I am really excited about this month’s NaturallyCurly Book Club pick, written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Even if you aren’t familiar with her writing, you may know her voice well as her TED Talk was sampled in Beyoncé‘s Flawless. I read her third novel Americanah when it was released and found her writing style to be highly observant of our culture. It’s the kind of writing that will make you say “YES, I’ve thought that before!” and if you’re the type of person who highlights their books as you read, you may find yourself highlighting every line of her writing as it comes packed with wit. I wasn’t alone in loving it as the book has been optioned as a feature film starring Lupita Nyong’o. This month we’ll be reading Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun.
The synopsis
Based loosely on political events in nineteen-sixties Nigeria, this novel focusses on two wealthy Igbo sisters, Olanna and Kainene, who drift apart as the newly independent nation struggles to remain unified. Olanna falls for an imperious academic whose political convictions mask his personal weaknesses; meanwhile, Kainene becomes involved with a shy, studious British expat. After a series of massacres targeting the Igbo people, the carefully genteel world of the two couples disintegrates. Adichie indicts the outside world for its indifference and probes the arrogance and ignorance that perpetuated the conflict. Yet this is no polemic. The characters and landscape are vividly painted, and details are often used to heartbreaking effect: soldiers, waiting to be armed, clutch sticks carved into the shape of rifles; an Igbo mother, in flight from a massacre, carries her daughter’s severed head, the hair lovingly braided. – The New Yorker
Get your copy
Order Half of a Yellow Sun on Amazon or in your local bookstore. You can also sign up for Audible and get two free audiobooks.
Sign up for the NaturallyCurly newsletter
Sign up for our NaturallyCurly Book Club newsletter here to be in the loop on the book of the month, and remind you when our virtual book club meeting will be.
Chat with us
Our virtual book club meeting will take place live on Facebook, so that everybody can attend no matter where you live! Tune in to the NaturallyCurly Facebook page on July 11 at 12pm CST to discuss the book with us and other book club members! You can also follow #NaturallyCurlyBookClub on Instagram and Twitter to chat with us through the month as you read.
Win a book
We’re giving away a copy of Half of a Yellow Sun so that you can get in on the fun!
To enter, comment below and tell us if you’ve read one of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s books before.
This giveaway ends June 9 and is open to U.S. residents only, as per our Terms and Conditions.
*Be sure to like NaturallyCurly on Facebook, so we can contact you if you’ve won!
