Half of a Yellow Sun Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Half of a Yellow Sun is a 2006 novel by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The novel, set in Nigeria in the 1960s centers on Ugwu, a houseboy of Odenigbo.[1] Odenigbo is a professor and politics enthusiast who is in love with Olanna, the daughter of a wealthy Nigerian man. The characters are, however, thrown into anarchy when a war breaks out. The novel won the 2007 Women's Prize for Fiction.

Half of Yellow Sun is renowned for its depiction of the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970). As a Bildungsroman, the primary themes are loyalty, betrayal, and war. Scholars note that Adichie narrates a love story that includes characters from the different regions and social classes of Nigeria, and how the war and encounter with refugees affected and changed them. Despite its themes, the novel was banned in 2022 in the American school districts of Michigan, Florida, South Carolina, and Utah, citing its sexual and violent imagery.

Reactions to the novel varied widely upon publication. Despite the number of copies sold and its widespread use in education, literary critics generally praised the novel's depiction of the Biafran War and the relationships of the characters but disagreed on the effectiveness of the narrative's pace. Half of a Yellow Sun was adapted into a film of the same name in 2013 by Biyi Bandele, and produced by Gail Egan and Andrea Calderwood.

Half of a Yellow Sun is the second novel of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie after Purple Hibiscus (2003). According to her, it took her three years to finish the manuscript. She took the title of the manuscript from an emblem on the Biafran flag.[3][4] In a post-story section of the novel entitled "The Story behind the Book", where Adichie wrote about her inspiration to write the novel, she wrote:

I grew up in the shadow of Biafra..It was as if the war had somehow divided the memories of my family. My parents have always wanted me to know, I think, that what matters is not what they went through but that they survived...I was concerned about people who lived in Biafra, telling their story in a way that gave it dignity and that is true".[5]

Adichie explained that writing Half of a Yellow Sun was a personal journey for her, recounting how she lost both her maternal and paternal grandfathers during the Nigerian Civil War. Although she did research, she used her parents and relatives to form the "skeleton" of the novel. Because the novel's first draft was full of political activities and events, she cut it and re-wrote the story, rearranged sentences from subtle changes, including the distance between towns, the presence of a beach in Port Harcourt and a train station in Nsukka. In a 2013 interview, she tells Ellah Allfrey that "she wants people to read her book and come away thinking what it means to be human".[5]

Adichie was born seven years after the war.[6] The novel is loosely based on political events of Nigeria in the 1960s.[7] It was published in Czech by the publisher BBart in 2008.[8]

Ugwu, a 13-year old village boy, lives and serves as a houseboy to his master Odenigbo, a mathematics professor who often discuss the country's political problems with his friends. Odenigbo's girlfriend Olanna later moves in with them. Ugwu builds a strong relationship with his master and the girlfriend. Olanna is from a wealthy family and has a twin sister Kainene, who runs her father's company. Kainene also has a boyfriend Richard, an English writer who visits Nigeria to explore Igbo-Ukwu arts.

Four years later, the Hausa and Igbo people begins to have ethnic problems which results to mass killing especially of the Igbos. Olanna's auntie and uncle get killed. The Igbos declare a new republic called Biafra, which corporates the southern region of the country. Odenigbo, Olanna, and their young daughter whom they call "Baby", and Ugwu moves to a refugee town called Umuahia. They experience food shortages, constant air raids and an environment of paranoia. Before the war, Odenigbo sleeps with a village girl Amala, who gives birth to his baby. When Olanna hears the news, she gets furious and sleeps with Richard, her sister's boyfriend. She later reunite with Odenigbo after receiving advice from Aunty Ifeka to forgive Odenigbo, as well as to keep Amala's child.

During the Biafran war, Olanna, Odenigbo, Baby, and Ugwu live with Kainene and Richard, where Kainene runs the refugee camp in Umuahia. Meanwhile the camp lacks resources and Kainene goes in search of aid but does not return, even after the war a few weeks later.

