Maggie 7
Enjoyed the story and thought the author had a wonderful way with words, though she had to stop and reread often. Found Eugene a multifaceted character whose brutality to his family and benevolent compassion to strangers provided an interesting contrast. Kambili grew up rich yet experienced very little in the way of life, while Aunt Iofeama's family was poor and had a diverse life. They had less but laughed more. While visiting Kambili saw how full life could be and was surprised when she heard herself laugh. Kambili loved her father despite his brutality. Didn't know things could be different with a family until she stayed with her aunt. Maggie was frustrated with Kambili's mother for not protecting her kids. Pointed out that she didn't poison Eugene until after he broke her figurines. Beating Kambili nearly to death was not enough, but one must draw a line at broken ceramics. Thought it rushed at the end. Wondered why Jaja's mother let him take the fall.
Becky 5
Really liked the beginning and the contrasts drawn between the two families. Kambili and Jaja's life was literally scheduled. They had no voice, no choice in what to do. Aunt's children were free and had goals to strive for. Wondered how Eugene could be so cruel to those he loved and so generous to others. He was brave enough to print the truth against a hostile government. Was wealthy but couldn't help his sister out unless it was spelled out for him. Wondered if Kambili stuttered but decided no. It wasn't a stutter so much as she was unused to speaking anything at all and had a hard time getting to words to simply come out. Father Amadi helped her find her voice and opinions, but thought their relationship was disturbing. He was an adult and it was cruel of him to lead her on the way he did. Wanted more from the mother, why so complacent? Easy read. Enjoyed the story.
Carolyn 6
Very sad. Abuse of anyone for any reason. Liked the line about Eugene needing to stop doing God's work. God is big enough to do his own work. He wanted perfect Catholic people to get to Heaven. Cousins believed they could scale the rod. Couldn't believe Eugene let them go to his sister's house. Kevin the driver tattled that they spent 25 minutes rather than the allotted 15. Liked Kambili and Amaka's relationship. Amaka's perception was that Kambili was stuck up and rich, but she wasn't. You never know the baggage that people carry and Amaka began to figure this out after Kambili's beating. Didn't expect the mom to do kill Eugene and she could have blamed almost anyone else and likely would have been believed. Why let her son take the fall? Father Amadi was having feelings for Kambili. Yes, he was encouraging to her, but at what emotional cost? The story flowed well. Liked it. But sad with abuse. So different to public and home.
K'Lynn 5
I thought the writing of this book was beautiful. It was expressive and you could hear the character's voices in her writing. When Kambili and Jaja first returned to Nsukka, a place that gave her a voice and a chance to understand what life could be like outside of a judgmental and abusive authority of her religiously fanatic father.
"I laughed because Nsukka's untarred roads coat cars with dust in the harmattasn and with sticky mud in the rainy season. Because the tarred roads spring potholes like surprise presents and the air smells of hills and history and the sunlight scatters the sand and turns it into gold dust. Because Nsukka could free something deep inside your belly that would rise up to your throat and come out as a freedom song. As laughter." p 299
Surprised that Maggie picked a story told by a fifteen-year old Kambili. She and her older brother Jaja lead a prosperous but sheltered life with this authoritarian father and their submissive mother. Domestic abuse and violence are sadly a recurrent theme in their household, and many incidents left me feeling quite angered and sorry for the children and their mother. Kamibli narrates "Fear. I was familiar with fear, yet each time I felt it, it was never the same as the other times, as though it came in different flavors and colors." p 196 Despite the fear, however, Kambili respects her father and works very hard to earn his approval and love. "I knew that when the tea burned my tongue, it burned Papa's love into me." Jaja, on the other hand, while a victim of this abuse as well, is introduced as having a bit more of a self-assertive personality, beginning with a refusal to take communion at church one Sunday. This rebellious nature grows quite rapidly throughout the book. "Jaja's defiance seemed to me now like Aunty Ifeoma's experimental purple hibiscus: rare, fragrant with the undertones of freedom, a different kind of freedom from the one the crowds waving green leaves chanted in Government Square after the coup. A freedom to be, to do." p 16
There is a great contrast in this novel between the Igbo culture of the children's grandfather, Papa Nnukwu, and the Catholic fervor of his son. Eugene goes so far as to call his own father "heathen" and "pagan" due to his unwillingness to convert to Catholicism and will not allow Papa Nnuykwu within the walls of his own home. His children are not allowed to see their grandfather save for the very rare several minute visits that are permitted to them. Kambili is confused by this and struggles with the conflict between her conviction in her father's views and with her own private thoughts about her grandfather. "I had examined him that day, too, looking away when his eyes met mine, for signs of difference, of Godlessness. I didn't see any, but I was sure they had to be there somewhere. They had to be." p 63 When Kambili and Jaja leave their parents to stay for several days in Nsukka with Aunty Ifeoma, Eugene's forward-thinking sister and university professor, they finally get a taste for what it is like to be out from under the strain of their father's watchful eye. Aunty Ifeoma is a strong presence and her three children live a completely different life from that of their cousins Kambili and Jaja. At the dinner table, Kambili thinks, "I had felt as if I were not there, that I was just observing a table where you could say anything at any time to anyone, where the air was free for you to breathe as you wished." p 120 Her cousins are allowed to speak their mind without the fear of unreasonable punishment. Catholic followers as well, this family does not exhibit any of the fanaticism we see in Eugene. While staying in Nsukka, the children are also introduced to Father Amadi who shows them a gentle and caring side to Catholicism. He takes Kambili under his wing and gives her a reason to finally use her voice. She learns about love and happiness as she develops a very strong emotional attachment to Father Amadi. "I had smiled, run, laughed. My chest was filled with something like bath foam. Light. The lightness was so sweet I tasted it on my tongue, the sweetness of an overripe bright cashew fruit." p. 180 This relationship was the most poignant part of the novel, in my opinion.
