The Thing Around Your Neck is a collection of eleven short stories taking place in Nigeria and America. She uses personal experiences as a Nigerian woman to influence her stories and create her characters. Each story focuses on identity, religion, crime, and sexuality. In her first story “Cell One”, a family goes through a difficult time when their son was accused of a crime that he did not commit. The conditions of the jail and the corruption of the Nigerian judicial system almost tore their family apart. The story shows how family ties are essential to surviving physically and emotionally. In another story, “The Shivering”, a Nigerian-American college student is greeted by a stranger who provides unaccented comfort through a break up and a devastating plane crash. However as their friendship grows a secret threatens to tear them apart. The story shows that appearances can be misleading and follows a women journey to recover her identity after a breakup.

Some of the main themes in the book were the immigrant experience, facing racism, belonging, and struggling to create a new life in America. Other stories dealt with class, marriage, and heartbreak. Adichie’s powerful writing conveys the character’s true feelings and makes them come alive for the reader. The characters are complex and flawed as they each struggle with their own personal conflict. Since the characters are flawed it makes them more relatable and convincing. Adichies’s family was a source of inspiration for her when writing these stories as they gave her the insight to understand complicated relationships. In addition to the themes, many symbols such as material items or spirits play a crucial role in shaping her stories.

This is an incredible, powerful and important read especially for people for the struggles that immigrants face. Adichie is a world renowned and widely acclaimed author so the writing is beautiful and clear. This book could appeal to young adults especially women as most of the stories are form a women’s point of view. It is a quick read but very intriguing and each story is different form the next with a new perspective. My favorite story was “Cell One” because it was filled with action and it was more fast paced than some of the other stories. I would give this book a 9/10 as it was eye-opening and kept me engaged. I related to some stories more than  others but overall it was a great read.

All in all, Adichie does a wonderful job creating stories, characters, and worlds that are relatable to the reader. This would make great summer reading book because the stories are relatively short but the book is engaging and won’t leave you bored. If you are interested in books about identity and belonging then this is a great place to start. Adichie also has a number of other award winning books such as Half a Yellow Sun, Americanah, and Purple Hibiscus. This could be the beginning of a summer long exploration into these acclaimed works.

Check out The Thing Around Your Neck at the Newport Beach Public Library.