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Feb. 14th, 2010 07:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
furyofvissarionHalf of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This novel depicts the civil war in Nigeria, & the events leading up to it, that resulted in the separate state of Biafra being formed for 3 years in the late '60s.
Before I discuss the novel itself, I wanted to note how foul it seems to me that the first time I ever heard the word "Biafra" was as in Jello Biafra in high school. Yeah, the (apparently white) lead singer of the Dead Kennedys. I note that the Wikipedia entry about him mentions nothing about the actual Biafra, but his own website explains what Biafra was & that the stage name was chosen "as an ironic combination of a nutritionally poor mass-produced food product and mass starvation" (which occurred in Biafra). Uh, wow. Also note that if he chose the name to make a point, there were lots of young punk kids (like me) who had no idea what Biafra was, much less whether he had the right to take the name. When I first heard about the real Biafra a few years ago I was surprised that it wasn't just a made-up name. Ugh.
Anyway: the novel revolves around a set of people who eventually end up living in various parts of Biafra during the war: Ugwu, a village boy who works in the household of a university professor, Odenigbo, a man full of revolutionary politics; Olanna, Odenigbo's partner; Kainene, Olanna's twin sister; & Richard, a white English scholar & Kainene's partner. That's another thing--the book cover copy describes Richard as being "a shy Englishman in thrall to Olanna's enigmatic twin sister." Which makes it sound like Kainene does witchcraft or is otherwise keeping Richard around against his will. No. Richard is simply in love with Kainene. I guess we can't have a white man in love w/a black woman w/o it being supernaturally explained?
The book covers the tensions between the different ethnic groups that make up Nigeria, & how colonialism also helped set the stage for the violence that birthed Biafra. The novel is one of those that haunts you--over the days I was reading it, I would occasionally suddenly find myself in a grim mood & realize it was because I had absorbed the mood of the book. Even when I wasn't actually reading it, it stuck w/me.
Adichie presents a complicated story, showing how patriotism is used to manipulate; how, even in the middle of war, classism persists; & how even well-meaning, anti-colonialist white guys need to realize sometimes their place is not where they think it is--& that maybe they haven't shed their colonial mindsets as much as they claim. At one point Richard thinks with relief that he'll be Biafran in a way he never was Nigerian, because he was there at the Biafra's birth. Yet despite his near-fluent Igbo & his Biafran partner, he is still suspected & resented by those around him. Not that the book, at the end of the day, is Richard's story, because it's not, for which I am glad. If anyone's, I think it's Ugwu's. Anyway--very well written, heartbreaking, & needed.
All She Was Worth - Miyuki Miyabe. Creepy mystery about identity theft & consumer debt in early '90s Tokyo. Inspector Honma, retired from the police force, is drawn back into detective work unofficially when the fiance of a distant relative disappears. He uncovers the lives of whole families ruined by the peculiarities of Japanese credit collection & bankruptcy laws, which permit harassment & threats on behalf of creditors. The story also examines the new rise of credit cards & consumerism--how "the good life" becomes irresistable, & how easy it is to lose everything in its pursuit--& to what lengths people will go in order to escape the debt spiral. Tense & disturbing. I burned through this one. (Also, I note that the book didn't say who the translator was, just that it had been translated--weird.)
Before I discuss the novel itself, I wanted to note how foul it seems to me that the first time I ever heard the word "Biafra" was as in Jello Biafra in high school. Yeah, the (apparently white) lead singer of the Dead Kennedys. I note that the Wikipedia entry about him mentions nothing about the actual Biafra, but his own website explains what Biafra was & that the stage name was chosen "as an ironic combination of a nutritionally poor mass-produced food product and mass starvation" (which occurred in Biafra). Uh, wow. Also note that if he chose the name to make a point, there were lots of young punk kids (like me) who had no idea what Biafra was, much less whether he had the right to take the name. When I first heard about the real Biafra a few years ago I was surprised that it wasn't just a made-up name. Ugh.
Anyway: the novel revolves around a set of people who eventually end up living in various parts of Biafra during the war: Ugwu, a village boy who works in the household of a university professor, Odenigbo, a man full of revolutionary politics; Olanna, Odenigbo's partner; Kainene, Olanna's twin sister; & Richard, a white English scholar & Kainene's partner. That's another thing--the book cover copy describes Richard as being "a shy Englishman in thrall to Olanna's enigmatic twin sister." Which makes it sound like Kainene does witchcraft or is otherwise keeping Richard around against his will. No. Richard is simply in love with Kainene. I guess we can't have a white man in love w/a black woman w/o it being supernaturally explained?
The book covers the tensions between the different ethnic groups that make up Nigeria, & how colonialism also helped set the stage for the violence that birthed Biafra. The novel is one of those that haunts you--over the days I was reading it, I would occasionally suddenly find myself in a grim mood & realize it was because I had absorbed the mood of the book. Even when I wasn't actually reading it, it stuck w/me.
Adichie presents a complicated story, showing how patriotism is used to manipulate; how, even in the middle of war, classism persists; & how even well-meaning, anti-colonialist white guys need to realize sometimes their place is not where they think it is--& that maybe they haven't shed their colonial mindsets as much as they claim. At one point Richard thinks with relief that he'll be Biafran in a way he never was Nigerian, because he was there at the Biafra's birth. Yet despite his near-fluent Igbo & his Biafran partner, he is still suspected & resented by those around him. Not that the book, at the end of the day, is Richard's story, because it's not, for which I am glad. If anyone's, I think it's Ugwu's. Anyway--very well written, heartbreaking, & needed.
All She Was Worth - Miyuki Miyabe. Creepy mystery about identity theft & consumer debt in early '90s Tokyo. Inspector Honma, retired from the police force, is drawn back into detective work unofficially when the fiance of a distant relative disappears. He uncovers the lives of whole families ruined by the peculiarities of Japanese credit collection & bankruptcy laws, which permit harassment & threats on behalf of creditors. The story also examines the new rise of credit cards & consumerism--how "the good life" becomes irresistable, & how easy it is to lose everything in its pursuit--& to what lengths people will go in order to escape the debt spiral. Tense & disturbing. I burned through this one. (Also, I note that the book didn't say who the translator was, just that it had been translated--weird.)