Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Notes on Grief nails the pain of pandemic bereavement
4/5
This exquisite essay, from the author of Half a Yellow Sun, lays bare the surreal pain of mourning her father via Zoom
Adichie's latest book deals with the death of her father during the pandemic
“Enemies beware: the worst has happened,” writes the bestselling novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. “My father is gone. My madness will now bare itself.” Notes on Grief is an exquisite howl of pain written in the aftermath, last year, of the unexpected death of her father, the 88-year-old scholar, James Nwoye Adichie. Covid wasn’t the cause of his death – he died from complications from kidney failure – but it did dictate the initial shape of his daughter’s sorrow.