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Half of a Yellow Sun

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Half of a Yellow Sun

Written by: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Narrated by: Zainab Jah
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About this listen

A haunting story of love and war from the best-selling author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists.

With effortless grace, celebrated author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie illuminates a seminal moment in modern African history: Biafra’s impassioned struggle to establish an independent republic in southeastern Nigeria during the late 1960s. We experience this tumultuous decade alongside five unforgettable characters: Ugwu, a 13-year-old houseboy who works for Odenigbo, a university professor full of revolutionary zeal; Olanna, the professor’s beautiful young mistress who has abandoned her life in Lagos for a dusty town and her lover’s charm; and Richard, a shy young Englishman infatuated with Olanna’s willful twin sister Kainene. Half of a Yellow Sun is a tremendously evocative novel of the promise, hope, and disappointment of the Biafran war.

©2017 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (P)2017 Random House Audio
Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction War

What the critics say

"This prize-winning author's place in literary history is secured with [ Half of a Yellow Sun], a tribute to her people, the Igbo, who after being massacred in 1966 broke away from Nigeria to create the Republic of Biafra. [But] this novel is not a standard war account: Though we are not sheltered from its horrors, Adichie excels in the way she tells about war.... Her characters' strengths are in their complexity and their flaws.... Throughout the story, Adichie insists on accountability and then forgiveness as the only option for redemption.... By the end, after breaking our hearts, she uses her last sentence to blindside us with a gift. We never see it coming. With it, she offers hope in the future." (Marie-Elena John, Black Issues)
"[It's] hard not to place Adichie alongside a new generation of post-postcolonial writers who, while paying due respect to Achebe (and, for that matter, Kincaid, Naipaul, Gordimer, and Coetzee), are moving beyond them on their own terms.... Adichie's nuanced prose takes great pains to undo the reductive attitudes many in the West harbor toward African people.... And yet Adichie does not rant against the West.... [Criticism] and compassion coexist. She understands that it takes many hands to shape war.... For Adichie, pain unifies us, and it's often that same pain that keeps us from recognizing that unity.... Adichie's novel [has], a narrative humility coupled with an epic ambition.... Are there any easy answers in [ Half of a Yellow Sun]? Certainly not. But Adichie, in the process, asks the hell out of her questions, rendering them in all their haunting, beautiful silence." (Stephen Narains, Harvard Book Review)

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What listeners say about Half of a Yellow Sun

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Astonishing

The best book I have read in a long time, wonderful storyteller! Will never forget the story.

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Devastating and fascinating retelling of Biafra

I would highly recommend this book. Zanaib Jah does an amazing job with the narration, so much so that I may say it's the best I've seen from Audible. The book itself keeps a lively pace, and is filled with moments of triumph and heartbreak. For those that knew almost nothing of the conflict (myself included) this novel provides a great look into what life would have been like during a Civil War.

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Achingly beautiful

The most gorgeous book I’ve read in some time — filled with abrupt devastation equaled by persistent love. Honest.

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Great narrative

I urge everyone to read this book. Very interesting, I got trapped in it until I finished the entire book. Thank you Ngozi for writing this, I had no idea how the war happened but now I know.

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Amazing, simply Amazing

Loved everything about this book. It is hauntingly good. Definitely will be reading this again.

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A beautifully told story

The book is as close to perfection as I've experienced. It is worth your time and dedication to engage with this masterpiece.

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Heart Wrenching

To learn about the Biafra war in history books is to learn cold facts. To read Half of a Yellow Sun is to add depth, and pain and love, and heartbreak to the skeleton of cold facts. This book is beautiful and haunting and has given me a whole new perspective on the Biafran War.

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Incredible story and amazing narration

I love Adichie's writing - it is very powerful, descriptive and creates very real atmospheres. I knew very little about Biafra when I began, and after reading (listening) to the book I ended up reading more on the history of the Biafran movement and present day struggles.
Zainab Jah's narration is incredible! She is on my list of new favourite narrators and hope she records more.

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Beautiful book

I didn't know anything about Nigeria's civil war and this book taught me so much, the emotions are so raw and deep . The characters point of view make it so interesting and engaging. It's beautifully written from beginning to end and even if you know how everything ends, is an amazing ride.

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Incredible

Between the narration and the incredible writing, I truly felt immersed in the story. What a whirlwind of emotions... an experience, truly.

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1 person found this helpful