Harvard Square Book Circle July 28, 2008

The Harvard Square Book Circle

JULY'S READ:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's

Half of a Yellow Sun

Please join us on the 28th for the second meeting of the Harvard Square Book Circle, for an informal group discussion of Adichie's stunning, award-winning novel of life in 1960s Nigeria. This discussion is open to the public, and no prior registration is necessary.

"When the Igbo people of eastern Nigeria seceded in 1967 to form the independent nation of Biafra, a bloody, crippling three-year civil war followed. That period in African history is captured with haunting intimacy in this artful page-turner from Nigerian novelist Adichie (Purple Hibiscus). Adichie tells her profoundly gripping story primarily through the eyes and lives of Ugwu, a 13-year-old peasant houseboy who survives conscription into the raggedy Biafran army, and twin sisters Olanna and Kainene, who are from a wealthy and well-connected family.

"Tumultuous politics power the plot, and several sections are harrowing, particularly passages depicting the savage butchering of Olanna and Kainene's relatives. But this dramatic, intelligent epic has its lush and sultry side as well: rebellious Olanna is the mistress of Odenigbo, a university professor brimming with anticolonial zeal; business-minded Kainene takes as her lover fair-haired, blue-eyed Richard, a British expatriate come to Nigeria to write a book about Igbo-Ukwu art—and whose relationship with Kainene nearly ruptures when he spends one drunken night with Olanna. This is a transcendent novel of many descriptive triumphs, most notably its depiction of the impact of war's brutalities on peasants and intellectuals alike. It's a searing history lesson in fictional form, intensely evocative and immensely absorbing." —Publishers Weekly (starred)

We look forward to seeing you at the Harvard Square Book Circle.

Official Website: http://www.harvard.com/events/press_release.php?id=2094