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Half a Yellow Sun: A Journey Through Love, War, and Resilience in Biafra
Are you captivated by stories of love, loss, and the unwavering human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity? Then Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun is a novel you must read. This post delves deep into the heart of this powerful story, exploring its key themes, characters, and the historical context that makes it so compelling. We'll analyze why it remains a critically acclaimed masterpiece and offer insights that will enhance your reading experience, whether you’re a seasoned bookworm or just beginning your literary journey.
Understanding the Historical Context of Half of a Yellow Sun
Before diving into the narrative, understanding the historical backdrop of the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970), also known as the Biafran War, is crucial. Half of a Yellow Sun isn't just a love story; it's a visceral portrayal of this devastating conflict. The novel vividly depicts the political tensions, ethnic conflicts, and the brutal realities of war experienced by ordinary citizens caught in the crossfire. This historical context significantly impacts the characters' decisions, relationships, and ultimate fates. Understanding the war's origins and impact allows for a deeper appreciation of the novel's emotional depth and its unflinching portrayal of violence and suffering.
Key Characters: Exploring the Complexities of Love and Loss
Adichie masterfully crafts a compelling narrative by focusing on a diverse cast of characters whose lives are intertwined by love, war, and the search for identity.
#### Olanna: A vibrant and intelligent woman, Olanna's journey embodies the complexities of navigating love, political upheaval, and self-discovery during wartime. Her choices, both personal and political, reflect the tumultuous era she inhabits.
#### Ugwu: A young houseboy, Ugwu’s perspective offers a unique and often overlooked voice in the narrative. His journey highlights the social inequalities and the human cost of war, revealing the stark realities faced by those marginalized by the conflict.
#### Ikem: A charismatic and intellectual man, Ikem’s character represents the complexities of political idealism and the challenges of navigating a world steeped in conflict. His actions and beliefs significantly influence the lives of those around him.
#### Richard: A British academic, Richard’s presence adds another layer to the narrative, showcasing the complexities of colonialism and the perspectives of those outside the immediate conflict. His relationship with Olanna provides a contrasting perspective on love and commitment during a time of immense turmoil.
Themes of Love, War, and Resilience in Half of a Yellow Sun
The novel masterfully interweaves multiple themes:
#### Love and Relationships: The novel explores various forms of love – romantic, familial, and platonic – all tested by the crucible of war. Adichie portrays the resilience of the human spirit amidst unimaginable hardship, showcasing how love can endure even in the face of death and destruction.
#### The Horrors of War: The novel doesn't shy away from portraying the brutal realities of the Biafran War. The graphic depictions of violence, starvation, and displacement serve as a stark reminder of the devastating human cost of conflict. Adichie compels readers to confront the atrocities of war and reflect on their lasting impact.
#### Identity and Belonging: The novel explores the complexities of identity within a nation torn apart by conflict. The characters grapple with their ethnic backgrounds, political affiliations, and the search for belonging in a fractured society.
#### Resilience and Hope: Despite the overwhelming despair and violence, Half of a Yellow Sun ultimately offers a message of hope and resilience. The enduring spirit of the human spirit shines through even in the darkest of times, demonstrating the capacity for survival and the power of the human will.
Why Half of a Yellow Sun Remains a Critical and Commercial Success
Adichie's masterful storytelling, vivid character development, and unflinching portrayal of historical events contribute to the novel's enduring success. It's a story that transcends its historical context, resonating with readers across cultures and generations. The novel’s powerful themes of love, loss, and resilience continue to engage and challenge readers, making it a relevant and impactful work of literature. Its exploration of complex political and social issues makes it essential reading for those interested in understanding African history and the human cost of conflict.
Conclusion:
Half of a Yellow Sun is more than just a historical novel; it’s a testament to the enduring power of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity. It's a story that will stay with you long after you've turned the final page, prompting reflection on the complexities of war, love, and the search for identity in a world scarred by conflict. It's a must-read for anyone interested in a compelling and historically significant work of literature.
FAQs:
1. Is Half of a Yellow Sun a historically accurate account of the Biafran War? While fictional, the novel is rooted in historical events and offers a powerful depiction of the war's impact on ordinary people. It draws upon real events and experiences, providing a compelling glimpse into a significant chapter in Nigerian history.
2. What age group is Half of a Yellow Sun appropriate for? The novel's mature themes, including violence and sexual content, make it most appropriate for readers aged 16 and above.
3. Are there any film adaptations of Half of a Yellow Sun? Yes, there is a film adaptation released in 2013 starring Thandiwe Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
4. What other books by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie are similar in theme or style? Readers who enjoyed Half of a Yellow Sun might also appreciate Adichie's Americanah or We Should All Be Feminists.
