Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Confession: I cried reading this novel.

The story revolves around a fanatically religious father, who is well-respected in society but is willing to do unspeakable inside home just because of his belief.

This is a story as narrated by a young girl, Kambili, who is stifled by fear and authority, but begins to understand about love and freedom after she spends time with her Aunt’s family and meets her strong, outspoken and free-spirited cousins.

Nigeria portrayed under the military regime by Chimamanda seems so much familiar. The load-shedding, fuel crisis, water shortage, protests, etc., we Nepalese have lived through it all and a lot of these descriptions of Africa are so very relatable. Jaja, Kimbili’s brother and his love for the family and his need to protect them is beautifully revealed and let’s not forget about Kimbili’s mother.

Chima will slowly and steadily reveal the readers how love makes us do things, things we’d not do otherwise. Chima exposes it just as a matter-of-fact.

I started to read last year but forgot all about it. When I picked it up this year, I finished this book in two sittings. It is worth a read.

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Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Murakami always does this. He leaves us with many unanswered questions in his books. I really wanted to love this book, but I didn’t (not as much).

He tries to bring in his magical thing, parallel universe, and surreal realism (which feels very mandatory) into this book and while he does this in excess in most of his books, here, he barely scratches the surface, but it still feels forced and untidy!

I knocked my head hard as to understand what significance the story of a man who would die in a month unless he found someone else to die in his place had in this story. Just because he plays piano as beautifully as Shiro, sees people’s color (were we to draw something out of it?). And then Murakami touches the magical parallel universe part (barely) where he perhaps wants the readers to pencil out a link between Tazaki’s sexual dreams to Shiro’s actual rape and murder? The most annoying part is the reason behind “Tazaki and his four friends’ magical group” split. Shiro says she was raped by Tazaki but wait it was a lie and while Tazaki’s friends knew he could never rape her they still went along anyway kicking Tazaki out of the group and not talking to him over a decade? This plot felt so weak; I didn’t buy it. At the end questions still are left hanging, who raped Shiro and who killed her? And what about Tazaki’s friend Haida who simply vanishes? What will become of Sara and Tazaki?

Colorless Tsukuru Tzaki is a pitiable guy full of self-doubt and little confidence. He loves to self-loathe and doesn’t see his own capabilities and qualities as others do. Ultimately, Tsukuru buckles up towards the end of the story (I think) and is ready to fight for what he wants and is accepting of whatever the result might be.

“Not everything was lost in the flow of time.”


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