Zikora cover art

Zikora

A Short Story

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Zikora

By: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Narrated by: Adepero Oduye
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About this listen

The emotional storms weathered by a mother and daughter yield a profound new understanding in a moving short story by the best-selling, award-winning author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists.

When Zikora, a DC lawyer from Nigeria, tells her equally high-powered lover that she’s pregnant, he abandons her. But it’s Zikora’s demanding, self-possessed mother, in town for the birth, who makes Zikora feel like a lonely little girl all over again. Stunned by the speed with which her ideal life fell apart, she turns to reflecting on her mother’s painful past and struggle for dignity. Preparing for motherhood, Zikora begins to see more clearly what her own mother wants for her, for her new baby, and for herself.

©2020 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved African American Anthologies & Short Stories Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Short Stories Women's Fiction Inspiring Heartfelt Thought-Provoking

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Critic reviews

“The actor Adepero Oduye as narrator shifts seamlessly between characters, and I hung onto her every word.” (The New York Times)

“The multitalented actress, director, singer, and writer Adepero Oduye provides an outstanding Nigerian-accented narration, charting Zikora's thoughts and feelings surrounding her failed relationship, her attempts to navigate new motherhood as a professional woman, and her developing understanding of her own mother's challenging relationship with Zikora's father in Nigeria.” (AudioFile Magazine)

“[Adichie] is delivering brand-new material to a world that needs her talents more than ever.” (Entertainment Weekly)
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She is so careful with her words and sentence structure. so much said in so few words. Many unanswered questions but that is part of the joy of it. Just brilliant. I so badly wanted to enter the room with them at the end. Her mother's tenderness towards the baby and also her daughter was very moving and evocative. She is a master of her art.

Great story and narration. Lived it.

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Chimamanda never fails to impress me, she told a beautiful story of love and confusion, and the Adeporo(Narrator) did a great job at painting the story to me the listener, totally worth it!

Great job! Beautiful writing and perfect narration

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Beautifully written and eloquently read. My only complaint is I wish it was longer lol, I enjoyed every second.

Brilliant

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Lovely brilliant writing and story , gave it a 4 star as the story didn't have an ending.

Beautiful story

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Those raw emotions after birth and the physical exhaustion are captured so well here.

breathtakingly real

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Beautifully written to encompass the glory and the pain of a pregnancy, wanted but not by the biological father, and then the pain and the wonder of the birth of a baby - her son. Interesting cultural issues are covered in sensitive way that do not detract from the narrative. I loved it.

The power of motherhood?

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A woman's story which could be anyone. A short account of bringing a child into the world and the compromise between the perfection we predict for our lives and our lives as they really are.

Moving reality

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The story very skillfully floats into and out of various events related to and shaping the core story of child birth experience by a woman with multidimensional issues around the absence in her life of her baby's father, and her defiant but delicate personality.

A well thought out story

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Wow, beautiful and insightful story. I would highly recommend this book as it explores a story rarely talked about.

Simply Amazing

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this book puts into words the struggle of being a woman and wanting a family especially where women of color are concerned

The struggle of the women of colour

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