Purple Hibiscus

I love my in-laws.
I really loved them from the beginning... and all along the way... but Friday I especially loved them.
Friday I received a box with 9 novels!!
This is quite possibly like sending a suffocating person oxygen.
I love to read and the summer is really the only time I get to read fiction or anything of my choice. I don't really know what to read since I've read almost all the classics and that's where the in-laws are especially special. They own Logos Book Store in Dallas (go check it out and buy something) and they are always loaning me and giving me cool books to read. Drew's dad with his sly grin has stretched my mind and my heart with many of the books and authors he has given me to read over the past couple of years. His mom, full of joy and spirit at all times, gives me books of heart and soul that usually lock me in from the start. Not only have they ordered many a school book but in the summer they load me up with lots of interesting things. Everything I've read from The Shack to Purple Hibiscus this summer has been from their hand or recommendation.
That brings me to this book... The Purple Hibiscus.
It is written by a Nigerian woman who is currently living in the US. The story is well written and the author has a wonderful way with words that bring out such a vivid picture with out giving you everything. There are so many great inferences included in even the smallest ways that just make my brain so happy. Her writing flows smoothly and the story is very intense. I finished this 300+ page book within 24 hours of receiving the box.
The story is sad and doesn't have the happiest of endings but is very realistic about how life actually turns out. It is interesting in the religious realm being very anti and very pro Catholic all at the same time. The book fits nicely between The Poisonwood Bible and The Secret Life of Bees (the former being a personal favorite and the latter being one of my mother-in-law's favorites).
I shed a few tears but nothing too intense. I had a lot of moments where I wanted to yank on the characters and tell them to say something or do something very different from what they continued to do. But that is what a good book does, right?
It is also interesting because it has Nigerian history built in, which is always interesting to me. Pick it up if you have free time to read.... but if not you can just contact me and I'll give you the recap.
Now I'm on to some Wendell Berry, who gives my mind goose-bumps... he is so well written!