Half of a Yellow Sun

Nigeria undergoes a revolutionary schism and the republic of Biafra is created. This books tells the story of Biafra through the lens of a group of unlikely companions; the house-boy, the professor's mistress, and the Englishman who turns his back on the colonisers but will never fully understand Africa. I never quite got into this, I felt it wanted to teach the reader, more than tell a story. Maybe I'm just an Englishman who will never fully understand Africa, though.

4.5 stars. Everyone told me this book would wreck me, and it did, but not in an obvious tearjerker way. Half of a Yellow Sun starts with the mundane but swells into action with uprisings, war, and turmoil that affects the characters you've developed attachments to during the mundane chapters. The book has a cinematic quality to it that makes sense, knowing it was later adapted for film.