Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I really liked this book. It was an "emergency" purchase at a closing bookstore and I lucked out.

The story follows a family in Nigeria in the 1960's. It alternates between the early part of the decade, filled with affluence and culture, and the later years, filled with civil war. There are many well-developed characters from different classes that make the story a full picture of the time period from many points of view.

Uniquely, each chapter read like a short story although the book had a strong narrative linking the individual episodes. I really liked this especially at the beginning of the book because it gave me a self-contained set of events to think about each night.

I also appreciated learning about Nigeria. Looking back at my booklists, the majority of African writing I've read has been set in Zimbabwe. While there were certain themes present in this book that were familiar to other books - treatment of ethnic minorities, existence during war time, ordinary people surviving great trials - there was also a great deal of information on Nigerian history that I didn't know. Some of the characters in the book were involved in the creation of Biafra, a short-lived independent nation that seceded from Nigeria. I had never learned about that.

I think this is my favorite thing that I've read this year so far.