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abbie_ 's review for:

The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
challenging emotional reflective medium-paced
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Well, I finished my last Adichie (except for Dear Ijeweale but that's so small 😭) and now I'm upset. As usual, it was golden and now I need any hint of news around an upcoming novel - or I'd take another short story collection!
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The Thing Around Your Neck is made up of 12 short stories, musing on life in Nigeria and life in America as an immigrant, or both in the same story. I think out of the 12 there was only one that didn't make much of an impression (Ghosts), all of the others completely swept me up. These aren't short short stories. Sometimes I read shorts that are like 4 pages long, but most of these are around the 20 page mark. Within those 20 pages, Adichie unspools lives that feel so full and real that it could have been a 200 page novel. In fact, I would read novel versions of every one of these stories without hesitation.
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Some favourites: Jumping Monkey Hill, a woman navigates a writers' retreat with a troublesome host; On Monday of Last Week, a woman working as a nanny becomes fixated on the boy's mysterious artist mother who rarely emerges from the basement; The Arrangers of Marriage, a new wife struggles to adjust to life in America with her less-than-ideal new husband; and The Shivering, a woman in America grapples with news of a plane crash in Nigeria with the help of a Nigerian man in her apartment building who is harbouring a few secrets.
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At the end of each story, I felt a combination of sad that it was over but also satisfied. Short stories can often leave you wanting, but a good one will make you want more of the characters while simultaneously appreciating the perfectly formed, slice-of-life story you just read. It's just greed that makes me want more, ha!
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Each one reads like a tiny Adichie novel, addressing themes such as colonialism, marriage, identity, immigration, and politics. I didn't save it for last for any particular reason, and I actually think it might be a good introduction to Adichie if you haven't yet read her as it gives a great feel for her style!