The first time I heard about Adichie was in high school, when we watched her TED talk The danger of a single story on theory of knowledge lesson, and I thought that it was the best TED talk I had ever watched. The message just hit me hard and since then I’ve been a lot more aware of this phenomenon of a single story. I also realised that up until that point in my life I really hadn’t read any literature outside the Western culture and I knew that I was missing out on something great.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The Thing Around Your Neck
This book is consisted of twelve beautiful short stories that give an insight on the other side of the African culture that isn’t really represented in the Western world. I definitely had an awakening when I read this book, because I had only been told this one story and now I felt like I could see the real thing. Somehow I felt so incredibly connected to these stories and Adichie’s writing just compels the reader with every word, and I enjoyed it so much. These stories are in a way so different of what I’m used to reading, so I felt this overwhelming joy when I read them as I was discovering something new and extremely interesting with every story.
I absolutely adore all of the stories in the book but Jumping Monkey Hill and The Arrangers of Marriage stood out to me the most. They both have this strong theme of the position of an African woman in the society whether it be in Africa or America. This kind of strong feminist message comes through in most of the stories which I loved because Adichie has such good insights on the issue, that again really build my own awareness of the world and the inequalities that are very much present today.
I think that The Thing Around My Neck is a must read book as it defies the concept of a single story and lightens up the more unseen side of a culture that has been twisted by the Western point of view. I’m looking forward to rereading this book when I’m older and see if I can get even more out of this when I’ve gained more experiences from the world.
Advertisements Share this:
