I’ve been meaning to read something by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Notes on Grief sounded very interesting. Well, this short book (well, it’s more like an essay) has made me want to read more of her work!

“I finally understand why people get tattoos of those they have lost. The need to proclaim not merely the loss but the love, the continuity. I am my father’s daughter. It is an act of resistance and refusal: grief telling you it is over and your heart saying it is not; grief trying to shrink your love to the past and your heart saying it is present.”

Notes on Grief was written after the death of Chimamanda’s father and is a very personal expression of her grief. And despite the differences in culture and the intensely personal nature of her reflections, the emotions expressed in this book are universal. Grief, Chimamanda reminds us, is not static – it ebbs and flows, it recedes briefly before overwhelming you again, and everyone will grieve differently.

This is a beautifully written book about a universal topic and I highly recommend it. If you have any other recommendations for Chimamanda’s work, please let me know, I want to read more from her and am not too sure where to start!