2008-08-20 Beautiful Story Line Poor Characterisation

My sister recommended Purple Hibiscus to me sometime last year. However, I was reluctant to read the book because I was not sure that it could live up to Half a Yellow Sun, Adichie's other book. In hindsight, I was right.

The novel is narrated by Kambili Achike, the fifteen-year old daughter of a wealthy Nigerian businessman. The book begins with a description of her family life: Her wealthy father, Eugene Achike, whom she called Papa, had made good in life. He had numerous factories and a newspaper, which took an uncompromising stand on the corruption of the ruling elite. To cap it all, he was a philanthropist par excellence, supporting many causes.

Beneath the respectable veneer, however, all is not well. Her father, supporter of all noble causes sacred and secular, was a very violent man. He regularly beat Kambili and her brother, Jaja at the slightest provocation; failure to say the novenas correctly, eating before Mass, failing to top their high-school class all came in for Papa's lash. Good man that he was, Eugene Achike was particularly obsessed by the Catholic religion. Yes, Papa was a good old religious fundamentalist. The result: Kambili's home, despite all the appurtenances of wealth, was a miserable place where Kambili and her brother lived in mortal fear (of Papa.)

Enter Papa's sister, Kambili's Aunt, Ifeoma. Kambili and her brother, Jaja spend two weeks at Aunt Ifeoma's house in Nsukka. The experience changes their lives. Aunt Ifeoma, though not as rich as Papa, is lively, smart, tolerant, in short, all that Papa is not and then some. After their stay at Nsukka, life cannot be the same again. Kambili meets a dashing man of the cloth who takes too keen an interest in the teenager; Jaja and Kambili interact more with their cousins Amaka, Obiora and Chima. They discover a loving world where children think for themselves and are free to speak their minds.

The drama between Papa and his family unfolds against a backdrop of recent Nigerian politics. A corrupt military junta has just seized power in a military coup. The junta will do all in its power to squelch dissent and freedom of the press. Papa's incorruptible paper, the Standard, is pressured to recognise the junta. Papa refuses with the result that the paper's editor is assassinated by the military dictators. So far so good a plot.

Ms Adichie liberally plagiarised recent Nigerian history for some of her characters. As a Nigerian, I could see that, Ade Coker, the idealist editor, who is killed by a letter bomb in the novel was actually Dele Giwa; the pro-democracy activist killed using acid was Ken Saro-Wiwa, and the military dictator rumoured to have died between the legs of a prostitute, General Sani Abachi. That Ms Adichie spends little effort to disguise these characters is understandable since the novel is primarily about relationships within the Achike family and not about the socio-political situation in the country.

To my mind, the novel falls apart due to its superficial-often two-dimensional- characterisation. Except for Papa, whose character was fleshed out, all the other characters were light; Mama, for example, always amenable and subservient, Kambili, always the innocent on-looker, and Aunt Ifeoma, always defiant and head-strong. Furthermore, Amaka and Obiora, Kambili's teenage cousins seem too clever by half. When a friend Ifeoma's complains, "The military tyrants continue to reign because the weak cannot resist", Obiora responds, "That's just unrealistic pep-rally nonsense". How many fifteen year olds respond with such depth?

Purple Hibiscus succeeds in exposing the hypocrisy of (fundamentalist) religion. Eugene Achike is the product of the clash, rather the grafting, of Christianity onto an African traditionalist substrate. Papa seemed to spent his whole life trying to resolve that conflict. More importantly, it is the story of a young girl trying to come to terms with her sometimes benign but overly domineering father.

Ms Adichie is a gifted writer. Her style is simple yet punchy, and reminds me of that of Chinua Achebe. Overall, Purple Hibiscus is a good read. However, for all its strengths and acclaim, its poor characterisation did not escape me. Hence, the novel deserves 3 stars. Her other novel, Half a Yellow Sun, which won the Orange Prize, is a more mature, more subtle piece. I would recommend it highly to anyone who wants a more nuanced portrayal of Nigerian life.