Purple Hibiscus is a beautiful book, beautiful and terrible at the same time. The setting is perfectly rendered and I felt like I was really there, seeing, tasting and smelling everything. I love it when a writer takes me out of my world. The characters are fantastic as well.
The backdrop of the novel is one of conflict as a military coup changes the lives of the characters in devastating ways. The central character is Kambili Achike, aged fifteen for much of the period covered by the book, a member of a wealthy family dominated by her devoutly Catholic father, Eugene.
I loved this book so much and felt deeply connected to the characters and story. It was such an insightful and tho. Her wealthy Catholic father, under whose shadow Kambili lives, while generous and politically active in the community, is repressive and fanatically religious at home. We see everything in the novel through the eyes of a fifteen-year-ol so there is no thorough description of the political situation, but in this way Adichie more poignantly shows how corruption and violence affect. Told from the point of view of a chil overt political messages are held at an arm’s length, but they inform Kambili’s coming of age.