DarkRebel69:
I read "Janelle Asked To The Room" some minutes ago and, well, I can't say that I understand the purpose of this bitter harangue. It's either the OP did not read the piece or that he read it and elected to give it an entirely different and exaggerated interpretation.

Where was the mockery of Melania's son?

This is the part where Adichie made mention of Barron (tell me what is inimical about this description):-

"Sometimes Barron came down to the gym during their sessions, sweetly shy and polite, dependent on his mother for his sense of self. There was a delicacy about him that reminded Janelle of her son."

(Even if she did mock Melania's autistic child (which she did not do), is it the business of the reader to apply himself to the moral aspects of a work of fiction? I don't think so.)

This is just Matthew effect at play here. If any unrecognized writer had written that piece, no one would care to give it a second look, but it's being hyped up beyond merit because Adichie authored it.

Frankly, the piece is barely above average. I found it rather gauche and stale, and even the occasionally piquant metaphors could not salvage the sinking ship. It is probably Mrs. Adichie's poorest work thus far.

I, for one dislike a writer making overt allusions to a public figure (just like the annoying thing Eminem does when he takes potshots at celebrities). In my eyes, such an act reeks of a poverty of creativity. Every good artist (writers, poets, etc.) knows that the subtler approaches usually have the most resounding impact.

See for instance what George Orwell did with Animal Farm. He could have just referred to Stalin and Leon Trotsky directly and the entire novel would be sure to numb the reader's senses with an unimaginative obviousness, but instead he took the long-winded albeit powerful route by choosing to give us porcine representations of Stalin (Napoleon) and Trotsky (Snowball), and of course the ignorant and mindless proles (Boxer, Clover, the ducks, the sheep). And that is why Orwell remains my favourite writer of all time.

Like I said, I think you people are over-reacting.

The mockery being- "dependent on his mother for his sense of self".

JamesReacher:
Get sense na guy, Is she the cause of recession?? What power does she have that Prof Wole doesn't have x2 here. Prof has talked and talked, criticized the govt yet no change but you want her to come here just to satisfy your warped thinking. She's a disgrace to Africa?? u are okay up there at all?

1. Na she cause recession? I never said so.. and she didn't cause it, just like Milania was not responsible for Hilary's criminality and character deficiency that caused her to lose the elections...

2. what power does she have that Wole Soyinka doesn't have? My answer to that is what is there for her to say that other American liberals and especially CNN have not said, that she now took it upon herself to insult the Trump family?


3. Professor criticize and no change? Well just like CNN has run fake news on Trump and no result to show for it..


so what exactly is your point...? So how big is your sense now?

I agree with Melania Trump. Chimamanda is not American. She overreached. Remove the TRANSFORMER from your own eye before you remove the speck in your brother's eye.

What did Nigeria lose by Obama's refusal to pay her a visit? Why should you tie your sense of worth to Obama's visit?