Beast of No Nation, 2005, Uzodinma Iweala ****

"Beast of No Nation" is the story of Agu a child-soldier whose narrative has a lot in common with  Birahima's in "Allah is not Obliged", both narrators not older than ten were unable to tell their ordeal in a grammatical correct language, nevertheless it was no deterrent to put their message across. However, let me confess  it somewhat slowed down my reading as they were both children narrating atrocities in an unstructured language which makes it  necessary to reread sometimes.

Agu's village is ravaged by war, his mother

The Thing Around Your Neck, 2009, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie *****

I read this novel in 2009, I read it after reading Half of a Yellow Sun and Purple Hibiscus all by the same author, I already know most of her works, I was at the wait of any new work so I read this book the same year it was published. I was not disappointed. I loved it and it is my favourite, it is one of those books I would love to repeat.

This novel is a collection of 12 short stories that worth reading. The title of this book is the title of one of her short stories, most probably the most beautiful of them all? Most of the short stories talks about love, the continuous Christian-Muslim riot taking place in Nigeria, immigration, the dilemma faced by many Nigerian in the seek of  a US American visa (or any visa of the developed world), Nigerians in the diaspora, family matters.....

It is an easy read like her previous books.

I love Adichie, even though her books are fictions, they narrate the life of the Nigerian citizens at its most real. I highly recommend this book to everyone.