I just made my way to the end of this novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. In my earlier post I mentioned being reminded of my dissertation. The second half of the novel left that in the dust and brought to mind just hard living under war time conditions, though it did remind me of how fruitful the process of reading for the dissertation was, even when the novels I was reading didn't really fit into my thesis.
The realist novel really is a splendid thing. Though people in their 20s and sometimes 30s and those who make a career of keeping graduate students enthralled by serving up juicy ideas for them to chew upon (i.e. humanities faculty) really love experimental narratives, the good old realist novel holds its own over time. I knew almost nothing about Nigeria and the war for Biafran independence (AKA Nigerian Civil War) of 1967-1970, and now I know incrementally more than nothing by virtue of just reading 520 pages on the subject. Given that I'm a pretty well-occupied father and breadwinner with a range of extracurricular pursuits, that's not chopped liver.
What's more, I'm keen to follow up. Specifically, I'd be interested in reading a sequel to follow the arc of the characters forward in their lives. Sadly, Wikipedia tells me that, at least as of now, that ain't happening because there is no sequel, but making the reader care about the characters is the secret sauce of the novel, and Adichie had me. I will return for more.
4 comments:
Would you recommend the book to a fellow lay reader?
Yeah, it's not easy reading once you get into the Civil War part of it but I learned a fair amount about Nigeria, currently the world's 6th most populous country and projected to go to #5 over the next few decades and #3 after that. Though I'll be dead by then.
Gotcha! I have a similar feeling about Indonesia. . . a gas giant of country population-wise of which I am so ignorant. . .
Pramoedya Ananta Toer's "Buru Quartet" is a good place to start on Indonesia. They are exhibit A of stuff I read that didn't fit into my dissertation but which was edifying. Try the first one; "This Earth of Mankind"
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