Now for some minor faults I noted in this book. I had a bit of difficulty settling into this initially. It took some time for me to become engaged with the characters. While the writing was superb, I felt that the characters were a bit too slowly developed. Although this was told from Kambili's perspective, I had a hard time attaching myself to her during the first part of the novel. While I certainly felt very sympathetic towards Kambili and her mother and brother, I didn't feel a real connection but had a sense of distance from them. This eventually changed further along in the book, at least with Kambili, but was a negative point for me at first. I also felt the plot was a bit loose at times. Sometimes events felt drawn out while others were rushed. Perhaps these little flaws are a result of this being Adichie's first novel. I would've been more interested in a story about Jaja confessing to a murder he didn't commit, and his love for his Mom, abusive father, you know the rest...
The Nigerian setting is absorbing and the language is just so lovely; I am very hopeful that any further work written by Adichie can only have improved.
K'Lynn disagreed with the idea that Father Amadi and Kambili's relationship was inappropriate. Father Amadi's attentions to Kambili were noble and innocent and there to draw out Kambili, who he could tell was in a tight shell due to her circumstances.
Me 8 - 8.5 I enjoyed this very much. Eugene had me thinking about organized religion a lot. For believers like Eugene, religion boils down to one group of humans controlling another group of humans, in the hopes that the belief system will be shared thereby greasing the skids for those in control. When there is dissent, you have offended not just the powerful, but God himself and the human wrath that follows will always be justified by God. It's a powerful circular logic. Eugene's behavior was Christianity's atrocities in a nutshell. I was interested throughout the book. It was very African without AFRICA overshadowing the story. I wanted Eugene to die and knew someone would before the end. My bet was on Father Amadi since that would put a sacrificial bow on things. Cheered when I found out the mom poisoned Eugene, but bummed a paragraph later when Jaja took the fall. Thought Eugene's father's prayer the day before he died was wonderful.
Miles 8
Found Eugene fantastically complex. Wondered where his violence came from since his own father seemed so different. Had a rigid structure to his religion - a stark contrast to traditional African culture which is more fluid and formless. Was this his reaction to chaotic African society? He had such a visceral reaction to things 'Pagan', yet pouring boiling water on your children's feet could be seen as a pagan type of rite. Miles wondered how much of his connection to the Church helped create his success and is always struck by the bizarreness of Christianity; how it can hook places like Africa. Western man created a blue-eyed good looking British image for Jesus. It seems a preposterous for Africans to buy into this image. In spite of their wealth, Kambili and Jaja found no enjoyment in the Mercedes or their clothes or other comforts - indeed, no mention of comforts - they were yearning for human connection. Enjoyed how the author described the tones/presence of characters with posture and voice, more than physical characteristics. Interesting how the characters were built and how they took on different shapes through Kambili's eyes as they developed. I wasn't really pulled in by the similes/metaphors that the author used, but did come away with a good sense of setting.
Letitia - 8
I enjoyed reading Purple Hibiscus and felt the author really pulled me into the world of Kambili, Jaja, and that of her beloved aunt and her family. I felt the contrast keenly between the privileged life of Kambili's family versus the barely scraping by existence of Aunty's family. The author had great descriptive powers. I could smell and see the food that was being cooked, as well as delight in the flowers and foliage. I could feel the opulence of Kambili's houses with fine china, unused televisions and stereo, the cream colored room, along with the highly polished floors, which were occasionally splattered by blood. Alternately, I could visualize the decay in Aunty's house, such as earthworms in the bathtub, the toilet that you can only flush once a day, the smoky kerosene to cook by and the shortage of gas. There was no doubt which household felt the most joy and was the most well-rounded.
Without knocking it into our heads, the author gave a feel for life with the political unrest in Nigeria, the bribery necessary to get things done in the corrupt environment, and the lack of accountability for violence committed.
It was hard to reconcile the father who was on the one hand an evil tyrant, yet on the other a benevolent patriarch to others. He was calm in the face of adversity and a champion for the oppressed or disadvantaged, as long as they weren't heathens, and as long as it didn't revolve around his family. He was brave enough to run a newspaper which criticized the government, yet he could not bring himself to question his Catholic/Christian beliefs, even if that meant disowning his father. Even though he was a champion for the oppressed and against corrupt governments, yet somehow he prospered in his juice and biscuit business which made me wonder how that was possible. He was completely intolerant and unyielding to any other beliefs or imperfections in his own children, to the point of maiming his son for getting second place in his class. Reading about his abuse to his family was very painful to me. Whipping with his belt, pouring boiling water over feet, bashing into furniture, and causing miscarriages . . . hard to stomach. . . Despite realizing the evil her father brings to the family, Kambili does not seem to feel anger towards him, and we read most often about how she desires to please him. She knows when to be afraid though. Jaja, of course, is in a state of rebellion.
I wondered why Kambili's mother or her son had to take the blame and subsequent imprisonment for poisoning the father, when it so clearly could have been done by the government, which the Standard criticized.
I thought the relationship with the priest was bizarre as it came across that he gave Kambili signals that he was interested in her in a way that priest has no right to be. I can totally understand her infatuation, on the other hand.
Though we learned about Jaja and his closeness to Kambili, and his frustration about not being able to protect his mother or his sister, I wish I could have gotten to know him better. At the end of the book I really wanted to know what would happen next to these characters who have been so damaged.
Sandy 7 - 6.5
Read last year and then read a summary for book club. I'm afraid I didn't get much more than this, but would be happy to add any notes you have, Sandy.
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