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The Thing Around Your Neck

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Start date: September 1, 2018

Finish date: September 29, 2018

Discussion: Author's Pick

Why we're reading this: September Author Pick: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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What Members Thought

Mar 29, 2017 Puck rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: people-of-colour, adult, short-fiction

Wow, what a beautiful collection of short stories! This was my first book by the praised Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and now I can understand why so many people have fallen in love with her writing. Her style is so mesmerizing and touching that you’ll have no problem getting attached to her characters, no matter how flawed these people might be or how different their lives are from yours.

“I was happy when I saw your picture,” he said, smacking his lips. “You were light-skinned. I had to think Wow, what a beautiful collection of short stories! This was my first book by the praised Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and now I can understand why so many people have fallen in love with her writing. Her style is so mesmerizing and touching that you’ll have no problem getting attached to her characters, no matter how flawed these people might be or how different their lives are from yours.

“I was happy when I saw your picture,” he said, smacking his lips. “You were light-skinned. I had to think about my children’s looks. Light-skinned blacks fare better in America.”

In The Thing Around Your Neck you’ll find 12 short stories written by Adichie over the past few years that are often centered around the same topics. Immigration, racism, oppression, the consequences of colonialism in Nigeria (and other African countries), the patriarchy, and sexuality are the most common. Adichie’s characters struggle with these topics in their lives, and while not all of them get a happy ending, there is always a sort of silver lining present.

“He said you were wrong to call him self-righteous. You said he was wrong to call only the poor Indians in Bombay the real Indians. Did it mean he wasn’t a real American, since he was not like the poor fat people you and he had seen in Hartford?”

Among my favorites are “Imitation”, “A Private Experience”, “On Monday of Last Week”, “Jumping Monkey Hill”, and “The American Embassy.” Especially “The Thing Around Your Neck” and “The Headstrong Historian” felt very personal, like they were based on Adichie’s own life experience. They tell the story of how white supremacy affected the lives of Africans – whether they are an native African or living in America – and how hard it is to find pride in yourself and your culture while people constantly try to tear it down.

So if you, like me, want to get introduced to Adichie’s writing, or if you want to read a captivating short-stories collection that tackles sensitive topics in a beautiful way, than you should definitely pick this book up. I now can’t wait to read more from Adichie in the future.

“Are you writing about your father?" the Kenyan asked and Ujunwa answered with an empathic NO because she had never believed in fiction as therapy. The Tanzanian told her that all fiction was therapy, some sort of therapy, no matter what anybody said.” ...more

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