Postcolonialism and diaspora

Susan Strehle argues that the subject of the novel is the cost of diasporic experience in post-colonial Nigeria. She writes that Adichie creates rich metaphors for the public history of Nigeria in her characters which reflected the divided heritage of the postcolonial subjects, hence she presents the various conditions faced by refugees and migrants during the Biafran War.[9] The violation of the social contracts in Nigeria including genocidal murder of the Igbo minorities strips the characters of their status as citizens thereby propelling them into the diaspora as permanent foreigners. This is clearly shown by their experiences during the war which includes losing their houses as well as their homeland, Biafra.[10]

Adichie has also been an émigré since she was nineteen, hence it gave her more experience of writing about the diaspora. Before Half of a Yellow Sun, she has written on themes of immigration and diaspora in her first novel Purple Hibiscus.[11] In the novel, educated Southerners including Odenigbo disagrees with a nation which they perceive treats them as outsiders.[12]

The novel explains that the cause of diaspora is the ethnic hatred of the Igbos that exploded into wars and massacres. This is illustrated with the fleeing of the Igbos from the north and west to the east; their exile when Nsukka, Abba, and Port Harcourt were captured by the Nigerian forces; when their houses were damaged during the war thereby rendering them wounded, displaced, and starving while living on trains, refugee camps, and dilapidated temporal houses; when their former homes were taken by the so-called Nigerians. Another depiction were how Ugwu's village house was destroyed, his mother died, and her sister was raped by the Nigerian soldiers; Kainene's house in Port Harcourt was taken over by a tribal marked woman.[13]

War

Adichie says that writing about the civil war "is a personal issue—my father has tears in his eyes when he speaks of losing his father, my mother still cannot speak at length about losing her father in the refugee camp".[11]

Historical context, education, and tribalism

The novel places Nigeria as a historical nation created in Europe by the colonial masters. Ugwu tells the history of the country through the war, hence he educates the readers with the legacy of Nigerian colonisation. The theme of education is also illustrated through the different conversations of the faculty members in Nsukka, where Odenigbo lives, essays and letters written by Richard Chamberlain, the British writer, and the books read by Ugwu, where he sketches the perspective of the British people that encourages tribalism and racial hierarchy through supporting the Northern tribe. Richard, while writing to Europe about the war cities tribalism in the British rule.[14]

Ugwu explains that the Igbo people became targets of the British rule as well as vulnerable because they are the smallest of the three major ethnic groups under a British designed constitution that confers power based on population size.[15] Meanwhile the novel denies the statement since the first conversations among the intellectual characters already covered Nigerian nationalism among Southerners in the early 1960s even before the Biafran succession.[12]

Politics and tribal identity in post-colonial Africa

During a conversation on African identity among the Igbo and Yoruba faculty members of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, neither Odenigbo nor Lara Adebayo succumbed to being "a Nigerian". Odenigbo rejects oneness by opposing Lara's views of "Pan-Africanism", where she argues that "all Nigerians are one". However, Odenigbo rejects her stance and argues for tribal primacy stating that pan-Igbo identity existed before colonisation and that oneness was something "created by the Europeans to exploit Africans".

. "I am Nigerian because the white man created Nigeria and gave me that identity. I am black because the white man constructed black to be as different as possible from his white. But I was Igbo before the white man came. – Odenigbo[12]

Critical reception

Characters The New Yorker and Ny Tid praised the novel's characters, writing that "the characters and landscape are vividly painted, and details are often used to heartbreaking effect",[7] and that "what really makes the novel is the vivid portrayals of characters", respectively.[16] Murphy wrote that "Adichie nurtures our relationship with these characters in clear yet intimate prose, tenderly shaping their loves, losses, successes and failings, so the traumas visited on them reverberate all the more strongly". She also added that " her [Adichie's] powerful, harrowing depictions of those atrocities reflect a deep-rooted anger and a determination not to let them be forgotten".[2] Merle Rubin, writing for Los Angeles Times, and in writing about the novel's characters, wrote that "She [Adichie] deftly chronicles the wrenching experiences of her characters, including Olanna’s friend and former swain Mohammed, a Muslim prince whose polo-playing lifestyle belies his brave and humane heart".[17]

Narrative Mary Brennan of The Seattle Times described the novel as "a sweeping story that provides both a harrowing history lesson and an engagingly human narrative".[6]

The Author Africultures praised Adichie, while writing that "she has the art of storytelling! The language is very fluid with Igbo and Pidgin expressions that blend naturally with English and translate the poetry of Nigerian culture. The strength and beauty of her writing lies in her ability to embody characters whose cracks and dreams haunt you, long after you have closed the book".[18] In his review for Scroll.in, Zachary Bushnell, a lecturer at the University of Delhi wrote that "the pages of Half of a Yellow Sun turn with enough grace and speed to true history".[19]

