Purple Hibiscus

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Book Overview

From the bestselling author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists

Fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja lead a privileged life in Enugu, Nigeria. They live in a beautiful house, with a caring family, and attend an exclusive missionary school. They're completely shielded from the troubles of the world. Yet, as Kambili reveals in her tender-voiced account, things are less perfect than they appear...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1616202416
• ISBN13: 9781616202415
• Release Date: April 2012
• Publisher: Algonquin Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Electrifying read

Purple Hibiscus is a beautiful story. The plot is based on a 14 year-old who grew up under the stifling patronage of a stern father. Her domineering father frequently physically abused his family alongside her, creating terror at home and stunting the psychological growth of his children. Against the backdrop of the deterioration of the socio-economic and political life of Nigeria as it undergoes a military coup, the life Kambili knows is shattered and she has to seek for refuge in the home of her aunt. Kambili the sheltered but highly restricted child, who never thought of herself as lucky and who had earlier been absconded by her peers and cousin because of her supposedly privileges, learns to assert herself and becomes a beloved character, a character who easily understood the plight of those around her.. Kambili at first came to terms with her father as someone who regarded himself as a pillar of the community and someone she genuinely loved. Even the emotional and physical pains he inflicted are seen only as a gesture of love for her own good, but later she comes to consider his actions as abnormal. With its vivid portrayal of Nigerian life, and brilliant dissection of the characters , this novel moves at a pace which is electrifying. [...]

An Extremely Engaging First Novel

Purple Hibiscus is a vivid, beautifully written novel about a 14 year-old girl named Kambili growing up in a stifling Catholic household in Nigeria. The story pairs the collapse of the family's strong patriarch who frequently physically abuses his family alongside with the deterioration of the Nigerian society's infrastructure as it undergoes a military coup. Kambili is a very sheltered child who is incredibly insecure because of the repressive regimen her father forces her to follow. Yet, she is looked down upon by her peers and initially scorned by her outspoken cousin because she is viewed as a privileged snob. When she visits her aunt and cousins she learns how to assert herself and become a more independent individual. Adichie presents you with a portrait of domestic violence very much from the inside. We see the father through Kambili's eyes as a pillar of the community and someone she genuinely loves. Therefore the abuse he administers is seen only as a gesture of love for her own good. It's only when Kambili is pulled out of this horrific environment that she is able to see how wrong it is and understand that this abuse is not normal. While this novel really involves you in the struggles of its characters, it also shows you a lot about the complex political and religious struggles occurring in Nigeria. It's one of those wonderful stories that can broaden your perspective while being incredibly emotionally engaging. This is an amazing first novel from such a young writer and I hope she will continue to write many more books with as much heart and soul as Purple Hibiscus.

an excellent debut

"Purple Hibiscus" is the debut novel from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It is the story of Kambili and her family. Kambili's father is a powerful force both at home and in the family. He holds fast to his Catholicism he views anyone who does not follow Christ as firmly as he does as a sinner and doomed to a fiery eternity. He is not simply the father, but the ruler of the household. Kambili's father sets a daily schedule for Kambili and her brother, Jaja, that they must follow to the minute and they are commanded to be the best students in their school. While Jaja has a strength to his character, Kambili is meek and has the sense of being emotionally beaten down, though she has a strong narration throughout the novel. The novel is set in Nigeria and it begins on Palm Sunday with a fight within the family. Jaja is disobedient to his father and this seems like the beginning where cracks start appearing in the family, but Kambili tells us that the true beginning of this story happens earlier than this. The second section of the novel is "before Palm Sunday" and is set an uncertain amount of time before Palm Sunday (at least, I didn't figure out exactly what the timeframe was). This section traces Kambili's family and extended family as it leads up the Palm Sunday event, and we learn that the fight was not really a beginning, but an ending, that the fight was the result of all of the time before and the changes that were made in Kambili and Jaja, and by extension - to the family. Section Three is "After Palm Sunday" and we see the ramifications of that fight and at this point it feels inevitable what happens next. This is a strong, powerful novel, and even though it is set in a location that I have no knowledge of, it is really a novel about a family and a 15 year old girl. Some things are universal, despite cultural differences. This story of Kambili and her family is one such thing. If you put the characters in a different setting (rural America, perhaps), the same story could play out with only a few differences. This is the power of the story, that knowing nothing of Nigeria, we can understand the story Adichie is spinning.

a remarkable, lyrical book- a must-read

A journalist from the Times in London remarks that this is the best debut novel he has read since Arundhati Roy's 'The God of Small Things'. Indeed, this is a remarkable first novel by a 26 year author. Writing from the heart and no doubt using her experiences growing up in Nigeria, Adichie has produced a book that makes you intimately share every experience of Kambili, the narrator. You are enraged at the abuse she suffers from her father, a zealot who loves his children in his own twisted way while disowning his father for not converting to Catholicism. You feel the pangs of a first, forbidden love with her. You share her very existence as a girl who is perceived to be so rich and fortunate- but who cannot even linger to talk to friends at school or watch television or listen to pop music.This is a beautiful novel. The characters are complex and thought-provoking. I could not figure out the father character, how he seems to genuinely love his wife and kids and even suffer along as he inflicts terrible pain and torture on them. In contrast are his sister, Aunty Ifeoma, and her lively kids who may want for material things but whose spirits soar. In the background is the turmoil of Nigeria- the corruption, the politics, the shortage of fuel, the power cuts, the unrest. When I reached the end of the book, I found myself hoping for a sequel. What happens next to Kambili, Jaja and Aunty Ifeoma's family? Someone said that you know a book is good when you reach the end and feel you have lost a friend. I felt a bit like that on the last page. Highly recommended.

Excellent first novel

Those who know Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie from her short stories have high expectations of her. "Purple Hibiscus" lives up to expectations."Purple Hibiscus" is a coming-of-age story set in Nigeria during the Abacha military regime of the mid-1990s, told through the eyes of 15-year-old Kambili Achike. Kambili's father Eugene, a wealthy Igbo businessman and newspaper publisher, is in many ways a heroic figure; he is a pillar of the church, loyal and generous to his employees and home village and one of the few publishers with the courage to stand up to the military government. The same fanatic religious faith that feeds his stern public morality, however, leads him to ostracize his father and physically abuse his wife and children.Kambili, who has lived under her father's hand throughout her life, is a shadow of a person as the novel begins. As the story progresses, she learns independence and self-reliance from her university-professor aunt Ifeoma, her teenage cousin Amaka and the iconoclastic priest Father Amadi. At the same time, the deterioration of the country and her father's increasingly abusive behavior drive the family closer to collapse."Purple Hibiscus" is a powerful and sophisticated first novel, and comparison between Adichie and Igbo literary giant Chinua Achebe is not out of place. Achebe's novels, though, tend toward the epic, using their characters to tell the story of their country. Adichie has also spoken in this voice, in short stories such as "Half of a Yellow Sun," but "Purple Hibiscus" is a more intimate portrait. Politics sometimes intrudes through scenes of student riots and the persecution of one of Eugene's editors, but most of the political events happen offstage and are seen through their effect on the family. For all the powerful sense of place in "Purple Hibiscus," Kambili's story is one that could happen anywhere.