Half of a Yellow Sun

Just finished reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novel of the lives of twin sisters and their lovers and families against the backdrop of the Nigerian-Biafran war in the late 1960's. This is a very moving novel written with great emotional conviction and compassion. From the warm and idyllic opening chapters the story drifts effortlessly into the intellectual and passionate relationships between the characters. One could not help but feel the intensity of their lives and loves, their desires and dreams, their hopes and fears, all of which are suddenly rendered unimaginable unattainable with the outbreak of civil war in the country.
Adichie's language is sensuous and full of emotional intensity. Her narrative grips the reader with its directness and immediacy (especially those passages which recount the horrors of the war). Above all the story is about the importance of memory, of tracing back to the roots of the conflict, of understanding the present through a close look at the past and the forces which acted upon each other to shape the Nigeria of today. But it is also a novel about relationships and and love and sex and commitment and temptation and sadness and joy and laughter and despair and forgivenes and pain and superstition and friendship and loyalty. It is also about the gruesome impact of war, the horror of rape and murder and cruelty and starvation and desperation...about politics and greed and corruption and history and who is best placed to tell it...