5. Where can I buy or borrow a copy of Half of a Yellow Sun? The novel is widely available at bookstores, online retailers (like Amazon), and most public libraries.
half a yellow sun: Half of a Yellow Sun Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2010-10-29 With her award-winning debut novel, Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was heralded by the Washington Post Book World as the “21st century daughter” of Chinua Achebe. Now, in her masterly, haunting new novel, she recreates a seminal moment in modern African history: Biafra’s impassioned struggle to establish an independent republic in Nigeria during the 1960s. With the effortless grace of a natural storyteller, Adichie weaves together the lives of five characters caught up in the extraordinary tumult of the decade. Fifteen-year-old Ugwu is houseboy to Odenigbo, a university professor who sends him to school, and in whose living room Ugwu hears voices full of revolutionary zeal. Odenigbo’s beautiful mistress, Olanna, a sociology teacher, is running away from her parents’ world of wealth and excess; Kainene, her urbane twin, is taking over their father’s business; and Kainene’s English lover, Richard, forms a bridge between their two worlds. As we follow these intertwined lives through a military coup, the Biafran secession and the subsequent war, Adichie brilliantly evokes the promise, and intimately, the devastating disappointments that marked this time and place. Epic, ambitious and triumphantly realized, Half of a Yellow Sun is a more powerful, dramatic and intensely emotional picture of modern Africa than any we have had before. |
half a yellow sun: Half of a Yellow Sun Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2010-10-29 With her award-winning debut novel, Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was heralded by the Washington Post Book World as the “21st century daughter” of Chinua Achebe. Now, in her masterly, haunting new novel, she recreates a seminal moment in modern African history: Biafra’s impassioned struggle to establish an independent republic in Nigeria during the 1960s. With the effortless grace of a natural storyteller, Adichie weaves together the lives of five characters caught up in the extraordinary tumult of the decade. Fifteen-year-old Ugwu is houseboy to Odenigbo, a university professor who sends him to school, and in whose living room Ugwu hears voices full of revolutionary zeal. Odenigbo’s beautiful mistress, Olanna, a sociology teacher, is running away from her parents’ world of wealth and excess; Kainene, her urbane twin, is taking over their father’s business; and Kainene’s English lover, Richard, forms a bridge between their two worlds. As we follow these intertwined lives through a military coup, the Biafran secession and the subsequent war, Adichie brilliantly evokes the promise, and intimately, the devastating disappointments that marked this time and place. Epic, ambitious and triumphantly realized, Half of a Yellow Sun is a more powerful, dramatic and intensely emotional picture of modern Africa than any we have had before. |
half a yellow sun: Half of a Yellow Sun, Americanah, Purple Hibiscus: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Three-Book Collection Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2014-04-07 ‘A delicious, important novel’ The Times ‘Alert, alive and gripping’ Independent ‘Some novels tell a great story and others make you change the way you look at the world. Americanah does both’ Guardian |
half a yellow sun: Sade Anne Giwa-Amu, 1996 |
half a yellow sun: The Manningtree Witches A. K. Blakemore, 2022-08-30 Wolf Hall meets The Favourite in this beguiling debut novel that brilliantly brings to life the residents of a small English town in the grip of the seventeenth-century witch trials and the young woman tasked with saving them all from themselves. This is an intimate portrait of a clever if unworldly heroine who slides from amused observation of the 'moribund carnival atmosphere' in the household of a 'possessed' child to nervous uncertainty about the part in the proceedings played by her adored tutor to utter despair as a wagon carts her off to prison. —Alida Becker, The New York Times Book Review England, 1643. Puritanical fervor has gripped the nation. And in Manningtree, a town depleted of men since the wars began, the hot terror of damnation burns in the hearts of women left to their own devices. Rebecca West, fatherless and husbandless, chafes against the drudgery of her days, livened only occasionally by her infatuation with the handsome young clerk John Edes. But then a newcomer, who identifies himself as the Witchfinder General, arrives. A mysterious, pious figure dressed from head to toe in black, Matthew Hopkins takes over the Thorn Inn and begins to ask questions about what the women on the margins of this diminished community are up to. Dangerous rumors of covens, pacts, and bodily wants have begun to hang over women like Rebecca—and the future is as frightening as it is thrilling. Brimming with contemporary energy and resonance, The Manningtree Witches plunges its readers into the fever and menace of the English witch trials, where suspicion, mistrust, and betrayal run amok as a nation's arrogant male institutions start to realize that the very people they've suppressed for so long may be about to rise up and claim their freedom. |
half a yellow sun: The Last Wild Horses Maja Lunde, 2022-02-15 Translated into 40 languages, winner of the Norwegian Bookseller’s Prize, and the most successful Norwegian author of her generation, Maja Lunde returns with a heart-wrenching tale, set in the distant past and the dystopian future, about extinction and survival, family and hope. Mikhail lives in Russia in 1881. When a skeleton of a rare wild horse is brought to him, the zoologist plans an expedition to Mongolia to find the fabled Przewalski horse, a journey that tests not only his physicality, but his heart.In 1992, Karin, alongside her troubled son Mathias and several Przewalski horses, travels to Mongolia to re-introduce the magnificent horses to their native land. The veterinarian has dedicated her life to saving the breed from extinction, prioritizing the wild horses, even over her own son. Europe’s future is uncertain in 2064, but Eva is willing to sacrifice nearly everything to hold onto her family’s farm. Her teenage daughter implores Eva to leave the farm and Norway, but a pregnant wild mare Eva is tending is about to foal. Then, a young woman named Louise unexpectedly arrives on the farm, with mysterious intentions that will either bring them all together, or devastate them one by one. Spanning continents and centuries, The Last Wild Horses is a powerful tale of survival and connection—of humans, animals, and the indestructible bonds that unite us all. Translated from the Norwegian by Diane Oatley |
