... achingly of its time.

... slim, poignant.

The narrative interrupts itself, brings us up short, as Adichie is brought up short by the realisation that he is gone. This realisation sneaks up on her in sometimes unexpected ways, through the innocent questions of her four-year-old daughter, or through the fact of a death being sent out into the world by text, or in print, and made real.

This small book, intensely personal, is a new exercise in vulnerability.

... visceral.

... the final chapter is a deft triumph of linguistic contradiction.

Each of its 30 short sections reads like a stream of consciousness, scribbled randomly in notebooks and on the backs of envelopes, trying to make sense of the nonsensical. With raw eloquence, Adichie’s observations have, simultaneously, an academic detachment and an inescapable anguish at being 'in the centre of this churning'.

Adichie does not reach for a narrative. She cannot force sense on the senseless. She writes diary-style (but deeply crafted) entries about the violence of loss.

... what is most memorable in this tribute is Adichie’s father’s love for his family and their enduring love for him.

... one of our century's most gifted artists of language makes visceral the experience of death and grieving. In poetic bursts of imagistic prose that mirror the fracturing of self after the death of a beloved parent, Adichie constructs a narrative of mourning — of haunting and of love.

... a direct response to early grief – fast, raw and immediate. It explores the first months of pain and processing, yet overflowing in the text, served in equal measure, is love.

... both emotional and austere, a work of dignity and of unravelling. Spare and yet spiritually nutritious, the book serves as a reflection of Adichie’s turmoil in loss. It is also an exquisitely written tribute to her father, James Nwoye Adichie, who was Nigeria’s first professor of statistics : his self-effacement, sense of calm and wry humour shine through..

... brief but deeply poignant.

In less than 70 pages, she grapples with her pain and chaos of grief, pays beautiful tribute to her father, and moves herself to be able to write about him in the past tense.

... deeply etched testimony.

Though she made me understand and even feel the hollow space left by her father’s absence, more than anything, Notes on Grief gave me a sense of untrammeled joy. Here is a family that truly loves one another and delights in each other’s company. What greater gift in life can there be? Yes, Adichie is left to mourn what has been taken from her, but she has also given readers a taste of the happiness that many spend a lifetime seeking and never find..

... affecting.

... an eloquent dirge.

This is a lyrical, moving journal in 30 entries.