One thing that I disliked about The Thing Around Your Neck was the fact that none of the stories had a concrete ending. Many of them had abrupt and awkward endings. I assume Adichie's intention was to provide brief snapshots into her characters lives and she did a very good job of this. However, I was always looking for more at the end of each story. None of them provided me with closure. I think in future writing, Adichie should expand upon the ideas of some of the short stories. For example, she could continue the story The Thing Around Your Neck. It would be interesting to see where the woman went next. Whether she would continue to send money home, whether she would pursue a new relationship, whether she would just go home to Africa. These are just a few of the questions left in my head after reading that story. If she expanded upon these and made a longer story with a concrete ending that provided closure, I think it would be a fantastic novel that examined even closer what African immigrants experience when coming to America.
Ryan, I too would have liked Adichie to give each of her short stories an official ending, but I think she ended them abruptly for a reason. Most of her short stories involve immigrants and how they are perceived by Americans. I interpreted the short endings as her way of showing that Americans don't necessarily care about an immigrants story. If someone does not care about something, they are less inclined to follow up and see what has happened.
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