Purple hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

So far purple hibiscus is grabbing my attention. It starts off telling the story of a 15 year old girl going to church and her brother seems to be no where in sight. She looks around and sees how her father looks blank, as he usually does when he is in the presence of others. When they get home the father expresses how upset he is with her brother not through his words but through his actions. The father, papa as he is called by Kambili, throws a missal which is a book for church at jaja. He misses him and hits the ceramic figurines that the mother cherishes and doesn't seem to care that he destroyed them. As I read further into the book I see that the father is violent and is sneaky about it, not letting the people outside of the house find out how he really is. He wins awards for being so good and involved in the church but to me, he doesn't deserve them. He is one of those people that think all you have to do to get into heaven is be involved in church and your actions don't reflect you. I see a theme of religion and belief reoccurring throughout the chapters and this is causing problems within the community and the family as well. Many disagreements take place along with other problems outside of religion. There is corruption in the world going on around this family that they can't do anything to stop. Kambili talks about the flowers and how they give off the scent of freedom, symbolizing that the family is learning and going in opposite ways. She asks her mother one night if she plans on replacing the figurines that papa has destroyed and she says no, almost showing me that she has given up with trying to stop papa from being violent. Jaja on the other hand speaks up about it and won't allow himself to obey a man that doesn't respect him.