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bia_gnc's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
hendrixpants's review
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
abookwanderer's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Powerful, raw, and beautifully written.
__bluejay's review against another edition
5.0
This book covered so much in so few pages. I thought it was such a thought-provoking exploration of how we try to contextualise betrayals after they’ve happened.
The questions of, why would they have done that? What were they thinking? How can I feel in control again? How does outside influence change what I consider a betrayal? Who do I blame, and why?
I thought it was such a subtle and brilliant commentary on modern feminism as well. Even the dynamic between herself and her mother!! Gah! So much to read and reread and think about.
I always get the feeling that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie sees straight through people, it just seems like she can write a character as if she understands them from the inside out.
Absolutely adore the way she writes. Total 5/5 for me.
The questions of, why would they have done that? What were they thinking? How can I feel in control again? How does outside influence change what I consider a betrayal? Who do I blame, and why?
I thought it was such a subtle and brilliant commentary on modern feminism as well. Even the dynamic between herself and her mother!! Gah! So much to read and reread and think about.
I always get the feeling that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie sees straight through people, it just seems like she can write a character as if she understands them from the inside out.
Absolutely adore the way she writes. Total 5/5 for me.
ilse's review against another edition
4.0
I read somewhere that love was about this, the nuggets of knowledge about our beloved that we so fluently hold.
Whilst in the middle of giving birth, Zikora, a thirty-nine year old lawyer originally from Nigeria now living in the United States, reflects on significant moments and relationships in her life in the US and in Nigeria – questioning her own views on love, enduring relationships and gender (in)equality while musing on the mutual support she and her married cousin have been lending each other to cope with unwanted pregnancies, the tense relationship between her parents since her father moved out of the house to live with another spouse and Zikora’s own (delusive) happiness when she meets a man who she imagines her natural life-long companion with whom she could live together as equals.
Abandoned by the father of the child when she casually announces she is pregnant, Zikora goes through a vortex of thoughts and emotions as it is not the father of the child who is by her side when she is giving birth, but her mother who came over from Nigeria– a highly successful, poised woman who seems aloof and strict, judgemental and insensitive, even condescending towards Zikora’s pain and woes, clearly in charge while Zikora isn’t. Zikora feels falling short in endurance in her mother’s eyes and acts accordingly as a rebellious, sulky child.
(Odilon Redon)
The mutual frictions and criticizing however gradually make place for a deeper understanding of each other. Zikora, seeing her mother taking care of the new born now becomes aware of her mother’s own wounds as a woman and the tenderness her mother has been burrowing for long. Zikora realises that her mother’s usual attitude of self-possession and dignity might not as much be coldness but a veil to hide self-sacrifice. That some things remain different for men and women, whether living in Nigeria or in the United States, is an experience both mother and daughter unexpectedly come to share, bringing them closer wordlessly, as that difference becomes most tangible and obvious in what they are now holding in their arms, Zikora’s child.
Zikora is a beautifully told, intense story on the multiplicity of feelings in a mother-daughter relationship stirred up by the birth of a child. It is often said that one only begins to understand and truly appreciate one ‘s own mother from the moment one becomes a mother oneself. This story in which a fragile hope on a new beginning in that mother-daughter relationship shines through like emerging snowdrops from the frozen soil seems a fine illustration of that wisdom, even if this particular mother-daughter relationship (perhaps like many of the kind) might in the end more resemble a rose – the inevitable thorns not in the least diminishing the beauty of the rose.
(Odilon Redon)
Hope is like a harebell trembling from its birth,
Love is like a rose the joy of all the earth;
Faith is like a lily lifted high and white,
Love is like a lovely rose the world's delight;
Harebells and sweet lilies show a thornless growth,
But the rose with all its thorns excels them both.
(Christina Rossetti)
The story can be read here.
Whilst in the middle of giving birth, Zikora, a thirty-nine year old lawyer originally from Nigeria now living in the United States, reflects on significant moments and relationships in her life in the US and in Nigeria – questioning her own views on love, enduring relationships and gender (in)equality while musing on the mutual support she and her married cousin have been lending each other to cope with unwanted pregnancies, the tense relationship between her parents since her father moved out of the house to live with another spouse and Zikora’s own (delusive) happiness when she meets a man who she imagines her natural life-long companion with whom she could live together as equals.
Abandoned by the father of the child when she casually announces she is pregnant, Zikora goes through a vortex of thoughts and emotions as it is not the father of the child who is by her side when she is giving birth, but her mother who came over from Nigeria– a highly successful, poised woman who seems aloof and strict, judgemental and insensitive, even condescending towards Zikora’s pain and woes, clearly in charge while Zikora isn’t. Zikora feels falling short in endurance in her mother’s eyes and acts accordingly as a rebellious, sulky child.
(Odilon Redon)
The mutual frictions and criticizing however gradually make place for a deeper understanding of each other. Zikora, seeing her mother taking care of the new born now becomes aware of her mother’s own wounds as a woman and the tenderness her mother has been burrowing for long. Zikora realises that her mother’s usual attitude of self-possession and dignity might not as much be coldness but a veil to hide self-sacrifice. That some things remain different for men and women, whether living in Nigeria or in the United States, is an experience both mother and daughter unexpectedly come to share, bringing them closer wordlessly, as that difference becomes most tangible and obvious in what they are now holding in their arms, Zikora’s child.
Zikora is a beautifully told, intense story on the multiplicity of feelings in a mother-daughter relationship stirred up by the birth of a child. It is often said that one only begins to understand and truly appreciate one ‘s own mother from the moment one becomes a mother oneself. This story in which a fragile hope on a new beginning in that mother-daughter relationship shines through like emerging snowdrops from the frozen soil seems a fine illustration of that wisdom, even if this particular mother-daughter relationship (perhaps like many of the kind) might in the end more resemble a rose – the inevitable thorns not in the least diminishing the beauty of the rose.
(Odilon Redon)
Hope is like a harebell trembling from its birth,
Love is like a rose the joy of all the earth;
Faith is like a lily lifted high and white,
Love is like a lovely rose the world's delight;
Harebells and sweet lilies show a thornless growth,
But the rose with all its thorns excels them both.
(Christina Rossetti)
The story can be read here.
kayode's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
ryanharris's review against another edition
3.0
the writing in this short story was absolutely phenomenal.
donnasbookaddiction's review against another edition
4.0
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, bestselling author, has delivered a beautifully, and impactful written short story, written in prose.
When Zikora tells her lover, Kwame that she’s pregnant, he abandons her. Preparing for motherhood, Zikora’s demanding, self-possessed mother, and its complicated love. Zikora reflects on her mother’s painful past to understand her better.
This was a moving storytelling in 35 pages, that captures the struggles of mother, daughter relationship, cultural differences, and relationships between men and women.
The audio narration captured the true story and the language of the characters. I recommend listening to the book.
When Zikora tells her lover, Kwame that she’s pregnant, he abandons her. Preparing for motherhood, Zikora’s demanding, self-possessed mother, and its complicated love. Zikora reflects on her mother’s painful past to understand her better.
This was a moving storytelling in 35 pages, that captures the struggles of mother, daughter relationship, cultural differences, and relationships between men and women.
The audio narration captured the true story and the language of the characters. I recommend listening to the book.