half a yellow sun: Purple Hibiscus Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2012-11-29 The limits of fifteen-year-old Kambili’s world are defined by the high walls of her family estate and the dictates of her fanatically religious father. Her life is regulated by schedules: prayer, sleep, study, prayer. |
half a yellow sun: Stay with Me Ayobami Adebayo, 2017-08-22 “Powerfully magnetic. . . . In the lineage of great works by Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. . . . A thoroughly contemporary—and deeply moving—portrait of a marriage.” —The New York Times Book Review Ilesa, Nigeria. Ever since they first met and fell in love at university, Yejide and Akin have agreed: polygamy is not for them. But four years into their marriage—after consulting fertility doctors and healers, and trying strange teas and unlikely cures—Yejide is still not pregnant. She assumes she still has time—until her in-laws arrive on her doorstep with a young woman they introduce as Akin’s second wife. Furious, shocked, and livid with jealousy, Yejide knows the only way to save her marriage is to get pregnant. Which, finally, she does—but at a cost far greater than she could have dared to imagine. The unforgettable story of a marriage as seen through the eyes of both husband and wife, Stay With Me asks how much we can sacrifice for the sake of family. A New York Times Notable Book One of the Best Books of the Year: NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Chicago Tribune, BuzzFeed, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Post, Southern Living, The Skimm A 2017 BEA Buzz Panel Selection A Belletrist Book-of-the-Month A Sarah Jessica Parker Book Club Selection Shortlisted for the 2017 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction Shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize and the 9mobile Prize for Literature Longlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize |
half a yellow sun: Notes on Grief Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2021-05-11 From the internationally acclaimed, bestselling author of We Should All Be Feminists and Americanah, a profound reckoning with loss, written in the wake of her father’s death. During the brutal summer of 2020, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s beloved father, a celebrated professor at the University of Nigeria and an irreplaceable figure in a close-knit family, succumbed unexpectedly to complications of kidney failure. Notes on Grief is Adichie’s tribute to him, and a moving meditation on loss. Here Adichie offers a candid snapshot of the shock, loneliness, and disillusionment that followed the news of her father’s death. Her family, unable to be together except for on video calls, struggles to go through the rites of mourning amid a global crisis of unimaginable scale. As Adichie wrestles with his passing, she recalls with vivid, poignant detail who her father was: a remarkable survivor of the Biafran war, a man of kindness and charm, and a fierce supporter of his youngest daughter. Here is a uniquely personal, profound work of remembrance and hope by one of today’s luminaries—a book to bring us together in a time when we need it most. |
half a yellow sun: Christmas in Biafra, and Other Poems Chinua Achebe, 1973 |
half a yellow sun: Island Queen Vanessa Riley, 2021-07-06 “Riveting and transformative, evocative and immersive...by turns vibrant and bold and wise, discovering Dorothy’s story is a singular pleasure.”--The New York Times A remarkable, sweeping historical novel based on the incredible true life story of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, a free Black woman who rose from slavery to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in the colonial West Indies. Born into slavery on the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat, Doll bought her freedom—and that of her sister and her mother—from her Irish planter father and built a legacy of wealth and power as an entrepreneur, merchant, hotelier, and planter that extended from the marketplaces and sugar plantations of Dominica and Barbados to a glittering luxury hotel in Demerara on the South American continent. Vanessa Riley’s novel brings Doll to vivid life as she rises above the harsh realities of slavery and colonialism by working the system and leveraging the competing attentions of the men in her life: a restless shipping merchant, Joseph Thomas; a wealthy planter hiding a secret, John Coseveldt Cells; and a roguish naval captain who will later become King William IV of England. From the bustling port cities of the West Indies to the forbidding drawing rooms of London’s elite, Island Queen is a sweeping epic of an adventurer and a survivor who answered to no one but herself as she rose to power and autonomy against all odds, defying rigid eighteenth-century morality and the oppression of women as well as people of color. It is an unforgettable portrait of a true larger-than-life woman who made her mark on history. |
half a yellow sun: Flowers and Shadows Ben Okri, 1989 Set in the hustle of Lagos, a series of disturbing events strip the young Jeffia Okwe of his innocence and reveal the ruthlessness of his own father. The tragic climax of the tale leaves Jeffia cleansed of the sins of his father, ready for adult life and optimistic about the future. |
half a yellow sun: Discovering Home , 2003 This third edition of stories from the Caine Prize for African Writing includes works by writers from Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa, most of whom have never before been published. |
half a yellow sun: Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2023-05-11 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILEY'S WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 'A delicious, important novel' The Times 'Alert, alive and gripping' Independent 'Some novels tell a great story and others make you change the way you look at the world. Americanah does both.' Guardian As teenagers in a Lagos secondary school, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Their Nigeria is under military dictatorship, and people are fleeing the country if they can. Ifemelu--beautiful, self-assured--departs for America to study. She suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships and friendships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Obinze--the quiet, thoughtful son of a professor--had hoped to join her, but post-9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Thirteen years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria, while Ifemelu has achieved success as a writer of an eye-opening blog about race in America. But when Ifemelu returns to Nigeria, and she and Obinze reignite their shared passion--for their homeland and for each other--they will face the toughest decisions of their lives. Fearless, gripping, spanning three continents and numerous lives, Americanah is a richly told story of love and expectation set in today's globalized world. |
