Purple Hibiscus

The book I am responding to is Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. If I could ask her one question eh? I would as her how her childhood life was in Nigeria compared to the book she wrote. There are a couple reasons that I would ask her this. One reason is because Purple Hibiscus is a book filled mainly by a traumatic home life with only some parts of happiness. I'd want to know if she wrote her book out of personal experience, not the whole thing just the main parts. If she said that she had not used personal experience I would then go on to ask her where she had gotten her ideas, but if she had said that the book was filled mostly from her own experiences I'd be curious to know how she has reacted to living in the USA today. The reason I would ask these particular questions is because of the extreme difference between a developing third world country such as Nigeria, where the book is set, and first world countries such as Canada and the USA.

This was also the first book I have read by Adichie. Although it doesn't particularly inspire me to go out and find another one of her books, I didn't mind reading it when I got started. The reason that I wouldn't want to find another one of her books is because I found that some of the time the plot jumped around a little quickly and it was slow (to a teenage guy) at times. In the end I didn't mind reading Purple Hibiscus, but it wouldnt be my first choice to read again.

The novel Purple Hibiscus has introduced me more to the general struggle of developing third world countries. Even though I already knew about this subject, I went on a Free the Children trip to build a school in Kenya, reading about the things that happen in countries such as Nigeria and the emotional and physical struggles still move me. One thing in perticular that exposed me to something new was just how extremely religious some families can be. I come from a family that doesn't practice a lot (or any) religion. It made me feel as though I was discovering something new. I think that the novel Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a book that anybody who enjoy's reading emotionally dominated novels with a strong female lead should read.