Adichie: The Thing around Your Neck | (CL) first read: Aug 2012

[Marieke]

Better late than never! Here's our August discussion thread... :D

[Friederike]

Just to kick things off...
I read (and reviewed) this a while back and liked the collection very much. I am not a natural short story reader and still prefer Adichie's novels... still, she captures the diverse experiences of her characters very well indeed.

[Marieke]

I'm not much of a short story reader either, but I loved both of her novels. I think this selection could actually generate some very good discussion to I am going to make my best effort to read most, if not all, of the stories. I just requested it from the collection at work so hopefully I'll have it in hand this afternoon. :)

[Beverly]

I too am not much of a short story reader but like her novels so much - I believe I have the book of ss sitting on some bookshelf :)
I have find that I too better with ss collections if I read one ss per night instead of trying to read the book straight through.

[Marieke]

i decided to read a story each lunch break...i actually got the book late in teh morning so i was able to start today, but i couldn't finish the first story because it began to rain. :(

but i am enjoying the story...it starts out simple and gets more complex. it definitely drew me in.

[[deleted user]]

Just downloaded it and will read it next.

[[deleted user]]

I've read the first 3 stories. The general subjects are familiar from Half of a Yellow Sun and other novels/accounts from the region, but told in an effectively wrenching style.

[Beverly]

I also have finished the first 3 stories (reading one a night). While short stories collections are not a fav genre, I am learning to appreciate short stories more. I enjoy Adichie's writing style.
Of the first three stories - I enjoyed A Private Experience the most. What I liked about this story that is many ways it is describing a specific experience but it is also universal in nature. The issue that this particular incident was "supposedly" set off by an affort to the Muslim religion by a Christian man. To me this so universal that religious values and beliefs are often what riles people up to take stands and it the cause of so much discrimination in the world. I also ejoy Adichie's female characters, especially those that are often in a more privileged position, and how they are aware and also not aware at the same time. Lastly I enjoyed the humanity shown between Chika and the Muslim woman at a crisis moment. They exchanged their fears but not their names. I wondered if the same humanity would have been shown if it was two males in the same situation or even if it had been Ckika's sister Nnedi with the Muslim woman.

[[deleted user]]

It wasn't clear to me how the copy of the Quran wound up in the road in the first place. I thought there was some parallelism between Chika's sense of displacement--there's an error; this event isn't supposed to be part of my life--and the Quran being somewhere it wasn't intended to be, with devastating consequences.

[Beverly]

Osho wrote: "It wasn't clear to me how the copy of the Quran wound up in the road in the first place. I thought there was some parallelism between Chika's sense of displacement--there's an error; this event isn..."

That is a good parallelism and I did not think of it from that aspect. Yes, both the Quran and Chika was someplace that either should be and it caused devasting consequences.

Actually I though the Quran placement was planned, like the killing of the Christian driver who "supposedly" ran over the Quran. And even thought that was the rumor that spread to justify the killing and to incite the riot for the crowd to go again on a killing spree. I know this is pessismistic thought but a few riling up many to do dire consequences happens when trying to divide people.

[Melanie]

Just requested from the library :) Hoping to catch up with you all in a couple days.

[Marieke]

Yay! I'm also a little behind...I only read the first story so far. But hopefully I'll get enough of a break at lunchtime to read the second one. I'm excited to see the story the Sho and Beverly have been discussing.

[Beverly]

I know many have not read the stories yet - but I will comment on the stories as I read them - so I will not forget my thoughts.

The second story - Imitation.
After reading this story - I thought what would I do/have done if I was Nkem.
And I know my reaction is through my American eyes.

I thought that Nkem was unhappy before her "friend" shared the news regarding her husband. I also thought why she should be surprised as she snagged a rich "Big Man" by going out with married Men and knew and understood the rules.

I think that I would have looked out for my own best interest and my children's best interest. So I would have stayed in American and figure out how to have my own identity and figure out what to do to support myself. I would would stay in the US for my children so hopefully my daughter would not end in a situation like myself and my son would not follow his father's example.
I would be concerned if I went back to Nigeria - husband would divorce me and I would be out in the street and the father would not support my kids.
I understand that Nkem missed home and her support system.

