The beginning detailed the story of a village boy as he went to work for a University Professor. The way the book described the boys' viewpoint of his master's friends and their politically minded discussions. Every night the adolescent listened to his employer's friends discuss politics, and then secretly listened in on the Professor making love to his wife.
I think this part was most entertaining as it showed the viewpoint of a poor African boy as he went from village to a middle class, educated household. This shift was well portrayed and I found it enjoyable and easy to envisage. For some reason, when the book went into the Biafran war, it felt like it was concentrating more on events and less on characters, and so the read lost some of its' interest.
This novel got excellent review and won the Orange Prize. It might be the only literary prize to be sponsored by a mobile phone company, but it's still an achievement. Sometimes, though, a book stops grabbing you, and no review can change that.
1 comment:
Personally I remember thinking half of a yellow sun was excellent. But I don't really remember the end, I was a bit confused by the jumping back and forth and I remember liking a couple of the sections much more than the rest, it was so long ago that we'll just assume for your sake that it was the end that was dull.
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