A look into The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A review of my January read.

My first read of 2021 is one I started reading last year but never finished — I’m a serial book starter. The book belonged to my sister and she has great taste in Nigerian literature so I decided to give it a try.

A quick introduction to the book. It’s made up of 12 short stories detailing the experience of native Nigerians. The book explores sexuality, marriage, love, loss, jealousy, identity, and much more. Each chapter is well written and leaves you wanting more.

This is not a literary analysis of the book but rather my thoughts, favorite chapters, and chapters that left an impression.

My favorite chapter was the last one “The Headstrong Historian”, this chapter is set during the period the British colonised Nigeria. It is from the perspective of a mother (Nwamgba) who is torn between wanting her only son to follow their traditions and wanting him to attend a catholic school to learn English and the ways of the white man as he believes it’ll give him a better chance in life. She describes how her son who once disliked attending catholic school and learning about Christianity now stopped eating her food because “it was sacrificed to idols”. He began to notice her nakedness and wanted her to tie her wrapper (cloth) around her breasts. Nwamgba’s struggle is the reality a lot of us can understand and empathise with. Her wanting her son to become more educated with things to do with the white man resulted in him losing part of his identity and creating a disconnect.

Although her case is raw and more extreme due to the time it was set in, the underlining issues prevail in the world we live in now. In the context of being “black British”, is it possible to truly balance allowing your children to be immersed with the British culture but also keep their African/Caribbean heritage alive. As a parent you’ll want your kids to have the best opportunity in life but how much of their ancestral heritage will be sacrificed whilst doing so?

A chapter that I found interesting was “Tomorrow is too far” which was from the perspective of a girl who not only watched but was responsible for the death of her brother. This chapter explores jealousy, particularly in a young child. The girl, whose name we never learn, yearns for her mother to leave her room laughing the way she does when she leaves her brother’s room. During a visit to Nigeria, she cries out that there’s a snake as her brother climbs a tree to which he is alarmed and falls down cracking his head. She had only hoped that he would break a bone so he would be less abled than her even if for a short time but she doesn’t get her desired outcome. As a young child, it’s not expected of her to fully grasp the possibility of his death from her actions, quite simply she didn’t consider the possibility that her actions would lead to his death. After his death she naively believes that her mother would finally leave her room with the same laughter she did with her brother but she never does. She then lies and purposefully shifts the blame to her grandmother saying that “grandmama just stood there and shouted at his broken body until he died”.

As a reader I do not feel sorry for her but rather disgust as although she appears remorseful at the end of the chapter as she cries at the place of her brother’s death on her return to Nigeria many years later she still manages to make the situation about herself and her pain, but what about her brother’s pain. Her self centered behavior makes it hard to feel pity towards her.

All in all each chapter is beautifully written taking the reader through a short journey. Notably, every chapter except one is from the perspective of a woman. Many of the stories detail the experience of a woman moving to America and how they navigate their new surroundings and the relationships they have with the men in their lives.

Finishing the book made me want to read more about Nigeria’s history from the Biafran war to the colonisation of the British. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and recommend it to anyone that is not only interested in Nigerian literature and experiences but also for anyone that enjoys short stories packed with meaning.

Thank you for reading and see you next month!

Similar books to read:

Half of A Yellow Sun — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Songs of Lawino — Okot p’Bitek