I was disappointed in this novel. The characters were half-formed throughout the work, with pithy drama and a lot of focus on sex. I’m not one to say sex doesn’t have a place in narrative, but it was excessive in relation to how little these characters were actually developed. Thus, the criss-crossing affairs, sexual fantasies and surprise pregnancies were not really what I was hoping for from this novel. True, Chimamanda does write about the war, but her perspectives are primarily those of the rich - university lecturers, upper class women, and a white expatriate. There are some solid scenes in the book, but overall their perspective on the war and its toll was same-y and trite. Adichie seemed unable to articulate anything of note about the war or its effects through these characters; attempts throughout the book came out in rather sloppy, expositional dialogue of political treatises that felt unnatural and lacking any real nuance or heft.

For all the plot that occurs in this book, not much is done with it; things happen, and our main characters think about them, but its not anything transformative or insightful to me. The two best characters are Kainene and Ugwu, the former of whom is not actually a narrator at any point in the story. Ugwu, who does take the narrative role at times, has the most interesting perspective on the story events as he has the most transformations, from servant boy to educational protege to soldier to survivor. Still, it seems Adichie flounders in trying to actually access the marrow of the events he witnesses or takes part in and their repercussions. Everything seems to sink just a few meters below the surface at best, and I almost tossed this book out multiple times because of it. I really hoped for better from this work, but perhaps Chimamanda is just not the author for me.