Title: Purple Hibiscus
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Pages: 310
Date of Publication: 2006
Publisher: Farafina
Reviewer: Olutayo Irantiola
The novel is quite an interesting
long piece that is predominantly about a family and their relatives. As it is
known, Africans are predominantly communal in nature. The narration technique
was in the first person; this was done by Kambili; a teenager who was visible
throughout the story. She relays the story of all that happened in her family to
us.
There are certain things that
strike one in the novel. Readers would encounter the world of the Catholic adherents
in the novel. Specific mentions of the Mass and other related items of worship
include- Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday Mass, Holy Water, Novenas, Credo and Kyrie,
Offertory songs, Catholic hymnals, Christmas Day Mass, The Catholic version of
the Bible with Deuterocanonical books, Our Father, Hail Mary, the Glory be, the
Apostles’ Creed. Others are Apparitions, Eucharist fast, feast of Epiphany, Celebration
of the Passion of Christ, Stations of the Cross, 15 decades of the rosary and
confirmation. All these attest to the deep understanding of Catholicism by the narrator.
