#260 The Headstrong Historian- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

#260 The Headstrong Historian- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Sadly, this is the last of Adichie’s amazing The Thing Around Your Neck. I enjoyed this collection immensely.

In Onicha, Nigeria tribal life is hard. After Nwambgas husband dies (possibly killed by jealous cousins) she has little protection from those that would take what is hers. She sees salvation in the power of the white missionaries and sends her only son with them to learn English and the Western cultures so he wouldn’t have to suffer as she has.

She gets her wish. Her son is well on his way from rising above tribal life, but that causes different concerns for Nwamgba.

“Her pride turned into vague worry when she noticed that the curiosity in his eyes had diminished. There was a new ponderousness in him, as if he had suddenly found himself bearing the weight of a too heavy world.”

The more he learns about the world, the less he is attached to his heritage: “Nwamgba knew that her son now inhabited a mental space that was foreign to her.”

As generations grow, their culture becomes more hidden in more practical things like school, clothing, commerce. And yet, even those the farthest removed from the old world, reach out the hardest for even a handful of that richness.

Notable Passage: “People ruled over others, not because they were better people, but because they had better guns.”

Rating: 7-8-7-7 Total= 29

#218 The Arrangers of Marriage- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

#218 The Arrangers of Marriage- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A young Nigerian woman has just married. It was an arranged marriage to a Nigerian man who has lived in America for many years. When they arrive in her new Brooklyn home, she is surprised at the reality of her new life. And she is surprised at her husbands need to Americanize her.

“You don’t understand how it works in this country. If you want to get anywhere you have to be as mainstream as possible. If not, you will be left by the roadside.”

“Look at the people who shop here; they are the ones who immigrate and continue to act as if they are back in their countries…They will never move forward unless they adapt to America. They will always be doomed to supermarkets like this.”

Even their names are changed. Chinanza Okafor becomes Agatha Bell, and Ofodile Emeka Udenwa becomes Dave Bell. Although she finds it strange that in her building is a young woman that after visiting Tanzania decided to rename herself from her African roots: “A black American had chosen as African, name while my husband made me change mine to an English one.”

Culture shock, entitlement, independence, cultural value…all themes found in this entire collection.

Notable Passage: lacking in dignity, about this place, this open space of too many tables and too much food.”

Rating: 8-8-8-8 Total=32

#197 The Shivering- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

#197 The Shivering- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

It is a horrible day in Nigeria. The first lady has died and a plane has crashed killing everyone aboard. In Princeton two Nigerian strangers living in the same building are drawn together to pray.

They develop the type of relationship that only disaster can create, together tentative and deeply meaningful. Ukamaka’s ex-boyfriend was supposed to be on the plane but missed his flight. She talks about him a lot.

“How can you love somebody and yet want to manage the amount of happiness that person is allowed?”

Chinedu is a very religious person who is open about his faith but protective and closed-off about everything else.

“Everybody has a crisis of faith. It’s normal.”

Their relationship gets strained over the weeks they know each other. Despite there obvious connection as foreigners living in a strange country, they have little else in common. She is academic, he’s a construction worker, he’s Pentecostal, she’s catholic. How deep do national connections go? Time will tell.

Rating: 8-7-8-8 Total=31

#115 The American Embassy- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

#115 The American Embassy- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

We are waiting in a line at the American Embassy. This line is for Visa applicants. The narrator is a woman, injured and distraught. She hurt herself jumping from her balcony to escape two armed government agents. They came to look for her husband , but not finding him ended up shooting her 4-year old son.

Now , she is waiting in this line to leave her home for good. Her husband is a pro-democracy journalist who feld a few weeks before. He writes for the New Nigeria, a progressive paper, who’s anti-government stance has caused his arrest many times.

“He fights repression with his pen, he gives a voice to the voiceless, he makes the world know.” A recent article about General Abacha’s history of abuse seems to have been the last straw, and the next arrest will likely be a permanent situation.

After burying her son, she is waiting on this line, but she doesn’t want to share her sons death with the American Embassy interviewer, afraid that when she does she will be called a liar. She is not ready to face that harsh rejection, she is not ready to leave the place where her son has died.

Notable Passage: “See how the people are pleading with the soldiers…Our people have become too used to pleading with soldiers.”

Rating: 8-8-8-9 Total= 33

#83 The Thing Around Your Neck- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

#83 The Thing Around Your Neck- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The title story to this great collection ties together all the themes we’ve seen throughout the book—The difficult, dangerous, tricky road of moving across the world to a radically different culture.

Akunna, a character we’ve seen before, has won an American visa lottery, moved to the northeast to live with  a family friend and strikes out to make it in this strange place. “The trick was to understand America, to know that America was give-and-take. You gave up a lot, but you gained a lot too.”

Her ideas about America were skewed: “You thought everyone in America had a car and a gun.”

But then again not as skewed as what American’s thought of her “…a mixture of ignorance and arrogance.”

Her dealings with this ran the gamut from inane comments about her hair, to the too-painful-not-to-be-true story of someone saying he liked her because her name reminded him of the song from the Lion King…hakuna matata.

All of this led her to stress and worry: “At night something would wrap itself around your neck, something that very nearly choked you before you fell asleep.” She didn’t contact her family (although she dutifully sent them money each month) because she was confused about her new life, her old life and how it all comes together.

She struggles with her relationship with a seemingly nice and bright man because she looks to find fault in his genuine nature, to find condescension in his opinions whether there or not. She struggles with her resentment of his privilege. As she finds balance between her two cultures, that thing around her neck loosens.

Rating: 8-8-9-8 Total= 33