[Beverly]

1st story - Cell One.
I read it and understood what it was saying - but at the end I said ok and moved on to the next story.

What reactions did you have after reading this story.

[Marieke]

Beverly, I think it's great if you share your thoughts as you go. It also helps develop discussion points for later when more people have read the stories.

[Marieke]

Beverly wrote: "1st story - Cell One.
I read it and understood what it was saying - but at the end I said ok and moved on to the next story.

What reactions did you have after reading this story."

For me, three things come to mind:

I was interested in the power balances and how the police related to the university families. There seems to be no respect on either side, so how can a justice system function?

Not being Nigerian, I'm very curious about the cult episode...that is a real thing? Is this like gangs, but among university students?

And I'm curious about the choice of narrator, using the sister to tell the story from the outside rather than the brother. I can't decide if it is a more or less powerful story. I liked the ambiguity it created, but I think the same might have been achieved with the brother as an unreliable narrator.

But now I'm ready for the next story! :)

[Beverly]

Marieke wrote: "Beverly wrote: "1st story - Cell One.
I read it and understood what it was saying - but at the end I said ok and moved on to the next story.

What reactions did you have after reading this story."
..."
Yes, part of the issue is the "justice" system which is based more power and money and what you can get away with. It seemed very natural and expected that money would buy you privilages (at least on the minor/local level). But there was no guarantee of anything and really no recourse. The guards/soldiers at the checkpoint all expected to be bribed and get respect - otherwise they could be very dangerous. And all of this was okay until their superviors got called by someone higher up.

I too was curious why it was told by the sister. I thought it was to give a broader picture to the situation/issues and to allow for the ambiguity as you noted. If the brother was the narrator then I think the story would have been more narrow and slanted and a little more political. So I guess with the sister telling the story it is less political and more about how people were affected by the political conflicts and how they went about their everyday lives to try to be safe and protect their family.

[Yejide]

Marieke:

With regards to the cult business, they were present while I was in the university and from what I hear from folks at home, they've only gotten worse.

Initially, the fraternities (cults) started out like those in North America but grew into deadly occult/ mafia-like gangs. Some students have to pay for protection and girls find themselves scared into relationships with cult members.

Because they also moonlight as thugs/assassins for those in power (politicians et al), the feeble attempts to eradicate them from universities has been unsuccessful.

By the time I left university, there were all-female cults as well, terrorizing female students. I hear junior versions are now found in high schools. Even after the cult members graduate, they continue to offer their patronage to the new students. Clashes between rival cults are usually deadly.

Hope this gives you some background :)

[Marieke]

Wow. So this is different but similar to Area Boys? I had never heard about these frat-cults...

[[deleted user]]

Marieke: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confrate...

[Marieke]

Thanks for posting that, sho...I don't think I would have known the technical term (unless maybe I hunted around).

[Friederike]

Beverly, your notes are a good refresher for me. I will get out the book again and reread some passages.

We mentioned some while back Chimamanda's TED talk "Danger of the single story". If you or anybody else has not watched/read it I recommend it highly. It does speak to the different cultural frameworks we have each of us.
http://blog.ted.com/2009/10/07/the_da...

[Beverly]

Thanks for all on sharing the information regarding the campus cults. Interesting but terrifying, especially since it was mentioned it is happening in high school and I would imagine that it will go down to the lower levels.

[Fela]

i read this book a while ago, this woman is amazing.

Enjoy.

[William]

I started by reading two stories mentioned by others. In "Cell One," I was stopped by this passage:

"Nnamabie was staring at his yellow-orange rice as he spoke, and when he looked up I saw my brother's eyes fill with tears--my worldly brother--and I felt a tenderness for him that I could not have explained had I been asked to."

There was something upsetting in this. Not the notion of a wordsmith at a loss for words, because the narrator may not be the author. But something related: the feeling that either one has had such an experience, in which case no words of explanation are necessary, or one has not, in which case no words are sufficient.

Then I read "A Private Experience," and, at the end of it, I sat back, looked at Chika, and "felt a tenderness for [her] that I could not have explained had I been asked to." A wonderful experience.

