Because of writers like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye … I realized that people like me, girls with skin the color of chocolate, whose kinky hair could not form ponytails, could also exist in literature.
Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieRead
'No Sweetness Here' is the kind of old-fashioned social realism I have always been drawn to in fiction, and it does what I think all good literature should: It entertains you.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of entertainment in literature, particularly through realistic storytelling.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's quote reflects her appreciation for 'No Sweetness Here,' which exemplifies a style of social realism that captures genuine human experiences. She asserts that one of the primary roles of good literature is to entertain, engaging readers while also portraying life's complexities authentically.
Themes
LiteratureEntertainmentRealismFictionStorytelling
In practice
Example use cases
In a book club where members discuss their favorite novels.
More from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
All quotes →The real tragedy of our postcolonial world is not that the majority of people had no say in whether or not they wanted this new world; rather, it is that the majority have not been given the tools to negotiate this new world.
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If I had not grown up in Nigeria- and if all I knew of Africa were of popular images- I too would think that africa was a place of beautiful landscapes, beautiful animals and incomprehensible people fighting sensless wars, dying of poverty and aids- unable to speak for themselves and waiting to be saved by a kind white foreigner.
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Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity.
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You can't write a script in your mind and then force yourself to follow it. You have to let yourself be.
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Non-fiction, and in particular the literary memoir, the stylised recollection of personal experience, is often as much about character and story and emotion as fiction is.
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