Story 4: Ghosts

On today's story review of The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, we're looking at story 4 titled Ghosts.

I won't lie, this story confused me at first.

Going in, I thought I was about to read something supernatural. The title certainly didn't help sef, for a while, I kept wondering if the narrator was hallucinating or imagining things.

But the more I read, the more I realized that this isn't really a ghost story.

The story follows a retired professor reflecting on his life during and after the Biafran War. He has lost his daughter, he has lost his wife, he has watched his country, his university, and even old friendships change beyond recognition.

Then one day, he encounters Professor Ikenna, a colleague everyone had assumed died during the war, and that's where the story got interesting for me.

Because the "ghost" isn't a ghost in the horror movie sense.

It's the way the past keeps showing up when you think you've left it behind.

The more I think about it, the more the title makes sense. The story is filled with ghosts. The ghost of the war, the ghost of lost dreams, the ghost of loved ones who are gone. Even Ikenna himself feels like a ghost, a man everyone had already buried in their minds suddenly appearing years later.

What I enjoyed most was how quietly Chimamanda explored grief and memory. There were no dramatic scenes, or grand yadas, just an ordinary man carrying the weight of losses.

And maybe that's the point.

Sometimes the things that haunt us aren't spirits, sometimes they are memories, sometimes they're the lines between what could've been, sometimes they are the people we've lost.

This wasn't my favourite story in the collection so far, but it definitely left me with a lot to think about.

Alright bye, that's all for today's story review. See you tomorrow for story 5.

@favvy_Okwans🖤.