[Marieke]

You've inspired me to keep better track of passages that are especially...impactful? What's the word I'm looking for?

Yesterday I read "a private experience" and now I'm going to read "ghosts."

Strangely so far I think I have liked the second story best so far.

[Marieke]

Well, i'm doing a lousy job writing down quotes but I am really surprised at myself because of how much I'm enjoying this. I usually have a really difficult time with short stories but over the course of this week I have looked forward everyday to the next story to find out what chimamanda writes next! She really does pack her writing with a punch.

[Beverly]

Marieke wrote: "Well, i'm doing a lousy job writing down quotes but I am really surprised at myself because of how much I'm enjoying this. I usually have a really difficult time with short stories but over the cou..."

Yes, her prose draws you into the story. I too have been forgetting to jot down the quotes I am enjoying and will try to do a better job. :)

And agree reading one story a tell is a good way to get through a short story collection.

[Beverly]

I enjoyed Ghosts (story #4) and how the author merged old beliefs with the intellect to tell the story/history of what happened in during Biafra War - why some left and why they came back.

Also touched on corruption again - and how painful to work and think you are earning a pension - but then there is none.

[Beverly]

Jumping Monkey Hill (story #6) is a favorite. Thought that this illustrated the "danger of the single story" and the need to fight against what others consider the "authentic" story of your experience.

[Marieke]

Beverly wrote: "Jumping Monkey Hill (story #6) is a favorite. Thought that this illustrated the "danger of the single story" and the need to fight against what others consider the "authentic" story of your experie..."

I just read that one!! I also loved it. I brought my book home for the weekend so maybe I can go back and pull some things out that made impressions on me.

[Beverly]

I am about 1/2 through the short story collection (reading one a day).
I am enjoying these tidbits of wonderful writing but of course wanted to read more about the characters, situations, etc. I do prefer novels over short stories. But also like the direction of her writing in these stories - more universal, looking at the middle class in both Nigeria and in America, there is some romantic interest in most of the stories, and showing that each person has a story that is unique to them. I think we are seeing some of the issues/situations that she will explore in her upcoming novel.

Here are two links to articles/interviews from about the same time this short story collection was published:

http://www.talkafrique.com/issues/a-y...

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/624d5a28-6c...

[Beverly]

The Thing Around Your Neck (story #7)

I had to smile at the first paragraph - as there is always big expectations put on the person who gets the opportunity to come to America (Canada. UK) and the amount of help you are expected to provide to those back home.

The uncle saying that you have to get use to the Americans who are a mixture of ignorance and arrogrance.

"You wanted to write that rich Americans were thin and poor Americans were fat and that many did not have a big house and car; you still were not sure about the guns, though, because they might have them inside their pockets."

"You wanted to feel disdain, to show it as you brought his order, because white people who liked Africa too much and those who liked Africa too little were the same - condescending."

[Marieke]

Thanks for the links, Beverly! i will look at them later (getting ready to spend the day with family). The Thing Around Your Neck is the next story for me. i really enjoy reading about America from "outsider" perspectives even if sometimes it makes me feel a bit ashamed. :/ lol.

i wish more Americans would read about how others see us, especially how Africans see us. i say especially Africans not just because this is a group about African literature, but because Americans typically know even less than they know about other parts of the world (which is not very much!).

[Melanie]

Beverly, I feel the same way about short stories. I always want more and feel cheated when it ends.

Read the first two stories and am hoping to read a few more tonight. Thank you for the background info on the cults, Yejide and Osho, prior to reading Cell One I had never heard of this before.

[Mahriana]

I don't have time to read all the stories in this month's selection, but I've read a few of them in the past. I really enjoy the humor in "The Thing Around Your Neck."

Beverly picked out two of my favorite quotes in that story - they might be two of my favorite quotes ever. :) I am wondering what people think about Adichie's choice to use the second person in "The Think Around Your Neck," as opposed to the first or third.

I've also read "The Headstrong Historian," which I think is such a creative representation of social and political changes in Nigeria's semi-recent history.

I'm not a short story person either - it's interesting that many of us are not.

