Review of The Thing Around Your Neck
Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie's Book Explores Nigerians at Home & Abroad
Jun 11, 2009
After winning the Commonwealth Writer's Prize for her debut novel Purple Hibiscus and The Orange Prize for Fiction for her second book Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie returns with her third - The Thing Around Your Neck - twelve short stories focusing on the trials and tribulations of Nigerians living in the US and in Nigeria.
Each distinct tale artfully focuses on how the political, economic and volatile aspects of both countries changes the lives of her characters and the internal struggles they face trying to retain their dignity.
The Ugly Side of Nigeria
A proud Nigerian herself, Adichie is nevertheless unapologetic in her portrayal of the realities of living in a country operating beneath its potential. Religious riots, university strikes, a brutal prison system and press restrictions are all explored with a fair and uncritical eye: Adichie simply relays the truth.
In Cell One, Nnamabia is arrested for belonging to a gang of students terrorising a small University Campus town, and whilst his parents have to bribe the guards to be allowed to see him, the spoilt teenager is moved by the plight of another prisoner: "An old man had been pushed into his cell...his son was wanted for armed robbery and when the police could not find the son, they decided to lock him up instead."
In A Private Experience, Chika is caught up in a bloody tribal/religious riot between Christians and Muslims and is rescued by a Muslim woman, and in Ghosts a retired professor reminisces about the bitter Biafran civil war with an old friend on his way to ask, yet again, for the pension he is owed but will never receive: "The education minister has stolen the money, one fellow said. Another said that it was the vice chancellor who had deposited the money in high-interest personal accounts..."
Immigrant's View of America
As an African who moved to America but still goes 'home' regularly, Adichie's accounts of the outsider's experience of the US are both nuanced and insightful. She exposes the reality of rich husbands who deposit their wives and children in America and visit once a year whilst living with young girlfriends in Lagos in Imitation.
And In The Arrangers of Marriage, Ofodile Udenwa (now called Dave Bell) explains the ways of America to his newly arrived wife Chinaza (now called Agatha): "If you want to get anywhere you have to be as mainstream as possible. If not, you will be left by the roadside. You have to use your English name here... You have to speak English at home too baby. So you can get used to it."
The dichotomy of Nigerian-born men and women living in the West and forming relationships with Westerners is examined with relish: she strips the gloss off the idealised version of America to Africans and transforms the notion of African ignorance to Westerners.
The Beauty of Nigeria
Despite its troubles Adichie's characters love and are fiercely protective of their homeland, and though America holds the promise of opportunity and prosperity they realise, sometimes too late, that it comes at a price.
In The Thing Around You Neck for which the book was named, Akunna relocates to America to live with her uncle after winning her green card: "He laughed and said that the job was good, was worth living in an all-white town even though his wife had to drive an hour to find a hair salon that did black hair. 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."
Each of the twelve vivid stories is unapologetic in its depiction of despair and survival and each character is infused with a sure and steady voice. Adichie's unsanitised version of Nigeria will shock, thrill and endear readers to the humour and resourcefulness of Nigerians.
See also: Black Pioneers of Literature
 |
 |
