#16 in Short stories
The Thing Around Your Neck
- 224
- Pages
- about 4 h
- Reading time
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About the book
The Thing Around Your Neck is a 2009 short story collection by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The twelve stories were initially published in magazines before being collected and published by Alfred A. Knopf in the United States, Fourth Estate in the United Kingdom, and in Nigeria by both Kachifo Limited and Narrative Landscape Press. Adichie's first short story collection and third book after Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun, it explores the themes of immigration, losses and gains, as well as Nigerian and American experiences.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.1 across 92 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 38% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Short stories average of 7.8. That is how 7.9 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.0 | 8 | 9% |
| Hardcover | 8.1 | 84 | 91% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“This is a collection of 12 short stories which, in general, cover the same kinds of themes - being an immigrant in America, being an Igbo academic, being an Igbo writer, facing war and persecution in Nigeria, having to reclaim your identity and history from…”
“yes yes yes yes yes. with almost every one of these short stories i became so engrossed i forgot i wasn't reading a novel, i just wanted to follow those characters for ever. (this barely ever happens in short stories, which i find are too…”
Frequently asked
How long is The Thing Around Your Neck?
It has 224 pages — shorter than 65% of the ranked books in Short stories.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Short stories — with scores between 7.7 and 7.9, closest to this book.
