Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘠𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘚𝘶𝘯 is a novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on Nigeria of the 1960s. It narrates the struggles and tensions of the society in a country that had barely started breathing in its nascent independence. The British had just left in 1960 leaving the country to be governed by its own people. However, the citizens are not united. There is a wide rift between the North and the South like in almost any north-south geography. The North has tribes, mainly Hausa, Yoruba and the like, while the South and the East has mostly Igbo people. The differences between the two communities are well-pronounced.

Odenigbo and his partner Olanna are Igbos and teach in the Nsukka University in the South. Olanna's sister Kainene lives with her English lover Richard who is in Nigeria to research on the heritage arts, especially the Igbo-Ukwu art. The sisters are from an affluent family living in the richest area of Lagos, the largest city of Nigeria. Kainene looks after her father's businesses in Port Harcourt. There is also Ugwu, the house-boy of Odenigbo, who looks unimportant at first, but keeps the story moving as the author narrates the story in many places by describing the thoughts going on in his head tracing his observations and convictions, similar to the Stream of Consciousness technique used by Virginia Woolf in 𝘛𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦.

Odenigbo’s residence at Nsukka University is lively in the evenings with dinner, booze and heated discussions with other professors at the University. Odenigbo is the most active participant of all. His blood boils when he hears about some exploitation of or cruelty to the blacks by the whites in any part of the world. And in Nigeria, how the North and the government neglects the Igbos is one of his pet peeves. He has been demanding that the South must secede from Nigeria and stay independent. The other professors are an eclectic bunch consisting of people from the North as well as the South, an American, and even an Indian.

Things were going fine to a large extent when it happened. In 1966, the Southern revolutionaries made a coup and captured the government after the assassination of the topmost leaders of the country including the Prime Minister. Ironsi takes charge of the country thereafter. The incident widens the rift between the North and the South. The Southern citizens that worked and lived in the North were murdered by the thousand by the enraged Northern revolutionaries. Olanna’s aunt and uncle who lived in Kano in the North are two among the large number of people cruelly murdered by the perpetrators. The Northerners make a counter-coup soon and recapture the government. Gowon becomes the leader. He is ambitious and seems to want to make Nigeria great by extending due consideration to all divisions of people. However, Colonel Ojukwu, the military commander at the South was against the idea of Gowon being the leader. He declares secession of the Southern province from the country and a new nation named Biafra is born. The Igbos are enraptured. They have their own country now. They start celebrating and dancing in the streets and conduct processions waving the new tricolour flag with the red, black and green colours. There is a sun in the centre. It's just half as it is only rising, and yellow in colour. Half of a yellow sun. That’s the title of the book.

With the declaration of Biafra’s separation from Nigeria, the Nigerian government starts a campaign against Biafra to recapture it. This results in a horrible civil war that lasts for three years from 1967 to 1970. It resulted in large scale destruction and deaths. People moved away from their homes fearing the bomber planes. Many found protection in shelter homes. They ran to bunkers for life many times a day. They witnessed their dear ones ripped away into pieces by explosions. Diseases and scarcity of food also killed countless civilians. Half of the population that lost lives were children who died of malnutrition due to lack of supplies. The total number of deaths is in millions. After three years of resistance, they couldn’t take anymore. Finally Biafra surrenders and Ojukwu flees. Nigeria becomes a united country again.

The book describes vividly how the lives of the protagonists get crushed in the tumult and destruction of the war. It shows how relationships are transformed, sometimes for the better. As the war commences, Olanna’s rich parents escape to London with whatever precious possessions they could take with them like the jewellery and the diamonds. Her mother had made arrangements to take Olanna too with them, but she prefers to stay back. Kainene never comes back from a visit to the border in the midst of all the turmoil, leaving Richard heartbroken. This book that talks of one of the most violent and bloody revolutions in the history of Nigeria and the world is also one that talks about the magic of love, the warmth of relationships, the tension and reconciliation of siblings and many things more, and cannot be ignored.