I haven’t read much fiction lately. Two books stand out: Метро 2033, a Russian science fiction book by Glukhovsky, and Half of a Yellow sun, by Nigerian Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The first book was entertaining. The author has a good command of his language. Anyone who has been to the underground in Moscow or Saint Petersburg will see those places differently after reading this novel.  Still, I had some issues with the feasibility of the  demographics portrayed there. Even if it just a science fiction – or rather a fantastic fiction book, I kept thinking about how realistic it was they would keep such dynamics and that within the area of Moscow’s underground.

I like Adichie’s book much more. It was for me a revelation. There was romance but it was not kitsch. There was a lot of stuff I learnt about Nigeria’s XX century and about the main ethnic groups there. It is, of course, only one instance of an Igbo version. Still, I think Adichie tried to do justice to the different groups.

The book whetted my appetite for more Nigerian literature.