half a yellow sun: Shadowplay Joseph O'Connor, 2020-06-16 A West End theater in London is shaken up by the crimes of Jack the Ripper in this novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of The Star of the Sea. Henry Irving is Victorian London’s most celebrated actor and theater impresario. He has introduced groundbreaking ideas to the theater, bringing to the stage performances that are spectacular, shocking, and always entertaining. When Irving decides to open his own London theater with the goal of making it the greatest playhouse on earth, he hires a young Dublin clerk harboring literary ambitions by the name of Bram Stoker to manage it. As Irving’s theater grows in reputation and financial solvency, he lures to his company of mummers the century’s most beloved actress, the dazzlingly talented leading lady Ellen Terry, who nightly casts a spell not only on her audiences but also on Stoker and Irving both. Bram Stoker’s extraordinary experiences at the Lyceum Theatre, his early morning walks on the streets of a London terrorized by a serial killer, his long, tempestuous relationship with Irving, and the closeness he finds with Ellen Terry, inspire him to write Dracula, the most iconic and best-selling supernatural tale ever published. A magnificent portrait both of lamp-lit London and of lives and loves enacted on the stage, Shadowplay’s rich prose, incomparable storytelling, and vivid characters will linger in readers’ hearts and minds for many years. “A vibrantly imaginative narrative of passion, intrigue and literary ambition set in the garish heyday of a theater. . . . Artfully splicing truth with fantasy, O’Connor has a glorious time turning a ramshackle and haunted London playhouse into a primary source for Stoker’s Gothic imaginings.” —Miranda Seymour, The New York Times Book Review “A gorgeously written historical novel about Stoker’s inner life. . . . I wasn’t prepared to be awed by his prose, which is so good you can taste it. . . . O’Connor dazzles.” —Michael Dirda, The Washington Post “And Mr. O’Connor’s main characters—Stoker, Irving and the beloved actress Ellen Terry—are so forcefully brought to life that when, close to tears, you reach this drama’s final page, you will return to the beginning just to remain in their company.” —Anna Mundow, The Wall Street Journal “This novel blows the dust off its Victorian trappings and brings them to scintillating life.” —Publishers Weekly, PW Picks, Starred Review FINALIST 2019 COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR FINALIST 2020 DALKEY LITERARY AWARD 2020 WALTER SCOTT PRIZE |
half a yellow sun: For Love of Biafra Amanda N. Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 1998 |
half a yellow sun: Madeleine Is Sleeping Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, 2020-10-27 A National Book Award Finalist, Sarah Shun-lien Bynum's enchanting and inventive first novel is a groundbreaking, contemporary classic When a girl falls into a mysterious, impenetrable sleep, the borders between her provincial French village and the peculiar, beguiling realm of her dreams begin to disappear: A fat woman sprouts delicate wings and takes flight; a failed photographer stumbles into the role of pornographer; a beautiful young wife grows to resemble her husband's viol. Madeleine, the dreamer, travels in their midst, trying to make sense of her own metamorphosis. She leaves home, joins a gypsy circus, and falls into an unexpected triangle of desire and love. Embracing the earthy and the ethereal, the comical and the poignant, Madeleine Is Sleeping is part fairy tale, part coming-of-age story, and above all, an adventure in the discovery of art, sexuality, community, and the self. |
half a yellow sun: Jerningham Christina Sanders, 2020-06-09 Edward Jerningham Wakefield was the wild-child of the Wakefield family that set up the New Zealand Company to bring the first settlers to this country. His story is told through the eyes of bookkeeper Arthur Lugg, who is tasked by Colonel William Wakefield to keep tabs on his brilliant but unstable nephew. As trouble brews between settlers, government, missionaries and Māori over land and souls and rights, Jerningham is at the heart of it, blurring the line between friendship and exploitation and spinning the hapless Lugg in his wake. Alive with historical detail, Jerningham tells a vivid story of Wellington's colonial beginnings and of a charismatic young man's rise and inevitable fall--Back cover. |
half a yellow sun: The Great Plains Trilogy Willa Cather, Willa Cather was the 1922 winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Her breakthrough in literature were the three novels featured here in this edition, the so-called “Great Plains Trilogy”. All three novels stage in Nebraska and the surrounding Great Plains territory and deal with the life there, family challenges and romance. Included are: O Pioneers! The Song of the Lark My Antonia |
half a yellow sun: A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James, 2015-09-08 A tale inspired by the 1976 attempted assassination of Bob Marley spans decades and continents to explore the experiences of journalists, drug dealers, killers, and ghosts against a backdrop of social and political turmoil. |
half a yellow sun: A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara, 2016-01-26 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship” (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century. NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. Look for Hanya Yanagihara’s latest bestselling novel, To Paradise. |
half a yellow sun: The Thing Around Your Neck Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2010-06-01 These twelve dazzling stories from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie — the Orange Broadband Prize–winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun — are her most intimate works to date. In these stories Adichie turns her penetrating eye to the ties that bind men and women, parents and children, Nigeria and the United States. In “A Private Experience,” a medical student hides from a violent riot with a poor Muslim woman, and the young mother at the centre of “Imitation” finds her comfortable life in Philadelphia threatened when she learns that her husband has moved his mistress into their Lagos home. Searing and profound, suffused with beauty, sorrow and longing, this collection is a resounding confirmation of Adichie’s prodigious literary powers. |
