The Thing Around Your Neck

This collection of short stories by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie went by really quickly. Her prose is so incredibly readable, which helps the stories she writes focus on their bittersweet emotions rather than got bogged down in them.

The stories in this collection are all a bit melancholy, focusing on characters who have found themselves in less than ideal circumstances for various reasons. Some of them take action to change their lives, others quietly accept their circumstances, but they all come to that crossroads where they have to examine their choices and decide what they can live with and how they want to move forward.

Adichie is, as ever, interested in the history of Nigeria and the relationship Nigerians have with America. America is billed is a land of opportunity, where dreams comes true, and character after character discovers that it's not as easy as that. That it is, occasionally, a downright lie. There are also a couple of stories that touch on Biafra and the colonization of Nigeria.

Adichie's work is excellent for being both readily accessible and providing a window to a world that it so different from my own. This book went by fast, but I expect the stories to stick with me.

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