Purple Hibiscus (English title) Add a review

Purple Hibiscus is the first novel by the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It portrays Kambili Achike, a 15 year old Nigerian teenage girl who struggles in the shadow of her father, Eugene. Eugene is a successful businessman, a beloved philanthropist, and a devout Catholic, who nevertheless violently abuses his family. A post-colonial novel, it received positive reviews upon publication. The novel was published in the United States on 30 October 2003, by Algonquin Books. A year later, Fourth Estate published the book in the United Kingdom and in 2006, Kachifo Limited published it in Nigeria.

While the novel dealt with the serious issues of religious fanaticism and follows the colonial effect on Nigeria also depicted in Achebe's Things Fall Apart, the novel is renowned for its stylic and thematic structure; the author's interweaving of both Igbo and English, and scene description to convey characterizations and action, demonstrates her as one of the third generation of Nigerian writers. Kambili Achike, the narrator has been described as a shy teenager yet depicted the moral hero while Aunty Ifeoma was seen as the feministic voice. The literary critic and editor Otosirieze Obi-Young explains, "Given its prominence on school curricula, Purple Hibiscus is perhaps Adichie’s most read book in Nigeria—and the most pirated." As Bildungsroman: the characters psychological and moral growth from childhood to adulthood changes, particularly as seen in Kambili and Jaja's tough life in Eugene's house and later freedom in Aunty Ifeoma's house, the primary themes of Purple Hibiscus involve family life, social interactions, interpersonal relationships, influences, leadership, betrayal and cruelty. Scholars have noted that Adichie also addresses issues of religious hypocrisy, pretence and the Christian life in a contemporary Nigerian and African society.

Reactions to the novel are widely positive. After publication, the novel won several awards including the 2004 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Best Debut Fiction and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book in 2005. In 2004, it was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and longlisted for the Booker Prize. From 2011 to 2015, the West African Examination Council (WAEC) included the novel in her syllabus, along A Woman in Her Prime by Asare Konadu. Purple Hibiscus was Adichie’s third published work after Decisions (1997) and For the Love of Biafra (1998); both were her early written works. Adichie continued exploring the themes of aftermath of the Nigerian Civil War and feminism in her other works.