Rating: 
Summary: Should have made Booker's short list
Review: I know I'm being unfair when I say it should have made the short list since I have not had the opportunity to read many that did so -- they are not available in the US. I chose this book since it had made the long list and was one of the few available here from that list. As revealed in other reviews, this is a classic story of abuse and denial, told time and time again, but has the ring of actuality about it. The fact that the background is Nigeria and not a more familiar locale makes it even more compelling. The revelation that this kind of abuse is prevalent in that corner of the world makes it all the more horrifying, plus the fact that part of the father's abuse is to deny his children access to his traditionalist father and heritage. As another reviewer has remarked, I look forward to a sequel because these characters are so vivid, I want to know what happened to them once the book was finished.
Rating:
Summary: What a treasure
Review: I lived in Nigeria for 11 years and I think Chima has really captured life in that part of the world. I think this is a wonderful story. It's sad, funny and real all at the same time. Definitely an enjoyable read.
Rating: 
Summary: A Lovely and Poignant Debut, 4 1/2 Stars
Review: I love novels set in Africa...almost any part of Africa. I loved Ben Okri's THE FAMISHED ROAD, the "Mma Ramotswe" detective novels of Alexander McCall Smith, and the novels of Chinua Achebe and Nuruddin Farah, so I was very eager to read PURPLE HIBISCUS, a debut novel by twenty-five year old Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I am happy to say I wasn't disappointed.PURPLE HIBISCUS is the story of a sister and brother, Kambili and Jaja, who, outwardly, seem to have the "perfect life" but who, inwardly, are starving...not physically, but emotionally and spiritually. The family at the center of PURPLE HIBISCUS is a strongly patriarchal family, i.e., it is definitely ruled by the father and the father is nothing if not tyrannical and religiously fanatic. Like many tyrants, Eugene, or "Omelora," as this father is known, is well thought of throughout his village and the surrounding area and is committed to improving both the political and religious scene as well as improving life for the villagers. He's charming and he's warm...but only outside of his own home. Home, for Kambili, Jaja and their mother, Beatrice, is a place of dark secrets, secrets they would never dream of revealing to the "outside world" for a variety of reasons. Kambili and Jaja do get to escape the joylessness of their own home when they visit their much poorer but happier aunt, Ifeoma, and her children. Even though Ifeoma has trouble just finding enough food to put on the table for her own family, Kambili and Jaja are always welcome and it is there that they discover that life contains joy as well as sorrow. Gradually, Kambili and Jaja learn to relate to others, including their own grandfather, whom they have been forbidden to see because his principles do not conform to those of his son. I found some of the characters in PURPLE HIBISCUS to be rather clichéd, especially Beatrice. This long suffering, battered wife was just a little too "stock" for me. And Ifeoma and her family were the very expression of "money can't buy happiness." No, it can't, but poverty ensures misery and Ifeoma and her family just weren't miserable enough to be realistic. Kambili and her father were extremely complex characters, though, and they are the characters that make PURPLE HIBISCUS both interesting and engrossing. "Omelora" is a tyrant, but he is a tyrant who can't help himself, who is at odds with himself, who loves his family as much as he sometimes deplores them and who chastises himself for the pain he knows he inflicts on them. He is also a man who, though he sets inflexible rules and impossibly high standards for others, also sets them for himself. He's a man we find it impossible to like but also to completely dislike. Kambili is also quite complex. While yearning for a life of her own, Kambili finds that her identity and her world are tied to her father and her father's opinion of her. She lives for his love and when he withdraws it, she withers. I don't know how anyone could fail to love this shy and charming girl. If you do, you must have an extremely hard heart. Kambili's collapsing family serves as a metaphor for the collapsing government of Nigeria and this makes the book doubly sad and poignant. Ifeoma, especially, must make some very difficult choices, but Kambili will be called upon to make choices of her own as well. Even though I've never been to Nigeria, I could identify and empathize with Kambili, to the author's great credit. And, while reading PURPLE HIBISCUS, I really felt as though I were in Nigeria. The author paints a very vivid scene of her native country, its government and its family life. PURPLE HIBISCUS is a lovely coming of age novel and a lovely debut. I hope to read more from this young author and I hope she continues to set her novels in Africa. To me, that is one of the things that made it special. That, and the lovely and complex character of Kambili. I would give this novel four and one-half stars and recommend it without hesitation.
Rating:
Summary: A vibrant, compelling story
Review: I read this book in two sittings. It is a well-crafted, beautiful, and smooth. Even when dealing with the abuse and fear aimed at the protagonist and her family, "Purple Hibiscus" gave me a sense of hope - hope for Kambili and hope for more African voices to emerge with tales of the lives of everyday African people (as opposed to the war and starvation images popularized in mainstream media). My only comment is that I wish the book were longer. Kudos to Adichie for a job well done!
Rating:
Summary: purple and red hibiscii
Review: I usually read fantasy, science fiction, and young adult novels, not famous literary works or 'modern adult fiction' (which has got to be the most boring thing anyone could ever imagine). I heard about this being famous, so I looked at the first chapter in a bookstore and knew I would love it and could buy it. The prose has the best qualities of the best fantasy and YA novels. It's lyrical and clear and makes everything you look at feel new and interesting and different, like the way you feel after you come out of a theatre after seeing a really really good movie. The writing doesn't intrusively interpret or explain things for you. The dialogue makes every character feel like a real person, three dimensional and distinctive. If you like reading Diana Wynne Jones, Sandra Cisneros, Gregory Maguire, or Nina Kiriki Hoffman, you will like this novel. I read it in 2 days during breaks at work and on the bus and staying up several hours later than I should.
