Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Since I loved Americanah, I wanted to read more of Adichie's works. I checked out a couple of her books, and Purple Hibiscus was the next shortest one I had left, so I started it (sometimes my motivation is low so I reach for the shortest possible book I can). And once I got into it, I couldn't put it down and breezed through it in two nights. I think part of it was the car crash aspect of it--I couldn't look away from the horror story of Kambili and her abusive father and how she and her brother were treated for so long. But Adichie also wrote with such poetry about their lives and the good and bad parts and what they began to learn after they went to stay with their aunt in another town. I loved the character development and the slow shift in how they grew over the book. And again, just like in Americanah, I loved this look into the culture and world of another country. And it clearly wasn't written by an outsider looking in, who is secretly explaining to you what each non-English term means and describing things in a way that a visitor might see them. Nothing is handed to you, none of the foods are described for an American and the places are explained for someone who lives there. I love how authentic Adichie's writing is. This was such an amazing book and an engrossing story--even though it was dark and hopeless at times, because I felt like it was going to end well. And it did. (I'm not sure why this book was shelved in the "romance" section--there was a little bit of a crush in the middle of it but it was definitely not a romance.)