What Themes Do Chimamanda Adichie Books Explore?

Reading ‘After the Fire’ was like going to a town that had been devastated by fire and was trying to decide what to keep. I found that there were two dominant themes, that of the town’s resilience to the disaster and the politics of recovery. Also the emotional architecture of the town and how people coped with their grief. There were also the individual stories of how people coped with their loss through denial, anger and storytelling. Also the theme of secrecy and how withholding the truth can be both protective and corrosive. Most of all I found that the book portrayed most of the characters in all their moral ambiguity. It was never black and white and that was one of the things that made the book so good. It made you think about the practical aspects of recovery, such as insurance and charities but also about the quiet needs of people in the aftermath of disaster, such as being there for people and believing them when they tell the truth. Overall it was a great read that stayed with me long after I finished reading it and makes me think about the people around me.

This collection of short stories looks at identity through the lens of place and belonging. In The House on Mango Street, the house Esperanza moves to is not only physical but also a symbol of identity, rooted yet with the possibility of change. Her search for a better life is deeply connected with her search for identity and for a way to look at herself outside of her current circumstances. Identity is explored in 'Woman Hollering Creek' through the immigrant characters and their struggle to find a place of belonging in a foreign land. Cisneros vividly portrays the struggle of immigrants to hold on to their identity while trying to adapt to a new country and its culture.

While reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, I slowly but surely unveiled layers of this wonderful book. A major theme in this novel is the power of words to change people’s lives. While reading this book, I saw many instances in which words saved the main character Liesel from her harsh reality in Nazi Germany. She escapes from her problems by reading books and sometimes even writing her own. Death’s portrayal of events further adds a layer of philosophy, inquiring into how we look at death and how we remember people. Although The Book Thief does not sugarcoat war in any way, it highlights the silent courage of average people in extraordinary times. For example, Hans’ accordion playing and the hope of music in times of hardship and fear symbolize continuity and hope in a severely damaged world. An additional theme of the novel is that of friendship and of sacrifice. Liesel’s friendship with Rudy, her relationship with Rosa and her ultimate devotion to Max are all testaments to the power of human connection to carry us through even the toughest of times. The novel ends with Death returning Liesel’s story to her as an old woman and this serves to reinforce the novel’s major theme that although our lives may come to an end, our legacies do not. This is a very powerful novel which pays tribute to the human spirit and all its great qualities, in beautiful and haunting prose.

Fallen, the latest record from Within Temposition, is an extremely complex album and delves into many different themes and subjects. Yes, there is plenty of love expressed in the songs but there is also plenty of pain and heartache too. This is especially evident in ‘Taking Over Me’ as the yearning and adoration is palpable. But, as one can expect, it is not all good and there is a dark underbelly to the majority of the songs where the memories of past losses linger. Also impressive is the exploration of self-acceptance throughout the album. By exploring the trauma and heartache of the main character, there is ultimately a realization of the value of who they are, and that is incredibly powerful for anyone who has had to struggle to come to terms with their own identity. An incredible and deeply emotional album, ‘Fallen’ leaves an indelible mark on the listener.

A very practical theme of communication and its failure is developed in the stories: missed calls and texts that do not arrive, names forgotten, letters that arrive late. Most of the plots are constructed around the communications between the two body-swapped characters and the failed attempts to understand each other in the world that they are both in to return to. The moments of clear and perfect understanding in all the stories are extremely rare and precious against the background of so much ‘noise’. The themes are not limited to romantic misunderstandings but extend to the basic problems of human communication in order to convey one’s inner world to another human being. The supernatural elements in the stories are often used as a metaphor for such communication: a magical connection that goes around the normal ways of human communication and conveys the message of the supernatural connection that is so difficult to achieve in real life.

‘M Is for Mama’ is unusual in that it tries to make parenting look good, whilst at the same time trying to find the wonder in it. The themes of ‘competing priorities’ and ‘the art of surrender’ particularly hit home. Who hasn’t folded washing only to have their toddler ask to go and look at the stars minutes later? There are also plenty of ‘me too!’ moments, such as the one where the mother loses her temper and then feels terrible, and the odd sense of pride when your toddler finally stops biting. But what the book does best is to make you feel less alone in the beautiful struggle that is parenting.

I’m really interested in novels where someone is called a ‘good wife’. This opens up so many different themes. The biggest thing is role versus self. What does a good wife do? How do good wives support careers and secret passions? Then there’s social pressure to appear a certain way and how reputation affects the wife of the house. And, more economically-minded, marriage as partnership versus as a means to survive financially as a woman, and the aspect of class that plays into that and affects a wife’s autonomy. I generally approach these novels looking for more insight into how they can be feminist or not, in a largely unobtrusive way. The use of secrets to expose society or to shock the reader is also something that I find interesting. Often a legal/political sub-plot is created in order to highlight the larger implications of the personal choices of the protagonist, and other novels focus more on domestic realism and use each detail to increasing emotional affect. These details can stay with you long after the end of the novel, so it’s worth paying attention to even the smallest of domestic details.

The new young adult is fixated on dark academia – and here it is again, with a twist: supernatural mystery and intrigue at a boarding school where the students uncover dark secrets of murders and disappearances, linked to the school’s black past and mysterious, ancient rituals. Above all this is a story about knowledge at any price and the corrupting influence of isolated, elite environments. There is plenty of space for friendship, rivalry and even betrayal. Naturally, a romantic storyline runs alongside the main mystery, but this is often complicated and intertwined with the larger narrative. This is a strongly aesthetic novel, full of atmosphere and dominated by a vintage look: think candlelight, tweed, rain on rough cobblestones, Latin phrases. And this is why September is the perfect month for this kind of story: it frames the start of the school year in all its anticipatory angst and even bliss. It’s a powerful form of escapism – especially in an era of stressful academic environments and of social media’s feverish pursuit of the perfect image.

It's half the fun of the secret relationship, navigating the logistical nightmares, the elaborate co-ordination, the obscure language and the plethora of alibis. Deception is a practical business and if you’re going to have a secret relationship, you have to treat it as a business. Stories about the mechanics of secrecy are about competence, about teamwork and the dull grey details of the pragmatic relationship. Yes, it’s not all passion, there’s also the matter of lipstick on collars, who told what lie to whom and checking the couple’s shared calendar to make sure you’re not booked for anything else at the same time. It makes for a very interesting relationship and explores how even the most grey of missions can form the most intense of bonds. But, it’s also very exhausting and ultimately unsustainable. There’s a lot of mental energy to maintain the deception of the secret relationship and it starts to take over your life. You begin to neglect your friends and family, you start to neglect your career. The cracks start to appear not through some dramatic revelation but through the slow and agonizing process of fatigue. It’s a very real and relatable way to explore the secret and raise the stakes.

The best versions of sex scenes are often set in the most mundane Odia settings. A monsoon shared auto ride, a family wedding, a chaotic market are all great backdrops for a lot of silent foreplay and sultry glances long before any of them get naked. The sex scenes are best when they are set against circumstances where the two characters are not able to verbalize their feelings to each other but are able to connect through looks and body language. The privacy that is eventually granted to them to fulfill their desires has been earned by the earlier scenes of pent up silent tension and the physical release of sex is loaded with all that silent emotional energy. It moves beyond mere physical gratification.