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The Thing Around Your Neck
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie burst onto the literary scene with her remarkable debut novel, Purple Hibiscus, which critics hailed as "one of the best novels to come out of Africa in years" (Baltimore Sun), with "prose as lush as the Nigerian landscape that it powerfully evokes" (The Boston Globe); The Washington Post called her "the twenty-first-century daughter of Chinua Achebe". Her award-winning Half of a Yellow Sun became an instant classic upon its publication three years later, once again putting her tremendous gifts - graceful storytelling, knowing compassion, and fierce insight into her characters' hearts - on display. Now, in her most intimate and seamlessly crafted work to date, Adichie turns her penetrating eye on not only Nigeria but America in 12 dazzling stories that explore the ties that bind men and women, parents and children, Africa and the United States.
In "A Private Experience", a medical student hides from a violent riot with a poor Muslim woman whose dignity and faith force her to confront the realities and fears she's been pushing away. In "Tomorrow Is Too Far", a woman unlocks the devastating secret that surrounds her brother's death. The young mother at the center of "Imitation" finds her comfortable life in Philadelphia threatened when she learns that her husband has moved his mistress into their Lagos home. And the title story depicts the choking loneliness of a Nigerian girl who moves to an America that turns out to be nothing like the country she expected; though falling in love brings her desires nearly within reach, a death in her homeland forces her to reexamine them.
Searing and profound, suffused with beauty, sorrow, and longing, these stories map, with Adichie's signature emotional wisdom, the collision of two cultures and the deeply human struggle to reconcile them. The Thing Around Your Neck is a resounding confirmation of the prodigious literary powers of one of our most essential writers.
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Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Story
- PAUL NGALAME
- 05-17-18
Chima...The a solute Best
Loved everything about these stories except for the fact that they finished waaay too soon. Solid prose, as usual, visual story telling as I "SAW" every character come to life. Love Love Love
6 people found this helpful
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- Calliope
- 01-23-21
A wonderful short story collection
This is a collection of short stories that all involve the intersection of Nigeria and the US in different ways -- about immigrants from Nigeria trying to start a life in the US, or Nigerians waiting to get a visa to visit the US, or about an American girl visiting her Nigerian grandmother and realizing how little power and purpose she would have there as a female. A dozen excellent short stories, wonderfully performed.
5 people found this helpful
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Performance
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Story
- Llayla
- 09-09-18
Haunting—But In a Good Way
I simply can’t get these snapshots out of my mind. Each story is enough and yet not enough! Bravo to both the author and the narrator.
5 people found this helpful
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- Anna Anna
- 02-18-21
The stories are great, the performance is not!
Audible really needs to get better at finding narrators from specific regions and tribes that understand accents and language. Otherwise, a bad performance very easily reduces the value of the story.
2 people found this helpful
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- J. Butler
- 01-09-21
Masterful. Again.
Adichie is simply remarkable. This book is yet more proof. And it was read with flair and nuance in this audiobook, which only added to the impact I felt while the stories captivated me word by word.
2 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 11-22-20
Enthralling
Escape to the world of Nigeria and the customs, expectations and disappointments of its people.
2 people found this helpful
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- dani
- 10-17-20
Strong female characters and honest stories
The narrator of this collection breathed life into these beautiful, memorable stories. Adichie outdid herself representing Igbo/Nigerian/American life through dozens of characters who had relatable flaws and values. This will certainly not be the last of Adichie's stories I read/listen to. And the narrator is one I'll look for in the future.
2 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 01-31-21
poorly pronounced
The narration pace was good but the pronunciations of Names was poorly done; accent incorrect
1 person found this helpful
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- Paul
- 05-30-20
Some memorable stories
Excellent narration. For me, a solid introduction to Nigerian feminist writing and also my first exposure to her work.
1 person found this helpful
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Performance
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- Yoli
- 05-24-20
Page Turner
Each of these stories grabbed you although they were very different. I was horrified by some of the situations and admired some of the protagonist. I love Chimamanda’s writing and how she represents various women in her tales. One turn off is some of the un-needed sexual content. I’m not a prude but some of the sex in these stories seemed to just be thrown in for sexual relief. Excellent performance!
1 person found this helpful