I feel like novels are much more low pressure to read than
short stories, because in short stories you have to immediately, from the get
go, start looking for themes, symbols, motifs, etc., because there isn’t time
to waste in short stories. I always feel somewhat pressured reading short
stories to latch on to what the author is going for very quickly, whereas in a
novel I have time to sink in and settle into the story, as the author has ample
time to establish characters, write beautifully just for the sake of writing,
describe, and delve into various ideas that may not be essential to the plot,
but are lovely to read and important to the overall style of the book. In this
way, my strategy for reading novels involves more immersion, and trying to
connect myself to the story, rather than picking it apart in a literary manner.
This novel in particular, like many of Adichie’s short stories, involves an
element of learning about an unfamiliar culture. My ignorance really started
showing when I went into the book thinking that because I was an expert on the
Poisonwood Bible that I would have some sort of prior knowledge, despite the
two books taking place in completely different African cultures, between which
there is little to no overlap. Therefore throughout this novel I am simply
trying to absorb as much as I can, and try to work through it that way instead
of picking it apart AP lit style. That will surely come later, but it’s much
harder to do with a large work than short stories, where it is possible to
analyze the literary choices in one sitting.
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