Book review of ‘Purple Hibiscus’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The story is told by fifteen-year-old Kambili, whose father, Eugene, is a wealthy businessman and prominent public figure. He takes enormous personal risks in publishing stories in his newspaper, The Standard, that challenge the actions of the Nigerian government. Eugene donates considerable sums to worthy charitable organisations and local families.
He is a staunch Catholic and rejects wholeheartedly anything he considers heathen. This includes his father, who is a follower of traditional beliefs.
However, within his household, he is a cruel tyrant subjecting Kambili, her brother Jaja, and her mother to horrendous physical and psychological abuse if they dare venture out of his ‘holy conduct’.
“Aunty Ifeoma came the next day, in the evening, when the orange trees started to cast long, wavy shadows across the water fountain in the front yard. Her laughter floated upstairs into the living room, where I sat reading. I had not heard it in two years, but I would know that cackling, hearty sound anywhere. Aunty Ifeoma was as tall as Papa, with a well-proportioned body. She walked fast, like one who knew just where she was going and what she was going to do there. And she spoke the way she walked, as if to get as many words out of her mouth as she could in the shortest time.”
However, Eugene’s sister, Auntie Ifeoma, a university professor, doesn’t demonstrate any of the same cruel traits of character. She is intelligent, open-minded, poor(the university she worked for, halted due to unstable political scenarios) and political. She is fiercely independent in terms of beliefs and way of living.
Her family is often visited by Father Amadi, A young, handsome Nigerian priest who is friends with Aunty Ifeoma and her children.
Kambili and Jaja go to her house for a week, much to father’s dismay. Their aunt engages them in daily chores like collecting water from the public tap or cooking whatever tit-bits of meat they can purchase.
Initially hesitant, they start adapting and enjoying this financially circumscribed life. They witness freedom, contrary to the scheduled and strict life their father makes them live. At different points in this story, Kambili has all of her beliefs challenged. She develops a liking for Father Amadi and a great bonding with her cousins Amaka, Obiora and Chima.
This book is a kind of portrayal where you don’t want Kambili to leave her aunt’s house, want her to speak against her cruel father. You get to travel along the journey of life with Kambili and explore her as she grows and becomes an extrovert; capable of speaking for herself. There’s furthermore to the story which you will find when you read the complete book.
I was not sure what my laughter sounded like.
Overall, it was an extremely good read, but I would have loved it if the novel would continue a little further and tell us what happened after Jaja’s release from prison.
Adichie is an excellent story-teller, I recently came across a TED talk by her, about how literature influences mindsets: Link to the video