The War Mary Fitzgerald wrote in The Guardian that the novel "has a grim backdrop which is the Biafran war".[20] Andrée Greene of Boston Review added that the novel "continues Adichie's exploration of family and politics" and in relating similarities with Purple Hibiscus, he wrote that "this time the family is coping with the Nigeria–Biafra civil war".[21] In a review for The Millions, Kevin Hartnett pointed out that the novel explores war and motherhood when he wrote, "late in the book, a neighbor of Olanna's learns that her son has been killed in the army. It is just one of many such losses and when Biafran soldiers go off to fight, there is little reason to believe that they'll come back. But when the mother hears the news, she throws herself to the ground and tosses around in a fit of anguish, cutting herself on the stones".[22] Susan Jacobs in The New Zealand Herald argued that although Adichie was not born at the time of the war, one structural strategy she uses to keep her story character-driven is flashback "from the pre-war early 60s to the war-torn late 60s".[23] Because of the novel's impact on the theme of war, Maya Jaggi compared it to Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy and Helen Dunmore's depiction of the Siege of Leningrad in her work, The Siege.[24] Kate Kellaway wrote that "the novel is an immense achievement. The foreign becomes familiar, a distant war comes close, a particular story seems universal. Nothing is falling apart for Adichie: everything is coming together".[25] Janet Maslin argues that Half of a Yellow Sun is not a conventional war story than A Farewell to Arms or For Whom the Bell Tolls, but praised the novel: "It is a story whose characters live in a changing wartime atmosphere, doing their best to keep that atmosphere at bay. And while the ravages of the Biafran war are well known, they do not manifest themselves in predictable or one-note ways here."[3] According to The Telegraph, Adichie succeeds "in tackling the horrors of this war, imbuing her portrayal of three disparate characters - a woman, a boy and an English journalist - with warmth, wisdom and an acute insight into human nature".[26]

Nixon of The New York Times wrote, "at once historical and eerily current, "Half of a Yellow Sun" honors the memory of a war largely forgotten outside Nigeria, except as a synonym for famine. But although she uses history to gain leverage on the present, Adichie is a storyteller, not a crusader".[27] Patterson wrote that, "this magnificent novel is a gripping portrayal of the horrors of war: the upheaval, the hunger and the brutalising fear. It's also packed with memorable characters, from houseboys to the cocktail-drinking coteries of the super-rich. A major new African voice."[28]

Other reviews Naomi Jackson of Chimurenga summarily wrote that the novel "does what a great novel is meant to do. It engages, capturing the reader's attention so completely that while reading one asks not whether the stories we engage with are true, but what these truths—suspended in the world the author creates—have to say about our humanity, the lengths to which we will go for love or an ideal or revenge".[29]

Audio book In a review for the novel's audiobook read by Zainab Jah, James Kidd argues that "Jah's voice is lighter than Adoh's, and her pace a little gentler. She is every bit as good when shifting between characters, and mixing English with Igbo."[30]

Edwina Preston wrote, "what is most impressive about Half of a Yellow Sun (the title derives from the emblem on the now-defunct Biafran flag) is Adichie's ability to take a culturally definitive moment, delineate its many complicated threads and re-weave them into compelling original fiction".[31] Martin Rubin described Half of a Yellow Sun as "a profoundly humanistic work of literature that bears comparison with the best fiction Nigeria and, indeed, the entire African continent".[32] English art critic Alastair Sooke, in reviewing for The Daily Telegraph]] expressed his disappointment since the novel wasnt nominated for the year's Booker prize. He also commented that, "if there is a flaw to the novel, it is that Adichie does not sufficiently differentiate between the voices of Ugwu, Olanna and Richard - even though a constant theme is the importance of language as a political tool. But over the course of the book the characters burrow into your marrow and mind, and you come to care for them deeply - something that is all too rare when reading some of the trickier contemporary novels".[33]

The New York Times had a more mixed review of the book, noting that "at times Adichie's writing is too straightforward, the novel's pace too slack" but also that "whenever she touches on her favorite themes — loyalty and betrayal — her prose thrums with life."[34] Literary Review's William Brett wrote: "Adichie lets the suspicion of horror take root first, and then allows it to sink in gradually. This kind of subtlety makes reading her an extraordinary, unsettling but ultimately satisfying experience."[35] Writing for The Guardian, Maya Jaggi called it "a landmark novel".[36] Aïssatou Sidimé, in a review for San Antonio Express-News, referred Adichie's writing as "alluring and revelatory, eloquent" while adding that "Adichie is quickly proving herself to be fearless in the tradition of the great African writers."[37] Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe commented: "We do not usually associate wisdom with beginners, but here is a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers," and said about Adichie: "She is fearless, or she would not have taken on the intimidating horror of Nigeria's civil war."[37]

