Life
changes irrevocably when Kambili and Jaja leave their hometown to
visit their Aunty Ifeoma and her children. Aunty Ifeoma takes
a more pragmatic view of religion, easily blending elements of the
old Nigerian ways with Catholicism to form her own unique and malleable
spiritual framework. Aunty Ifeoma is spirited and irrepressible,
and living with her family makes Kambili see how rigid her upbringing
has been by comparison. She longs for the freedom with which
her aunt and cousins seem to live their lives.
As Kambili tentatively
experiments with a more uninhibited lifestyle and open-minded world
view, the military tensions in Nigeria being to mount. The
truthful, adamant stance her father has insisted upon for his newspaper
puts him in very real danger. Kambili's life is falling apart,
and she must rely on her own self and the courage of her convictions
for the first time in her life.
Purple Hibiscus
is a beautifully written first novel. In Kambili, Chimamanda
Adichie has created an unforgettable character, a young girl experiencing
the uncertainty of "self" that comes with growing up in
a rigid framework in which one's thoughts and beliefs are dictated,
not nurtured. The reader may not be capable of truly relating
to what it must be like to live amidst such military violence, but
Kambili's struggles to assert herself are universal and have broad
appeal.
Adichie has a strong grasp
of narrative and characterization, and her writing style is fluid
and elegant. It is no surprise that this remarkable debut
novel has garnered spots on both the Orange Prize shortlist and
the Booker Prize longlist.
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