Purple Hibiscus                  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Now that you are familiar with, Mrs Adichie, I would like to introduce a novel written in 2004.

Kambili and her brother Jaja live with their parents within the confines of their luxurious property in the political heart of Nigeria. Their father "Papa" is not only a rich man who is highly regarded for his charity but also someone who is revered by his community.

However, once he penetrates this household, the reader will soon feel the palpable unhealthy atmosphere that silences everyone. Indeed "Papa" is not only a physically violent man, but also someone who will control the lives of each member of the family. This silence, that pervades the house, will first be synonymous for the characters with approval, "[he] nodded approvingly when he saw our sealed lips", something not to be disturbed: "the silence was broken only by the whir of the ceiling fan as it sliced through the air".

However just like the suffocating air of this household, this oppression will be disturbed by a military coup which will force the father to send Kambili live with her aunt. There, she will see the walls set around her crumbling and discover what life, love or family really mean "Aunty Ifeoma's little garden next to the verandah of her flat in Nsukka began to lift the silence".

Just as she warned us against "The Danger of a Single Story", Mrs Adichie layers several stories that skillfully intermingle:

• The story of abuse and how it can destroy those who suffer from it: "Then I would hold the cup with both hands and raise it to my lips. One sip. The tea was always too hot, always burned my tongue, and if lunch was something peppery, my raw tongue suffered. But it didn't matter, because I knew that when the tea burned my tongue, it burned Papa's love into me."
• The story of colonialism with its dire consequence, its paradoxical beliefs and it blind and heartless Christianity is embodied by Papa and Father Benedict who force everyone to ignore their roots and beliefs in order to be accepted "Papa changed his accent when he spoke, sounding British, just as he did when he spoke to Father Benedict. He was gracious, in the eager-to-please way that he always assumed with the religious, especially with the white religious."
• The story of how political turmoil can affect individuals -most notably children, in other words how history can affect our daily lives.
• The story of how language reflects our identity and has been used through times to take control of people "Father Benedict had changed things in the parish, such as insisting that the Credo and kyrie be recited only in Latin; Igbo was not acceptable." "He hardly spoke Igbo, and although Jaja and I spoke it with Mama at home, he did not like us to speak it in public. We had to sound civilized in public, he told us; we had to speak English"
• A coming-of-age story "When a house is on fire, you run out before the roof collapses on your head."

Mrs Adichie guides us so well through these layers of stories that we immediately are immersed, surrounded by the smells, tastes and flavours that are indelible traces of identity.

So don't forget that we should never judge a book by its cover. As Mrs Adichie said in an interview: "Well, you know, I do think Purple Hibiscus was sort of a girl book-and Half of a Yellow Sun sort of crossed over. [Laughs] My friend Binyavanga [Wainaina] said the problem with Purple Hibiscus was the cover of the book. That he'd be so embarrassed to have this on the train- that he can't read a book with a flower on the cover. And I thought, Well, you know I understand that. I hated that cover, too"

Last but not least before you open the first page, I must warn you: you won't be able to put the book down before you've reached the end...and you might never eat a mango the way you used to...

"Being defiant can be a good thing sometimes. "

Written by Virginie

Have you read this book ? What did you think of it ?