Literary Diva: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born on 15 September 1977 in Enugu, Nigeria. She was the fifth of six children to Igbo parents, Grace Ifeoma and James Nwoye Adichie. While the family's ancestral hometown is Abba in Anambra State, Chimamanda grew up in Nsukka, in the house formerly occupied by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe. At the age of nineteen, Chimamanda left for the United States. She gained a scholarship to study communication at Drexel University in Philadelphia for two years, and she went on to pursue a degree in communication and political science at Eastern Connecticut State University. It was during her senior year at Eastern that she started working on her first novel, Purple Hibiscus, which was released in October 2003. The book has received wide critical acclaim: it was shortlisted for the Orange Fiction Prize (2004) and was awarded the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (2005). - Bio from her website

Prior to Beyonce's "Flawless," I vaguely remembered hearing the name Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie....... but that's it. That's as far as my knowledge of her and her work went. I won't lie, hearing her excerpt from We Should All Be Feminist on a Beyonce album definitely piqued my interest. But not because of the proximity to Bey but for the actual content of the speech. Afterward, I told myself I would read some of her work.

I finally cracked open Purple Hibiscus and then shortly afterward The Thing Around Your Neck.

Purple Hibiscus is about 15 year old Kambili and her older brother Jaja. They live a very privileged life in Enugu, Nigeria with their parents. They go to the best schools, live in a beautiful compound and are the children of a very rich and respected "big man."

The story is told through Kambili, a meek and docile girl who, like the rest of her family, lives in the very large, dark shadow of her father, Papa. Papa is the apple of everyone's eye. He's generous to those who ask of him and is revered as a deeply devout man. But Papa gots issues. BIG. HUGE. ISSUES. Turns out he's a religious zealot/fanatic who holds his family to impossible "godly" standards. He also has serious control and anger issues. The entire household lives in constant admiration and terror of Papa.

Kambili and Jaja yearn for freedom from their oppressive father. They manage to get a taste of that freedom when staying with their marvelous Aunty Ifeoma and her three bright children for the summer. Here is a household where children are encouraged to speak their minds, to have discussions, to laugh, play and learn the true meaning of love and kinship. When they return home to Papa, Kambili and Jaja attempt to hold on to their new found freedoms, but there's a terrible price to pay.

Purple Hibiscus is one of those books that will have you on the edge of your reading chair. There are many powerful and heartbreaking moments, but they are well worth the emotional roller coaster you will surely ride. Adiche's work brings forth thought-provoking ideas on family, religion and love.

The most beautiful part of the book is watching Kambili find her voice. Her transformation is reflective of what most young women will go through. So often we are taught to fear our own voices. Sometimes we stay quiet for so long, when it becomes imperative for us to speak up, we fail. But we don't stay there. Thank God for the Aunty Ifeoma's! Thank God for women who come parading into our lives, big and loud and radiant. They give us glimpses of the women we can be and show us how much power we hold, if only we speak. Speak Goddess!

You can find Purple Hibiscus HERE.

Check out The Thing Around Your Neck too. It's a wonderful compilation of 12 short stories about "the ties that bind men and women, parents and children, Africa and the United States." My favorite stories were "Jumping Monkey Hill" "The American Embassy" and "The Headstrong Historian."

Happy Reading!