Awards

Half of a Yellow Sun won 2007 Women's Prize for Fiction.[38][39] It was added to New York Times's "100 Most Notable Books of the Year" in 2008.[40] In 2019, Half of a Yellow Sun was ranked by The Guardian as the 10th best book since 2000.[41] On 5 November 2019, the BBC News included the novel on its list of 100 most influential novels.[42] In November 2020, it was voted as the best book to have won the Women's Prize for Fiction in its 25-year history.[43] In 2022, Half of a Yellow Sun was included on the Big Jubilee Read list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors selected to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II.[44]

Banned Book Controversy

In 2022, Half of a Yellow Sun was banned in the Hudsonville Public Schools district in Michigan due to the book's sexual and violent imagery.[45] It was also banned in the Clay County School District in Florida,[46] the Beaufort County School District in South Carolina, and the Granite School District in Utah in 2022.[47]

A film adaptation written by playwright Biyi Bandele[48] premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in late 2013, and had its worldwide release in 2014. The film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandiwe Newton.[49]

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9. ^ Strehle, Susan (2011). "Producing Exile: Diasporic Vision in Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun". MFS Modern Fiction Studies. 57 (4): 652. doi:10.1353/mfs.2011.0086. ISSN 1080-658X. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
10. ^ Strehle, Susan (2011). "Producing Exile: Diasporic Vision in Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun". MFS Modern Fiction Studies. 57 (4): 652–653. doi:10.1353/mfs.2011.0086. ISSN 1080-658X. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
11. ^ a b Strehle, Susan (2011). "Producing Exile: Diasporic Vision in Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun". MFS Modern Fiction Studies. 57 (4): 654. doi:10.1353/mfs.2011.0086. ISSN 1080-658X. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
12. ^ a b c Strehle, Susan (2011). "Producing Exile: Diasporic Vision in Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun". MFS Modern Fiction Studies. 57 (4): 657. doi:10.1353/mfs.2011.0086. ISSN 1080-658X. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
13. ^ Strehle, Susan (2011). "Producing Exile: Diasporic Vision in Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun". MFS Modern Fiction Studies. 57 (4): 658. doi:10.1353/mfs.2011.0086. ISSN 1080-658X. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
14. ^ Strehle, Susan (2011). "Producing Exile: Diasporic Vision in Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun". MFS Modern Fiction Studies. 57 (4): 655–656. doi:10.1353/mfs.2011.0086. ISSN 1080-658X. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
15. ^ Strehle, Susan (2011). "Producing Exile: Diasporic Vision in Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun". MFS Modern Fiction Studies. 57 (4): 656. doi:10.1353/mfs.2011.0086. ISSN 1080-658X. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
16. ^ "Biafra som romankunst". Ny Tid. 20 December 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2025.
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19. ^ Bushnell, Zachary (12 December 2015). "Why 'Half of a Yellow Sun' won the 'Best of the Best' of the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 6 December 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2025.
20. ^ Fitzgerald, Mary (11 February 2007). "Fiction: Feb 11". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 April 2025.
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30. ^ Kidd, James (14 October 2017). "Half of a Yellow Sun audiobook does gentle justice to the 2006 novel". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
31. ^ Preston, Edwina (23 September 2006). "Half of a Yellow Sun". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
32. ^ Rubin, Martin (5 September 2006). "The birth and death of an African nation". SFGate. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
33. ^ "Vandals at the gates". The Telegraph. 3 September 2006. Archived from the original on 7 July 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
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41. ^ "The 100 best books of the 21st century". The Guardian. 21 September 2019. Archived from the original on 6 December 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
42. ^ "100 'most inspiring' novels revealed by BBC Arts". BBC News. 5 November 2019. Archived from the original on 8 November 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2019. The reveal kickstarts the BBC's year-long celebration of literature.
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45. ^ "'I want these books out': Hudsonville parents get book off reading list due to content". FOX 17 West Michigan News (WXMI). 14 February 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
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• Strehle, Susan (2011). "Producing Exile: Diasporic Vision in Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun". MFS Modern Fiction Studies. 57 (4). Project MUSE: 650–672. doi:10.1353/mfs.2011.0086. ISSN 1080-658X.

• Podcast of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie discussing Half of a Yellow Sun on the BBC's World Book Club
• John Mullan on Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Guardian Book Club, 9 October 2009
• The Archetypal Search for Kainene: Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun: The Nigerian State and the Lost Biafran Dream by Abayomi Awelewa, Leeds African Studies Bulletin, 78 (2017).