[[deleted user]]

The short story is one of my favorite genres.

I thought "you" worked for the two stories where it was used, but only as punctuation to the styles of the other stories. The old Kojak novels were in the second person and were wearying after awhile. Same with, oh, was it Bright Lights, Big City?

[Beverly]

mahriana wrote: "I don't have time to read all the stories in this month's selection, but I've read a few of them in the past. I really enjoy the humor in "The Thing Around Your Neck."

Beverly picked out two of m..."

I liked the second person narrative for the story. It made it more personal for me. And I could see myself in some of the situations and understood what the narrator was talking about.

[Beverly]

Osho wrote: "The short story is one of my favorite genres.

I thought "you" worked for the two stories where it was used, but only as punctuation to the styles of the other stories. The old Kojak novels were in..."

I am learning how to appreciate the short story genre - two of my reader friends enjoy the short story genre and so with their help I am learning. Interesting enough - both of these friends are writers and students of writing.
I think writing good short stories is harder than writing a novel. I also can appreciate how writers use the short story to see/investigate which storylines they might want to expand into a fuller story.

So reading a short story a day (for a short story collecction) seems to work for me.
I have found that if I tried to read one after the other (unless it is connected short stories) that my enjoyment decreases and I tend to focus more on the stories that I did not like - thus giving the book a lower rating.

[[deleted user]]

I agree that it's best not to rush it--much like poetry. Also like poetry, the author or editor put the pieces in a particular order, so there's something to be said for not letting too much time elapse between, and for asking, "Why this story now? How do these relate to each other?"

[William]

Imitation: the story of Bush Girl and Big Man.

She hasn't graduated from university and she still mixes up her English tenses, but this Bush Girl can tell a hawk from a hand saw.

Bush Girl knows that equality of opportunity (a level playing field) is the cornerstone of the America ediface. She relates that America's brand of egalitarianism has forced her into a friendship with the housegirl.

Yet Bush Girl knows that the housegirl is not and never will be her equal. Any notion that they might be equals would be an unstated example of something that Bush Girl finds charming about America, namely, "the abundance of unreasonable hope." She sees the great crack in the American ediface that separates intentions and outcomes.

This crack is mirrored in Bush Girl's marriage to with Big Man. A friend has told Bush Girl of his infidelities. The housegirl, believing that no hope is unreasonable, suggests that Bush Girl should question the motives of this friend, who may not be a true friend. Bush Girl comes to see otherwise. Beyond what the friend intended, Bush Girl herself must make something of the truth she has been forced to learn.

A very sophisticated Bush Girl.

[William]

The inside front flap on the hardback copy I'm reading speaks of Adichie's stories as exploring "the ties that bind men and women, parents and children, Africa and the United States" and that confirm "the prodigious literary powers of one of our most essential writers."

The ties that bind us are legion. Adichie's stories, taken together, throw light on many of those ties from diverse perspectives and are, as I would put it, grist for many mills.

High culture, of which literature is a part, is one of the ties that Adichie examines in her stories. In addition, literature is one of the perspectives from which her stories can be read, one of the mills grinding her stories.

For me, the literary perspective is not the salient one from which to view the ties that Adichie explores. The literary mill doesn't get nearly as much value as is to be had from a more careful grinding of the grain that Adichie has harvested. Her literary powers, prodigious or otherwise, are not the most important ones she brings to her wonderful stories.

[William]

Not that Adichie doesn't have prodigious literary powers. In the final pages of "The Headstrong Historian" she sings a powerful anthem of praise:

It was Grace who would read ...
It was Grace who would laugh ...
It was Grace who would nurse ...
It was Grace ... It was Grace ... It was Grace ....

[Beth]

I didn't make it to this one in August, but I do have it on my Kindle now, so I will probably read it and read what everyone said once I have done that.

[Marieke]

Beth wrote: "I didn't make it to this one in August, but I do have it on my Kindle now, so I will probably read it and read what everyone said once I have done that."

and feel free to post thoughts here!

i'm still planning to go back and have a look at some of the stories again in order to continue the conversation here. :)

[Melanie]

I am still reading it too :)