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Notes on Grief
- Narrated by: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Length: 1 hr and 27 mins
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Notes on Grief
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Summary
A personal and powerful essay on loss from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the bestselling author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun.
'Grief is a cruel kind of education. You learn how ungentle mourning can be, how full of anger. You learn how glib condolences can feel. You learn how much grief is about language, the failure of language and the grasping for language'
On 10 June 2020, the scholar James Nwoye Adichie died suddenly in Nigeria.
In this tender and powerful essay, expanded from the original New Yorker text, his daughter, a self-confessed daddy's girl, remembers her beloved father. Notes on Grief is at once a tribute to a long life of grace and wisdom, the story of a daughter's fierce love for a parent, and a revealing examination of the layers of loss and the nature of grief.
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Critic reviews
‘Both emotional and austere, a work of dignity and of unravelling’ Guardian
‘With raw eloquence, Adichie’s observations have, simultaneously, an academic detachment and an inescapable anguish at being “in the centre of this churning” with “porous edges that there is no way through” … Notes on Grief is both achingly personal and stunningly familiar to anyone who has felt that scattering’ Independent
‘An exquisite howl of pain written in the aftermath, last year, of the unexpected death of her father’ Telgraph
‘Notes on Grief is a moving account of a daughter’s sorrow and it is also a love letter to the one who has gone. … She is saying don’t go and she is saying goodbye and she is also saying sorry’ Observer
‘In 30 short sections, Notes on Grief lays a path by which we might mourn our individual traumas among the aggregate suffering of this harrowing time.’ New York Times
‘Feels raw, even for a book about grief … It is no salve for her own grief, but Adichie’s brave observance of her own pain, will be a gift to those also suffering their first year of loss in these strange times’ iNews
‘When you send a great writer into the valley of the dead, the reportage is better quality. In 1961 CS Lewis wrote A Grief Observed of the year after the death of his wife; in 2005 Joan Didion wrote The Year of Magical Thinking about the same time span after the death of her husband. Into this tradition falls Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie … For fans of the famously private Adichie – this is fascinatingly intimate. It is also delivered in the most readable, tender bites for any of the many of us whose attention has been shot by the harrowing of this past year’ The Times
What listeners say about Notes on Grief
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 21-07-22
Comforting, honest and somehow uplifting!
A truly validating listen for anyone who's grieved a parent. So glad I listened.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sophie
- 10-01-24
Perfection
How to describe the indescribable? Well here it is. An essential piece from an exquisite writer.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Sharon
- 07-12-21
A meditation on grief
Notes on Grief is a short listen, but it's not necessarily an easy one. It is a series of short notes about the death of the author's father and how she moved through the beginning stages of her grief. It's touching and relatable, which brought back the emotions of some of my own losses.
I gave it an overall 4 stars because I'm not sure I would listen to it again. The performance was lovely, and it is not an easy topic to sit with.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Neozoe
- 22-09-21
Very relatable... to a point
She helped me contextualize my grief. The stages of grief were described very aptly
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 08-01-23
A touching portrayal of grief
So beautifully written and performed. You must listen to this if you want to connect with your own grief through the words of another. My first listen to a book by Chimamanda after hearing her speak with such wisdom on the radio about freedom of speech. An incredible woman.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- David Adams
- 02-07-21
Poignant
A relevant and fascinating listen. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie takes us through her experience of the death of a loved one. I'd like to thank her for sharing such a personal experience with us.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Fatima Ademola-Asuni
- 13-07-21
Notes …
Chimamanda captures every feeling I had towards the passing of my father whom I too adored.
Her writing brings color to the passing of a loved one even though all we see is grey. I hope others listen to this and feel a small unraveling of the hurt buried in their chest that aches in a way that sometimes makes one catch one’s breath.
Love was here and love lived with us a while.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mrs. P. J. P. Leishman
- 12-07-21
Grief
It was very much what I felt when my husband died. Absolutely recommended it for anyone going through loss.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 22-06-21
Thank you.
Your notes reminds me a lot of things about my father and I am grateful.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mrs C
- 20-12-21
I feel seen
I can't write any more. I miss my father. I both needed and wish I hadn't listened to this.
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1 person found this helpful