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Chargement... The Thing Around Your Neck (original 2009; édition 2009)par Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Information sur l'oeuvreAutour de ton cou : nouvelles par Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2009)
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In a few stories in this collection Ms. Adichie resorts to easy stereotypes of Westerners . . . For the most part, however, she avoids such easy formulations. In fact the most powerful stories in this volume depict immensely complicated, conflicted characters. Appartient à la série éditorialeGallimard, Folio (5863) ContientPrix et récompensesDistinctionsListes notables
La 4e de couverture indique: "Lauréate de la loterie des visas, Akunna quitte le Nigeria pour les États-Unis ; elle y découvre un pays qui a bien peu à voir avec celui de ses attentes. À Kano, dans le nord du Nigeria, une violente émeute inter-communautaire réunit deux femmes que tout sépare : une marchande d’oignons musulmane et une étudiante issue de la bourgeoisie chrétienne de Lagos. Dans Nsukka, James Nwoye, ancien universitaire au soir de sa vie, repense au rêve biafrais et attend, la nuit, les visites de sa femme défunte, qui vient caresser ses jambes fatiguées…Voici quelques-uns des personnages des nouvelles d’Adichie ; ils composent une image complexe et riche de la réalité nigériane d’aujourd’hui, qui prend ses racines dans le passé et se prolonge dans l'expérience de l’émigration. Une plongée émouvante, tour à tour terrible et drôle, toujours vibrante d’humanité". Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)823.92Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 2000-Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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I don't read short fiction often, and I really should consider doing so more often, as you can pack a lot of different kinds of story in a collection. Some endings felt abrupt and I'd follow any of them further, but the nature of the medium also shows how sometimes it's okay to end a story when it reaches a natural breathing point.
some quickie reviews/thoughts:
* Cell One- a troublesome brother learns empathy for an old man.
Imitation- a richly dense story for how short it is: dual households with dashed expectations and disappointments despite material wealth.
* A Private Experience- a riot breaks out, bringing women whose lives don't normally intersect together seeking safety. I thought this one was interesting for shifting the when- it reads mostly in the present tense, but periodically there's sentences that flash forwards, like "[name] would never be seen again, and she'll wonder..."
* Ghosts- a professor sees a former colleague he thought dead, bringing up the ghosts of their previous lives before the Biafran war. I know nothing about that war or Nigerian history in general, and this story made me aware of my ignorance.
* On Monday of Last Week- a basement mystery, which I felt paralleled Imitation to a degree (wanting to mimic another woman because she's attractive).
* Jumping Monkey Hill- Another one where I'm not sure if I should know stereotypes from country to country, or if I'm as bad as the British host of the writing retreat. There's a meta feel to this, when I wonder if Chimamanda had a similar experience to Ujanwa when presenting a story at a workshop.
* The Thing Around Your Neck- titular story for this collection. In book club chat, I suggested that the thing felt around your neck was the pressure to succeed- you win the immigration lottery, so you feel the need to prove that you've done well and not report home until you have something good to say... and then some of the tension releases when letting that go. This one was interesting for being in second person as well!
* The American Embassy- a tragedy happens. Does it dishonor their memory if used as a reason to obtain a visa for asylum?
* The Shivering- This one also centers on a tragedy, but one that is distant. How do Nigerians an ocean away at Princeton react and respond to this?
* The Arrangers of Marriage- Another cross-cultural setting, where a new wife joins her husband in the states and finds not everything is as promised.
* Tomorrow is Too Far- The ending reveal grabbed me most out of all the stories, how youthful jealousy has far reaching impacts.
* The Headstrong Historian- oh hey, intergenerational trauma that ol' familiar blanket. Assimilation may seem like a way to advance life quality for your children and their descendants but what is destroyed when that happens? It does end on a hopeful note, though.
I don't remember how this got on our suggestion list, but it was an excellent pick! Looking forward to where else Biere Library book club takes us. :)