half a yellow sun: House of Earth and Blood Sarah J. Maas, 2020-03-03 A #1 New York Times bestseller! Sarah J. Maas's brand-new CRESCENT CITY series begins with House of Earth and Blood: the story of half-Fae and half-human Bryce Quinlan as she seeks revenge in a contemporary fantasy world of magic, danger, and searing romance. Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life-working hard all day and partying all night-until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She'll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths. Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose-to assassinate his boss's enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he's offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach. As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City's underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion-one that could set them both free, if they'd only let it. With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom-and the power of love. |
half a yellow sun: Empire of the Vampire Jay Kristoff, 2021-09-14 THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, AND WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER From New York Times bestselling author Jay Kristoff comes Empire of the Vampire, the first illustrated volume of an astonishing new dark fantasy saga. From holy cup comes holy light; The faithful hand sets world aright. And in the Seven Martyrs’ sight, Mere man shall end this endless night. It has been twenty-seven long years since the last sunrise. For nearly three decades, vampires have waged war against humanity; building their eternal empire even as they tear down our own. Now, only a few tiny sparks of light endure in a sea of darkness. Gabriel de León is a silversaint: a member of a holy brotherhood dedicated to defending realm and church from the creatures of the night. But even the Silver Order could not stem the tide once daylight failed us, and now, only Gabriel remains. Imprisoned by the very monsters he vowed to destroy, the last silversaint is forced to tell his story. A story of legendary battles and forbidden love, of faith lost and friendships won, of the Wars of the Blood and the Forever King and the quest for humanity’s last remaining hope: The Holy Grail. |
half a yellow sun: A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini, 2008-09-18 A riveting and powerful story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship and an indestructible love |
half a yellow sun: Harvest of Thorns Shimmer Chinodya, 2018-02-01 The 1990 Commonwealth Writers Regional Prize voted Harvest of Thorns the winner in the Best Book category. Harvest of Thorns tells the story of Benjamin Tichafa who grows up in Rhodesia in the 1960s. From a conservative, religious family, but exposed to the heady ideas of the black nationalist movements, the young student is pulled in different directions. Isolated and troubled at boarding school, he is provoked into leaving, making his way to Mozambique, and joining the freedom fighters. There, in the crucible of a bitter civil war of liberation, the young man develops into manhood. Returning, hardened, at independence, he feels that little has changed, not least within his own family circumstances, and asks himself what it means to be free in the new Zimbabwe. |
half a yellow sun: The Landscapes Within Ben Okri, 1981 |
half a yellow sun: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1875 |
half a yellow sun: O Caledonia Elspeth Barker, 2022-09-20 Originally published in Great Britain in 1991 by Hamish Hamilton Ltd.--Title page verso. |
half a yellow sun: 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die James Mustich, 2018-10-02 “The ultimate literary bucket list.” —THE WASHINGTON POST Celebrate the pleasure of reading and the thrill of discovering new titles in an extraordinary book that’s as compulsively readable, entertaining, surprising, and enlightening as the 1,000-plus titles it recommends. Covering fiction, poetry, science and science fiction, memoir, travel writing, biography, children’s books, history, and more, 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die ranges across cultures and through time to offer an eclectic collection of works that each deserve to come with the recommendation, You have to read this. But it’s not a proscriptive list of the “great works”—rather, it’s a celebration of the glorious mosaic that is our literary heritage. Flip it open to any page and be transfixed by a fresh take on a very favorite book. Or come across a title you always meant to read and never got around to. Or, like browsing in the best kind of bookshop, stumble on a completely unknown author and work, and feel that tingle of discovery. There are classics, of course, and unexpected treasures, too. Lists to help pick and choose, like Offbeat Escapes, or A Long Climb, but What a View. And its alphabetical arrangement by author assures that surprises await on almost every turn of the page, with Cormac McCarthy and The Road next to Robert McCloskey and Make Way for Ducklings, Alice Walker next to Izaac Walton. There are nuts and bolts, too—best editions to read, other books by the author, “if you like this, you’ll like that” recommendations , and an interesting endnote of adaptations where appropriate. Add it all up, and in fact there are more than six thousand titles by nearly four thousand authors mentioned—a life-changing list for a lifetime of reading. “948 pages later, you still want more!” —THE WASHINGTON POST |
half a yellow sun: Exoticizing the Past in Contemporary Neo-Historical Fiction E. Rousselot, 2014-11-13 This collection of essays is dedicated to examining the recent literary phenomenon of the 'neo-historical' novel, a sub-genre of contemporary historical fiction which critically re-imagines specific periods of history. |
half a yellow sun: And After Many Days Jowhor Ile, 2016 In the aftermath of a teen's disappearance from bustling Port Harcourt in 1995 Nigeria, a once-ordered family is irreparably shattered in ways that prompt its youngest member, Ajie, to embark on a quest for answers that reveals long-forgotten secrets andregional brutalities. |
half a yellow sun: Ulysses , |
