Purple Hibiscus: A Novel

pretty cool book, definetly changes your view on Africa.

Loved it. As a fan of Adichie from the beginning, this book continues to show both narrating restraint and tempered wisdom on many levels. Brings a smile and a tear upon each reading.

The book Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is about a 15-year-old girl named Kambili who is raised in Nigeria under the strict control of her father. The story is told from Kambili’s point of view as she questions her father's religious rules based on the freedom she gains from visiting her Aunt Ifeoma. The book is filled with symbolism and imagery. Adichie uses the purple hibiscus flower to symbolize change and the possibility of freedom from her home. The purple hibiscus in Aunt Ifeoma’s garden creates contrast to Kambili’s house where fear rules, and everything is under control. The flower acts as a reminder that even with her father, Eugene’s strict rules and abusive actions, there is still hope. Adichie also shows the contrast between different situations with imagery. Kambili’s home is described as cold and silent, where even laughing feels like a crime. While Aunty Ifeoma’s home is full of laughter and chatter, showing the contrast between captivity and freedom. This contrast highlights the family theme and the way different styles of parenting affect kids. Eugene thinks that by being aggressive and cruel, he is protecting his kids, but in reality it just makes them afraid. At the same time, Aunty Ifeoma’s more relaxed style of parenting teaches her kids to be confident and independent. Another literary device Adichie uses is foreshadowing. In the very beginning of the book, “Palm Sunday,” Jaja refuses to take communion at church, which foreshadows his rebellion against his father. The violence in the book is also foreshadowed through little details, like when Kambili counted how long her mother's beating would last, or when her brother told Aunty Ifeoma about the real cause of his injured finger. These little things show that throughout the book, Eugene slowly escalates from his strict rules to straight abuse. Adichie uses first person narration to allow the readers to experience Kambili’s perspective. At first, Kambili never questions her father’s rules or abuse because she is convinced that his parenting is justified and that he is always right. But, as she spends time with Aunty Ifeoma and her cousins, the more she realizes how different life could be. The way her character develops and the way her thoughts change over time makes her growth more genuine and realistic. Overall, I really enjoyed Purple Hibiscus and I do recommend it to anyone who enjoys a rich story and great character development. Adichie uses symbolism, foreshadowing, and first person narration, but she best uses her imagery skills to paint a picture to her readers. Although the pacing can be slow it’s a unique and impactful coming of age story that shows the effects of childhood abuse.

The book Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a powerful novel that explores important themes religion, family and the thought of freedom through the eyes of a little girl. The story takes place in Nigeria and focuses on Kibili the young girls and her struggles in her household. Her father Eugene is a very respected man and important religious leader, but he is a different man at home and is very controlling and abusive. Throught the whole novel, Kimbili slowely begins to understand her world and find her own voice rather than her dads. This Book has a very strong andd powerful meaning and sends a deep message an explores lots of interesting themes and topics. One of the strongest parts of this book is the character development and the way the author delivers their message. At the beginning of the book Kambili is very quite and afraid to speak because of her father and the way he is. But however she visits her aunt ifeoma and her cousins, she gets to experience a different kind of home type and living style.Her Aunt Ifeoma has a loud, full of smiles, laughter, and joy. This helps Kambili realize that her family can be loving and supportive rather than by fear like hers. All Throught this time, the author shows us how environment can shape a person identity, confidence, and self outlook. Another important strength of this book would be how it uses symbolism to support its themes and topics. The Purple Hibiscus flower itself represents freedom and change. An the Purple Hibiscus grows in Aunt Ifeomas garden without fear. As kimbilis hangs around her aunt and cousins more, the mores she grows and gains independence and strength. This all helps the readers us understand the deeper and hidden meanings behind kambilis transformations throught the story. One of the weaknesses of the book is its slow and does not keep the reader hooked. The book also feel repetitive due to the fact that scenes happen over and over again due to the fact of it being highly focused on Kambili. An for a reader like me who likes and prefers fast pased action I found it hard to stay engaged and ulger to keep reading the book. But Overall I think the book Purple Hibiscus is a deeply meaningful and emotialnal book that shows deep aspects of real problems today control, abuse, religion, and familt goals and expectations.The author tells the story very well and gives it too me in a very detailed and high imagery way. Even thought some parts of the book move slowly and its not my kind of topic, I would still recommend this book due to its deep messages and emotional impacts that will probley stay in my head a long time.

