Hi everyone.
I'm Rincey and this is Rincey Reads.
Today I'm going to be doing a book review
on Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
This is her first novel and this is an author
that I have been putting off for a really
long time.
I own all 3 of her novels and I just hadn't
gotten around to it until recently when I
picked this one up.
A lot of people told me to read her books
in chronological order.
I picked this one up and I just completely
devoured it.
I read it in like 24 hours.
I loved it so much.
This story takes place in Nigeria and you
are mainly following this 15 year old girl
named Kambili and her brother, Jaja.
Their father is an extremely wealthy man in
the area.
They live in a very beautiful, very modern
house.
They go to one of the best private schools.
Like even compared to their extended family
like their cousins things like that, they
are extremely wealthy.
They've never really had to want for anything
in terms of like food or treats or anything
like that.
However their father is also an extremely
religious person, dangerously so.
Um.
He uses religion as way to really discipline
his family and uses it to an extreme, which
it's not supposed to be used to.
But then one day, uh, one of Kambili's aunts
and cousins comes to visit and they end up
convincing Kambili's father to let Kambili
and Jaja go visit them at their home.
And Kambili and Jaja's eyes are kind of opened
to what the rest of the world lives like basically
and the types of privileges they have and
the types of privileges other people have
compared to them, things like that.
This book was so good.
I know I've already said that but I think
it's worth saying again.
The writing in here was not at all what I
expected it to be.
I expected it to be a lot more complex and
while this is probably considered a literary
novel, it isn't literary in the way that you
would think it would be.
The language is very straight forward and
I don't mean that in a negative way.
I mean that in the way that Adichie doesn't
overly decorate her words.
And I think especially for the story that
she's telling that's really important because
it's all told from the perspective of this
15 year old girl.
So it feels very much like you are in her
head the whole story and you're seeing this
from her point of view so I think overly complex
or flowery just wouldn't feel right for the
story that's being told, which I really appreciated.
I think that's also why I was able to engage
with this story right away.
It wasn't trying to purposefully be beautiful
just for the sake of being beautiful.
Like the language that's used is very straight
forward because she's telling a very specific
kind of story and I really, really like that.
The characters in here are so fully fleshed
out and so complex in the absolute perfect
way.
Even the characters that you hate, you also
kind of feel bad for at the same time.
Adichie does a really good job of showing
both the positives and negatives of every
character that's in this story.
Which I think is a thing that authors don't
do very often, and I think even like people
in general, either see people as being good
people or bad people.
And in this novel, they're both, just like
in real life.
Most people are both.
And the people in here are both.
And while there are definitely things that
are very clearly wrong that are done in this
novel, there are still points where you still
very much feel for every single character
that is in here, in my opinion.
Adichie also does a really good job of providing
this sort of coming of age story for this
young girl.
It's very much about her eyes being opened
to the rest of the world.
She lives in a very sheltered home, so she's
not exposed to a whole lot.
This novel really explores a lot about her
eyes being opened about not only the world
around her, but also the people in her life
and what they're truly like.
Seeing a lot more of the gray that's in the
world as opposed to the clear black and white
that's been lined up for her her whole life.
She also does a really good job of just exploring
the complex feelings that you can have for
people who are in your life, particularly
family members.
Even though it's clear that Kambili's dad
doesn't do great things and even Kambili's
eyes are being opened to those things, she
still cares about her father because it's
still her father.
And she has these conflicting emotions within
her about what she should do about her different
situations because she doesn't want to bring
harm to her father but she also recognizes
the fact that he's doing things that aren't
right.
So it's about that balance and complexity
that you can feel in those types of situations.
It's just so good.
This book is so good.
It's less than 300 pages or right around 300
pages.
So I feel like if you are someone who hasn't
read Adichie yet, this is a fantastic place
to start.
This book is so good.
I'm so excited to read her other ones.
Yeah, just pick it up.
Or if you've read her other books and you
haven't read this one yet, this one is, its
so good.
People tell me it only gets better from here,
which I don't even know how that's possible
but I'm sure it is.
I'm excited to read her other books and I
love this one so much.
Pick it up if you guys haven't yet.
Pick it up.
So yeah, that is my quick review on Purple
Hibiscus.
If you've read this book, feel free to leave
a comment down below letting me know what
you guys thought of it.
Or if you've read any of her other works,
feel free to comment about that down below,
let me know which one is your favorite.
So yeah, that's all I have for now and thanks
for watching.
