chloe’s Reviews > Purple Hibiscus > Status Update
chloe
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i love chimamanda and this being her 3rd book i’ve read of hers: what i really love is the way that she fleshes out characters who are human and must themselves contend with the blatant contradictions that are apparent as a result of british colonialism in nigeria— race, gender, sexuality, violence, religion etc. the one thing that i do find myself wanting is that same exploration of class and wealth (p1)
— May 16, 2026 11:18AM
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chloe
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May 16, 2026 11:23AM
wealth and power are all a given for the main characters, and at times i felt the stories were almost disinterested in exploring that further, especially in a critical way, even when there are significant characters who don’t come from that background. for example in purple hibiscus, the only times the main families’ major wealth is really mentioned when the father is described as being incredibly generous mc is misjudged as thinking she’s better than everyone else, or that she doesn’t have any problems because of her wealth
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one the one hand i don’t expect writers to necessarily try to weite about experiences they don’t have, especially not in the name of DEI, it does feel like a blindspot considering how sharply she writes about other political realities, and how blatantly visible the contradiction of wealth is in her books and in the dynamics of her characters
another example being ugwu from half a yellow sun who is a main character and starts as a child domestic worker of the other main characters and becomes kind of part of the family(?). the book is partially in his pov, yet we get no exploration of this very obvious class and wealth divide at all, just an arguably paternalistic relationship in which ugwu regards his master with admiration and gratefulness for having educated him and taking him away from his village
