Olanna
Half of a Yellow Sun is a 2006 novel by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Set in Nigeria in the 1960s, the story follows Ugwu, a teenage houseboy who has moved from his village to work in a university town; his master Odenigbo, a mathematics professor with revolutionary views; and Olanna, with whom Odenigbo is in love, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy Nigerian man. When the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970) breaks out, their lives are thrown into anarchy.
As a Bildungsroman, the primary themes are loyalty, betrayal, and conflict. Scholars note that Adichie narrates a love story that includes characters from the different regions and social classes of Nigeria, and how the war and encounters with refugees affected and changed them. Reactions to the novel varied upon publication were largely positive, with praise for the novel's characters and its depiction of the Biafran War, although some literary critics questioned the effectiveness of the narrative's pace. Half of a Yellow Sun won the 2007 Women's Prize for Fiction and was adapted into a film of the same name in 2013 by Biyi Bandele, and produced by Gail Egan and Andrea Calderwood.
In 2022, the novel was banned in the American school districts of Michigan, Florida, South Carolina, and Utah, citing its sexual and violent imagery.
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