Oh my gosh, I am simply gobsmacked by this amazing debut novel! Many of us may be familiar with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie from her TED talk about feminism (Why Everyone Should be a Feminist) as well as her success as a novelist. I am kicking myself for waiting so long to read her work. As you read this (and please read this) keep reminding yourself that this is a debut novel. A DEBUT NOVEL. Ms. Adichie is winning awards for a reason. Purple Hibiscus is so many things. It is a story about family and the lengths we will go to protect our family. It is a story about Nigeria, political unrest, and freedom. It is also a story about love, faith, and religious fanaticism. But mostly it is a coming of age story. Kambili, our 16 year old heroine, lives with her older brother Jaja and her parents. Her father is a great and wealthy man in their village. He owns several factories and a newspaper that promotes a democratic government. He is also very powerful within the local Catholic Church and openly opposes more traditional "pagan" religions. He even shuns his own father. Though he is admired and revered in the community, he is a tyrant at home. Due to some threats against his newspaper, he reluctantly allows his children to spend some time with their Aunty Ifeoma and her three children. There, Kambili and Jaja experience a very different family life where children can speak their minds and have opinions. It is here that Kambili finds her voice and falls in love for the first time. She falls in love with a local priest who is a friend of Aunty's family. This is not creepy love with a pedophile priest, but the innocent first love of a teenage girl for a man who cares for her and encourages her independence but not her romantic notions. Kambili and Jaja love being with their aunt but a tragedy forces them home. As a result, the siblings become adults almost overnight. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this book. I would like to buy 500 copies to hand out to strangers. The story is interesting and gripping. It is also beautiful and horrific at the same time. You will want to read it quickly for the story and then slowly to savor the words. Ms. Adichie's writing is nothing short of amazing. Not a word is wasted or unnecessary. Her descriptions are poetic and touch all your senses. It would take me a month to write even one sentence as good. Yet the book reads like the writing was effortless. I loved this book so much that I could reread it right now. I will certainly be reading her other work.

The writing is beautiful. I felt like I could really see everything she described. She’s obviously a talented writer, and it was lovely to see something so different. But I had a hard time identifying with the characters. They all seemed so weak in the face of this abusive, awful man, and I didn’t find it believable that everyone would be so afraid to stand up to him that they’d submit to actual torture. It was a really sad story and although I think it was intended to end with hope, it didn’t feel hopeful to me. If the mom could let her son go to prison for a crime she committed, I have very little hope for this family.

This book was beautifully crafted and thoroughly unlike anything I had ever read. The plot was incredibly interesting and followed a unique writing style. The novel follows fifteen-year-old Kambili through the tense occurrences that happen in her hyper-religious home. Kambili's father, Eugene, puts an immense amount of pressure on his children to be the "temples of God" that he has raised them to be, and often uses violence to enforce these expectations. When Kambili and her brother Jaja visit their aunt on their first trip away from home, they start to realize what it feels like have freedom in a way that they have never been allowed to have in their home. Adiche writes with purpose, and the plot unfolds in a way that thoroughly amazes me, with a blend of events and the description of Nigeria. When I was reading, I felt that the book was very descriptive and hard to put down, but when I did put it down, it was harder to get back into the story because of the very dense details. Rereading this novel for the second time showed me the beauty in these details, however, readers should know that the beauty of this novel is the description and creation of the incredibly tense household Kambili and her older brother Jaja live in. Readers should also be aware that the plot is somewhat slow at the beginning in order to properly set up the plot, but later picks up the speed, which increases readability.

Thus book is a good example of how complicated and complex human relationships are. How we can love and hold on to something that is wrong and dangerous to us for reasons only we can understand. The religious aspect is another thing to explore here. Is there one right way to practice faith? Is there a rulebook to follow? Can a human judge the way other humans do it and feel above them? Not to mention how much this story makes you rethink white supremacy.