colleen stinchcombe

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I think this book was more me than the book. I love Adichie. Her writing is gorgeously clear and precise and loaded with meaning without having to mine for it.

This book is about 15-year-old Kambili, who has been raised by an abusively religious (is that a term? it is now) father which has left her sheltered and scared to even speak. This turns upside down when she sees another world by spending a week with her aunt, a University professor who takes pleasure in her children arguing.

I enjoyed reading it, it was well done and engaging. I think I’m just a little bored of reading about 15 year olds. I also feel, weirdly, like I’ve read it, or something very similar before (but give me a religious and abusive father and a teenage girl trying to deal with it and I will probably always have a sense of deja vu.)

So: read this when you want a younger perspective on a world you’re probably not familiar with.