half a yellow sun: Before the Coffee Gets Cold Toshikazu Kawaguchi, 2020-11-17 PREORDER YOUR COPY OF BEFORE WE FORGET KINDNESS, the fifth book in the best-selling and much loved series, NOW! *NOW AN LA TIMES BESTSELLER* *OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD* *AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER* If you could go back in time, who would you want to meet? In a small back alley of Tokyo, there is a café that has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. Local legend says that this shop offers something else besides coffee—the chance to travel back in time. Over the course of one summer, four customers visit the café in the hopes of making that journey. But time travel isn’t so simple, and there are rules that must be followed. Most important, the trip can last only as long as it takes for the coffee to get cold. Heartwarming, wistful, mysterious and delightfully quirky, Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s internationally bestselling novel explores the age-old question: What would you change if you could travel back in time? Meet more wonderful characters in the rest of the captivating Before the Coffee Gets Cold series: Tales from the Cafe Before Your Memory Fades Before We Say Goodbye And the upcoming BEFORE WE FORGET KINDESS |
half a yellow sun: Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe, 1994-09-01 “A true classic of world literature . . . A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world.” —Barack Obama “African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe.” —Toni Morrison Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read Things Fall Apart is the first of three novels in Chinua Achebe's critically acclaimed African Trilogy. It is a classic narrative about Africa's cataclysmic encounter with Europe as it establishes a colonial presence on the continent. Told through the fictional experiences of Okonkwo, a wealthy and fearless Igbo warrior of Umuofia in the late 1800s, Things Fall Apart explores one man's futile resistance to the devaluing of his Igbo traditions by British political andreligious forces and his despair as his community capitulates to the powerful new order. With more than 20 million copies sold and translated into fifty-seven languages, Things Fall Apart provides one of the most illuminating and permanent monuments to African experience. Achebe does not only capture life in a pre-colonial African village, he conveys the tragedy of the loss of that world while broadening our understanding of our contemporary realities. |
half a yellow sun: The Radio and Other Stories Gil Ndi-Shang, 2021-04-03 On moving into a new apartment abroad in his Bavarian hometown, the narrator realises that some of his possessions and elements of his new neighbourhood open a window into a flurry of memories, serving as allegorical threads to his childhood, self-consciousness and discovery of the world. What begins as a personal narrative quickly cedes to a social archaeology, inviting the reader/listener on a homegoing journey in the backdrop of Cameroon’s tottering democratic trajectory. Modulated with poetry and music, The Radio tunes in to diaspora, home, nation, education, existence, religion as well as Mbum popular culture, showcasing creative re-appropriation and re-mixing of global trends and icons in specific communities. |
half a yellow sun: Shades of Scarlet Anne Fine, 2021-03-04 When Mum gives her the notebook, Scarlet should be happy. It's beautiful, with its shiny scarlet cover and its blank pages full of promise. But Scarlet is absolutely NOT in the mood for a peace offering.Does Mum really think she can tear their family apart and expect Scarlet to be happy about it?Scarlet decides there's only one thing she can write in the notebook. The truth, about everything . . . |
half a yellow sun: Sensuous Knowledge Minna Salami, 2020-03-25 In Sensuous Knowledge, Minna Salami draws on Africa-centric, feminist-first and artistic traditions to help us rediscover inclusive and invigorating ways of experiencing the world afresh. Combining the playfulness of a storyteller with the insight of a social critic, the book pries apart the systems of power and privilege that have dominated ways of thinking for centuries – and which have led to so much division, prejudice and damage. And it puts forward a new, sensuous, approach to knowledge: one grounded in a host of global perspectives – from Black Feminism to personal narrative, pop culture to high art, Western philosophy to African mythology – together comprising a vision of hope for a fragmented world riven by crisis. Through the prism of this new knowledge, Salami offers fresh insights into the key cultural issues that affect women’s lives. How are we to view Sisterhood, Motherhood or even Womanhood itself? What is Power and why do we conceive of Beauty? How does one achieve Liberation? She asks women to break free of the prison made by ingrained male-centric biases, and build a house themselves – a home that can nurture us all. Sensuous Knowledge confirms Minna Salami as one the most important spokespeople of today, and the arrival of a blistering new literary voice. |
half a yellow sun: The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives Lola Shoneyin, 2010-12-06 Coming soon to Netflix When Baba Segi awoke with a bellyache for the sixth day in a row, he knew it was time to do something drastic about his fourth wife's childlessness. To the dismay of her ambitious mother, Bolanle marries into a polygamous family, where she is the fourth wife of a rich, rotund patriarch, Baba Segi. She is a graduate and therefore a great prize, but even graduates must produce children and her husband's persistent bellyache is a sign that things are not as they should be. She only wants to escape to a quiet life, but the others disapprove of the newest, youngest, cleverest addition to the family. Treated with respect by her husband, she is viewed with suspicion by her seniors - who fear she may unlock their well-guarded secret. Through the voices of Baba Segi and his four wives, Lola Shoneyin weaves a vibrant story of love, secrets and a family like every other - happy and unhappy, truthful and not, sometimes kind, sometimes competitive, always bound by blood, and the past. |
half a yellow sun: Hal Higdon's Half Marathon Training Higdon, Hal, 2016-03-01 Hal Higdon’s Half Marathon Training offers prescriptive programming for all levels of runners. Not only will it help you learn how to get started with your training, but it will show you where to focus your attention, when to progress, and how to keep it simple. |
Half of a Yellow Sun - cliffemwangi2016.wordpress.…
“Searing, beautifully written…. What makes [Half of a Yellow Sun] so deeply …
