"Imitation"

"Oyibo people are like that, if you do something in a different way, they'll think you're abnormal as though their way was the only possible way."

Story 2: IMITATION

On today's story review of The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, we're looking at story 2 titled Imitation.

I really enjoyed the dynamic of the story. It started off with the end. Classic Chimamanda. She takes us through the annoying phone call that completely shatters Nkem as she discovers that her husband, her rich Nigerian husband who lives in Nigeria and only visits her and the kids in suburban Philadelphia for two months in a year, has a mistress.

Then the story takes us to the very beginning. How she went from being an ordinary girl to a big man's wife, and how this life once felt like a dream. And how the news of his cheating didn't surprise her as much as I expected it to because she had at some point dated a married men herself. 

I really liked the relationship she had with her house help, the whole "let's have a drink" dynamic. There was something refreshing about it.

Saying I loved the use of words like egalitarianism or sarcastic observations like "It's one of the things she has come to love about Americans, the abundance of unreasonable hope" is an understatement.

What I completely missed until I was done reading was the meaning of the title itself.

Nkem's house was filled with expensive imitation artworks. Beautiful copies of the original. And somehow, that was Nkem's life too.

From the outside, she had everything. The rich husband, the big house, the children, the American dream. But the more we get to know her, the more you realize she was mostly existing in a life someone else had built for her. Waiting for Obiora's calls, waiting for his visits, living where he wanted, doing what he wanted. The paintings weren't the only imitations in that house.

This was a beautiful read and, like Chimamanda, we're left hanging. Nkem doesn't explode when Obiora visits for the summer or even ask him about the mistress. Instead she's like, "We'll have to find a school in Lagos for the kids. We're moving back to Nigeria."

And there and then, the story ends.

Here I am wondering what happens next. Would Obiora agree to the relocation knowing fully well he has a mistress in Lagos? Would she fit into Nigeria once again? And was moving back to Nigeria her way of finally choosing an original life instead of an imitation?

Alright bye... See you tomorrow for story 3

@favvy_Okwans🖤.