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Summary: I'm in love!
Review: I was a little apprehensive about reading this book. After a few pages, I immediately identified with the character and fell in love with her innocence and ready to please behaviour. I felt a little nostalgic with her description of the towns and the people, especially the women. Having visited Enugu and Nsukka lots of times. It is a great book, the words just jump out and hug you, ezioku.
Rating:
Summary: A Hauntingly Good Book!
Review: I was in Barnes & Noble and was walking past the new fiction section and just happened to pick up this book. It wasn't on sale and I had never heard anything about it nor had I heard of the author. So I took a chance and decided to go ahead and pay full price (which I never do)! Suffice it to say, I have not been disappointed. This book is sooooo good. It's a slow, mystical kind of read. It's also shocking, lyrical, and very enlightening. There's one scene, when Kambili goes upstairs to the bathroom to see what her father wants with her, and I was totally caught off guard. I will be recommending this novel to all of my friends, family, and of course, my book club. For anyone who is a parent, I would definitely recommend this book. I hope to one day meet the author.
Rating:
Summary: Another winner from the Algonquin stable
Review: If you're not sure which new book to pick, choose one published by Algonquin Press. They seem to select the most consistent string of quiet winners.
Purple Hibiscus is an amazing debut novel about Kambili, a 15yo Nigerian girl who is the keeper of ugly secrets from within her privileged family, a family dominated and abused by her religious fanatic father. She is offered escape when she visits her Aunty Ifeoma, a university lecturer who is supporting her children on her small salary. A tragic conclusion slowly builds as old secrets and new tensions rise to the surface. As Kambili blossoms toward maturity, she questions values she once held as inscribed in stone. Her own turmoil is mirrored in that of her country. A startlingly good coming-of-age novel, disconcerting and thought-provoking.
Rating:
Summary: (4.5) A family torn by conscience and duty
Review: In Purple Hibiscus, we listen to the plaintive voice of Kambili, whose skill at language does not extend to the spoken word, as those necessary words remain trapped in her throat, a girl who knows her place and keeps her silence. In Kambili's family, there are too many things "we never talk about". Growing up in the political upheaval of Nigeria, Kambili and her older brother, Jaja, are poster children for domestic violence, quiet, well-mannered, high achievers that their father points to with pride, "his" children: extensions of himself in the world. A generous man, beloved in their village, only Eugene Achike's nuclear family suffers his rages behind closed doors. Jaja's emotions are closer to the surface, more accessible to his spirit of rebellion. But Kambili is her mother's daughter, cautious, constrained and eager to please. Her slow awakening is all the more significant because of the tremendous act of will necessary to break free of her conditioning. This experience is agonizing for Kambili, like the prickling of a limb that has fallen asleep. Her adolescent physical and emotional flowering enhanced by newly found self-expression and self-awareness, Kambili is a product of a world that leaves children unprotected, at the mercy of a merciless man. She is the observer, the reporter, emotionless as she describes the constant abuse. Like a sieve, Kambili filters every action, sorting, learning. Eugene passes on the lessons he has learned in his own childhood, taught by brutal Catholic missionaries who used temporal punishment; the abused is the abuser. Rigid religious instruction, intolerant and unforgiving, is the tool with which this man terrorizes his wife and children. His wife is trapped by her husband's frequent beatings, but the children glean a different way of life in the home of their Aunty Ifeoma. A widow with three children, Aunty Ifeoma exists in borderline poverty, but teaches her children without dehumanizing them. Exposure to this loving family opens Kambili's heart, planting the seed of hope and the promise of a future that offers more than pain and self-discipline. This powerful, yet subtle novel is striking on two levels: one is the subjection of society to the tyranny of the chaos that results from a political coup; the second is the role of family in the formation of children's lives, contrasting a monstrous discipline with the guidance of loving relatives. The political unrest and subsequent difficulties of daily survival are the canvas against which the author defines her young characters, especially significant because of the helplessness of a population ruled by intimidation. In this exotic African setting, the author shares cultural differences, rituals and beliefs. She does so with great skill, describing luxury and poverty alike, the discrepancies of an unequal society. Adichie knows the language of the abused child and speaks simply, directly to her audience. Her native land is Nigeria, but this dialect is universal. She understands that to be heard, one must speak softly. Adichie garners an audience of survivors who respond to personal empowerment, wrapped in hope. Luan Gaines/2004.
Rating:
Summary: Inner and outer turmoil blend in this complex story
Review: Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is actually a young adult fiction title - but it'd be a shame to limit its depth and complexity to teens, so is reviewed here as a recommended pick for adult readers as well. Set in Nigeria, it tells of a privileged teen and her older brother who find themselves increasingly at odds with their father's religious fanatic ways. When the kids visit their aunt, it's to enter a new world of freedom and laugher - just as a military coup threatens the country. Inner and outer turmoil blend in this complex story of politics, religion, and change.
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