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Half of a Yellow Sun - Jerry W…
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Half of a Yellow Sun. Excerpt M. n greetings, a. is …
Half of a Yellow Sun updated - Waterstones
Dry, wire-thin in sun and dust of the dry months – Headstone on tiny debris of …
No Humanity in War: Chimamanda Adichie’s Half o…
The evocative tale, Half of a Yellow Sun, and the captured impact and …
Half Of A Yellow Sun - resources.caih.jhu.edu
everything you need to know about Half of a Yellow Sun in a fraction of the …
Insert: Paper 1 Explorations in creative reading and writing
This extract is taken from the opening of Chimamanda Adichie’s novel Half of a …
Half Of A Yellow Sun - resources.caih.jhu.edu
Half of a Yellow Sun takes place in Nigeria in the 1960s. The book begins when …
(Re)Fashioning Biafra: Identity, Authorship, and the Politics o…
Half of a Yellow Sun is set in the 1960s in newly independent Nigeria, a period of …
RETHINKING FEMINIST EPISTEME IN ADICHIE’S HALF OF A …
The publication of Half of a Yellow Sun, Adichie has announced her arrival as a leading advocate of the tradition described above. Akin Olaniyi and A.A. Akinwale . 147 Adichie’s Feminist …
Purple Hibiscus Half of a Yellow Sun and The Thing Around …
Half of a Yellow Sun, her second novel (named after the flag of the short-lived nation of Biafra) is set before and during the Nigerian Civil War (19671970), and . The Thing Around - Your Neck, …
Resistance to Patriarchal Ideology and Colonial Legacy in
Half of a Yellow Sun speaks through history to our war-racked age not through abstract analogy but through the energy of vibrant, sometimes horrifying detail. The novel takes place in Nigeria …
The Aftermath of Trauma: Postmemory in Chimamanda Ngozi …
Trauma and Postmemory in Half of a Yellow Sun p. 26 3.1 Adichie as a Member of the Postgeneration p. 26 3.2 The Postmemorial Act of Creation p. 28 3.3 Trauma and Postmemory …
Liberation of Women in Chimamanda Ngozi Purple Hibiscus …
“Half Of a Yellow Sun” describes the struggle for liberation from sexuality and to liberate Biafran from the Nigerian soldiers. KEYWORDS: Struggle, liberation, oppression, domestic violence, …
Women’s Struggles and Independence in Adichie’s Purple …
Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun (Pp. 79-91) Azuike, Maureen Amaka - Department of English, University of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. E-mail: amakaazuike@yahoo.com Abstract This …
Scholars Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Analyzing Adichie‘s Half of a Yellow Sun and Emecheta‘s Destination Biafra which, he thinks interweave this tragic civil war, Hugh Hodges (2009:1) asserts that Adichie‘s novel particularly: …
“She Is Waiting”: Political Allegory and the Specter of ... - JSTOR
In contrast, John C. Hawley reads Half of a Yellow Sun with attention to char-acter relationships as its principal strength. Hawley rightly observes that the novel incorporates fewer details of the …
GCSE ENGLISH LANGUAGE - AQA
Adichie’s novel ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’, set in Nigeria in 1960. Ugwu, a thirteen-year-old boy, is starting work as a cleaner for a university professor in the city. 1 5 7 8 10 15 20 Master was a …
Aesthetics of Absent Causality: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s …
Half of a Yellow Sun into conjunction with texts by writers like Grenville, Kidman, and Ihimaera. Half of a Yellow Sun presents an opportunity to explore the transna-tional historicist aesthetics …
Interpersonal Meaning in Half of a Yellow Sun by …
Interpersonal Meaning in Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie through Some Extracts HAKIBOU Abdoulaye Littérature et Linguistique Anglaise, Enseignant-chercheur, …
SCRUTINIZING THE FEMALE EXPERIENCE IN CHIMAMANDA …
Half of a Yellow Sun. London: Harper Collins Publishers, 2007. Print. Awelewa, Abayomi. “Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun.” Leeds African Studies Bulletin, Issue 78, 2016, pp. 105-117. …
Bridging the gap among social classes in Chimamanda Ngozi …
about the Nigerian Civil War is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) where the author recounts the events leading to the war and those during and after just after the conflict.
Multifarious Forms of Diaspora in Adichie's Half of a Yellow …
Half of a Yellow Sun Half of Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is published forty years after the Nigerian Biafra War. The title of the book, which alludes to the Biafran flag's waning …
Sex as Synecdoche: Intimate Languages of Violence in …
Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun made the New York Times list for the 100 notable books published in 2006 and went on to win the Orange prize for fiction. The novel follows the lives of female …
Adichie's Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun - JSTOR
and Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) through an "African Postcolonial Gothic" lens. It begins by tracing the historiography and manifestations of Gothic attributes in precolonial and colonial Africa as …
Gender Performance, Trauma, and Orality in Adichie’s Half of …
Both Half of a Yellow Sun and Purple Hibiscus utilize elements of the local, national, and transnational. The women in these novels continually face trauma, but they use storytelling to …
‘A History of Darkness’: Exoticising Strategies and the
Half of a Yellow Sun appears to correspond to this ideological endeav-our, but the novel is not simply a factually rigorous account of the Nigerian civil war. Although the narrative obviously …
Cambridge International AS & A Level
2 ULES 2018 969502SP21 Section A: Prose Answer one question from this section. CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE: Half of a Yellow Sun Question 1 EITHER (a) Discuss …
Feminizing The War Novel: A Study Of Half Of A Yellow Sun
Half of a Yellow Sun” serves as a powerful exploration of the horrors of war and its devastating effects on its victims. The novel introduces a diverse cast of characters, each navigating their …
STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S
Half Of A Yellow Sun, which comprises four parts with a total number of 37 chapters and 433 pages. The aim of this study is to identify the predominant stylistic devices used by the author …
War Trauma And The Dynamics Of Closure: A Hysterical …
Half of a Yellow Sun are concerned particularly in terms of characterization and specific experiences of these characters implying that she is carrying forward the tradition of her literary …
Challenging the Status Quo in a Patriarchal World: A Critical ...
Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun. In a patriarchal society, male dominance is more or less a law, while resistance by females becomes a duty. The female gender has been variously …
Half of a Yellow Sun updated - lovereading.co.uk
Half of a Yellow Sun updated 29/6/06 16:14 Page 1. o 1 p M aster was a little crazy; he had spent too many years reading books overseas, talked to himself in his office, did not always return …
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Half of a Yellow Sun …
Half of a Yellow Sun comes from the image of the Biafran flag which is composed of half of a yellow sun over stripes of red, black and green. In the novel Olanna teaches her students …
History, Memory and the Politics of National Unity in Adichie’s …
The sun is not full, but half, a reference to the incompleteness of the fledgling republic (Biafra) and its indebtedness to the other half (Nigeria). The title could also be seen as the author‟s …
CODE-SWITCHING AND CODE MIXING: THE LANGUAGE …
CODE-SWITCHING AND CODE MIXING: THE LANGUAGE STYLES IN HALF OF A YELLOW SUN AND AMERICANAH 69 CODE-SWITCHING AND CODE MIXING: THE LANGUAGE …
Insert: Paper 1 Explorations in creative reading and writing
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie An extract from the beginning of a novel published in 2006. Please turn the page over to see the source . 2 IB/G/Jun21/8700/1 Source A …
POLITICAL CORRUPTION AND SYMBOLISM IN ADICHIE …
Chumamanda Ngozi Half of a yellow Sun. Chapter four is on the political corruption and symbolism in Okey Ndibe’s Arrows of Rain chapter five of this project work is the conclusion. …
Fragments held in a fragile clasp : The struggle for identity in …
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (2006). Two important concepts applied in this analysis are Us versus the Others, and how the characters construct their identity by aligning …
Doing Motherhood, Doing Home: Mothering as Home …
Ngozi Adichie’s postcolonial novel Half of a Yellow Sun. Drawing on concepts and theories from the fields of gender studies and geography, and taking into account the postcolonial, Nigerian ...
CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S HALF OF A YELLOW SUN : …
In Half of a Yellow Sun, Richard fights with his pen and paper; helps Biafran wounded soldiers (Ugwu); cares for Biafran Refuges; expostulates with foreign reporters’ biases about Biafra and …
The Sun That Never Rose: Postcoloniality and Pan Africanism …
Half of a Yellow Sun reveals the chaos over identity and culture establishments in a decolonized state, its challenges and transformations and the losses that shapes the characters, counting …
Hybrid Culture and Identity are Lingering Legacies of …
A Postcolonial Study of Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun Umber Javed, Tahseen javed, Aneela Khalid Pakistan Abstract: The colonial power ruled the colonized world for a long period it had …
650 Diasporic Vision in Adichie f producing diasporic vision …
Adichie's second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun. Winner of the Orange Broadband Prize for fiction in 2007, the novel established Adichie's reputation even before she won a MacArthur Fellowship …
Tragic Optimism in Half of a Yellow Sun and Beyond the …
the horizon _ and ^half of a yellow sun _ signify, the texts are about survival, endurance, perseverance, hope, courage, and defiance. Echoing the Nigerian civil war, Half of a Yellow …
On Translating Postcolonial African Writing: French …
Half of a Yellow Sun reveals abundant heterolingualism, including the incorporation of Igbo, Pidgin, and Hausa, and a study of the occurrence of vernacular in the novel indicates that the …
Dr. Anwuli Chukwukaelo - Global Academic Group
Ngozi Adichie in Half of a Yellow Sun squarely confronts Nigeria’s political history in order to give presumably valid notions such as nationalism, race, ethnic identity, truth, heroism and betrayal. …
Postcolonial Representation of the African Woman in the …
Half of a Yellow Sun..... 110 Conclusion ..... 126 References ..... 136 . C HAPTER I I NTRODUCTION “They cannot represent themselves, they must be represented”. — Karl …
The Intersection of History, Literature and in Chimamanda …
university. She started the study of medicine but dropped out after a year and a half to pursue her writing career. Adichie‟s first novel Purple Hibiscus was published in 2003; the book has …
GCSE ENGLISH LANGUAGE - AQA
Chimamanda Adichie’s novel ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’, set in Nigeria in 1960. Ugwu, a thirteen-year-old boy, is starting work as a cleaner for a university professor in the city. 1 5 10 11 12 Master …
INSIGHT REPORT HALF OF A YELLOW SUN - BFI
with the Wind’, Half of a Yellow Sun (HOAYS) is based on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Orange Prize-winning novel. The film chronicles a 1960s-set family saga against the backdrop of …
Mark scheme: Paper 1 Explorations in creative reading and …
Level 4 Perceptive, detailed . Level 3 Clear, relevant . Level 2 Some, attempts . Level 1 Simple, limited. This is followed in the second column by a description of the different qualities required …
War and the Question of Identity: A Study of the Half of a …
War and the Question of Identity: A Study of the Novel Half of a Yellow Sun and the Movie The Wall. Dheyaa Khaleel Nayel . Department of English, University of Karbala, Karbala, Iraq . …
Adichie's Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun - JSTOR
and Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) through an "African Postcolonial Gothic" lens. It begins by tracing the historiography and manifestations of Gothic attributes in precolonial and colonial Africa as …
INTERROGATING HEROICS OF NIGERIAN CIVIL WAR THERE …
and Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun as primary texts. The data was further collated from works rendered by scholars with divergent views. The study is foregrounded on New Historicism. …
Acting out and Working Through in Chimimanda Ngozi …
Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun Malissa Jamal* and Hardev Kaur Deparment of English, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, …
Evaluating War: The Impact of War in …
The evocative tale, Half of a Yellow Sun, and the captured impact and immediacy of the Nigeria-Biafrawar through the lives of the characters attest to Adichie’s imaginative ability, creativity …