Thursday, October 16, 2014

Saturday Samplers to Discuss "Purple Hibiscus"

Bernardsville Library’s book group, Saturday Samplers, will meet Saturday, November 1 at 3:30 pm to discuss “Purple Hibiscus” (2003) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. [The author will not be present.]

The book, a novel, tells the story of Kambili and her brother who are sent to live with an aunt when Nigeria begins to fall apart under a military coup. There, the siblings discover a life and love beyond the confines of their father’s authority. The visit lifts the silence from their world and, in time, gives rise to devotion and defiance that reveal themselves in profound and unexpected ways. The promise of freedom; the blurred lines between childhood and adulthood; between love and hatred, between the old gods and the new, are all themes of the book.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian-American author. Her best known novels are “Purple Hibiscus” (2003), “Half of a Yellow Sun” (2006), and “Americanah” (2013). Born in Enugu, Nigeria to Igbo parents, she is the fifth of six children. She studied medicine and pharmacy at the University of Nigeria for a year and a half, but then, at nineteen, she left for the U.S. to study communication at Drexel University in Philadelphia and then went on to pursue a degree in communication and political science at Eastern Connecticut State University. Chimamanda graduated summa cum laude from Eastern in 2001, and then completed a master's degree in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. It was during her senior year at Eastern that she started working on her first novel, “Purple Hibiscus” which was published in October 2003. She was a Hodder fellow at Princeton University during the 2005-2006 academic year and earned an MA in African Studies from Yale University in 2008.

Led by Program/PR Assistant Evelyn Fischel, Saturday Samplers is a book discussion group dedicated to sampling various kinds of literature, including short stories, nonfiction, new and old novels, and even teen fiction. Its goal is to search out interesting, noteworthy, and sometimes overlooked books. Readers can find information about the group and about the books and authors on the reading list at http://saturdaysamplers.blogspot.com. No sign-up is needed to join the discussion.  Call the library at 766-0118 for more information.

No comments:

Post a Comment