Commissioned by the New York Times to write a piece about any aspect of this presidential election year, Adichie creates a delicious portrait of Melania Trump.
CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE grew up in Nigeria. Her work has been translated into more than fifty-five languages. She is the author of the novels Purple Hibiscus, which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize; Half of a Yellow Sun, which was the recipient of the Women’s Prize for Fiction “Best of the Best” award; Americanah, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award; the story collection The Thing Around Your Neck and the essays We Should All Be Feminists and Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. Her most recent work is an essay about losing her father, Notes on Grief, and Mama’s Sleeping Scarf, a children’s book written as Nwa Grace-James. A recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, she divides her time between the United States and Nigeria.
This book is simply a short story told from the perspective of Melania Trump, describing the dynamics within the Trump family. It was originally written for the NYT during the time of the election. This got great reviews when it first appeared in the New York Times. But I still think that it is pretty average compared to the other notable works of the author. Still, it will be a decent one-time read if you are interested in reading books related to politicians and their families.
We've had daily doses of The Donald crammed down our throats for over a year now. What can it possibly be like to be married to such a man?
Once, in the early years, before she fully understood him, she had asked what his favorite flowers were.
“I use the best florists in the city, they’re terrific,” he replied, and she realized that taste, for him, was something to be determined by somebody else, and then flaunted.
Here is an exceptionally well written, "imaginary" account of a day in the life of Melania Trump. As the only member of this publicity-loving family who seems to prefer to remain out of the spotlight, Melania's world is ripe for speculative fiction.
Adichie does a fine job of delving into this mysterious woman's inner life as Melania prepares for a special dinner party while musing on her life with Don. There is a definite rivalry going on with Ivanka:
Donald admired in his daughter qualities he would not abide in a wife.
And, in between the routines of pampering and primping, she remembers intimate moments with her husband:
“You need to get these fixed soon,” he had said a few months back, cupping her breasts, and when he got up from bed, she looked at his pale, slack belly, and the sprinkle of bristly hair on his back.
The author did something I thought impossible; she made me feel, just for a moment, some sympathy for Don:
He would never be a truly content person, she knew this, because of that primal restlessness that thrummed in him, the compulsion to prove something to himself that he feared he never would. It moved her, made her feel protective.
I enjoyed this fictional glimpse into the lives of the strange family residing in Trump Tower. This is obviously NOT RECOMMENDED for Trump supporters. They will get their revenge. The New York Times is promising another story by a different writer coming later in the fall where, I suspect, Hillary and Bill will get theirs.
For months now nearly every piece of fiction I’ve read has a character in it that reminds me of America’s presidential candidate, the infamous Donald Trump, perhaps because he is larger than life. Earlier this year, the New York Times commissioned short stories about the election, and then published this one by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in their newspaper available to read anytime by subscribers. I have just learned that Penguin Random House is publishing an audio version that will available for download October 25th.
Adichie mentioned in an interview that she patterned the story on Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, but my sense of Adichie’s story is far more Shakespearean, or Greek tragedy-ish. (Not having read Mrs. Dalloway recently, perhaps I am missing an obvious parallel.) Adichie makes the Trump women “clever as foxes,” which was my impression as well. Not only do they work hard at their beauty, which anyone with any sense will realize is an obvious advantage they are by now well-skilled at controlling, but they are astonishingly resilient and forgiving, which only comes from understanding, which comes with a certain amount of knowing. Clever as foxes.
I recommend this read or listen for the opportunity to imagine the whole big familial tragedy of Trump’s run for president. Thanks to Adichie to making the effort to add her imagination and skill (and the twist).
The PRH audio version is quite good, getting Melania’s accent down almost perfectly, though the reader, January Savoy, hammers the American accent pretty hard when it comes time for Janelle or Ivanka to speak. Anyway, the whole thing is amusing. You will be surprised at the twist in the story, and it all takes less than a half hour.
[3.5] Thanks to Helle's recommendation, I listened to this short story (about Melania Trump based on Mrs. Dalloway) this morning while cleaning my kitchen. Quite funny. Adichie is so versatile! Here is the link if you wish to read it: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/bo...
Ha ha ha ha... So, I read a review by Adichie of Barack Obama's new memoir, The Promised Land, the other day and quite judgmentally found her to be a tad earnest, as in humorless, albeit extremely observant and analytical. Smart.
That led me to an article about her in The Guardian about her having won the Women's Prize for Fiction. It included an interview with her in which she was, hm, more approachable? Certainly not earnest in a sanctimonious way, nor humorless.
There was a link in the article to this short story, which she wrote for the New York Times in 2016 following the election of Donald Trump. From one president to another. Having read only an extract from Half of a Yellow Sun previously (I plan to read the whole thing), I was frankly baffled that she had also written this.
The story is about Melania Trump and is - if you can believe it - modeled on Mrs. Dalloway! What a feat! It may not be life-changing but it is well done, entertaining, and shows the range of Adichie.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a wordsmith of the highest order.
Here she manages to make the world's most likeable family almost sympathetic - without once condoning a thing. She humanises, allows for empathy, and still doesn't detract from the fact that they are still awful, awful people.
And it's also hilariously funny reading. She's a genius.
I’ve loved pretty much everything that Chimamanda has ever written and when I saw this new piece available as an audiobook I immediately wanted to read it. Unfortunately this was just ok and to be honest, I am not sure what was the purpose of the short story. ‘The Arrangements’ is basically a day in the life of Melania Trump, while her husband was running his campaign to become President of the US. We are shown a Melania that leads a privileged life but cannot understand why Donald wants to be president and fears what winning will imply to their already complicated lives. She also shows her dislike for her husband’s mood swings and for her daughter -an infamous, calculating Ivanka. We get glimpses from a self-centred man, who only cares about his ambitions and a woman that has been his wife and has accepted everything he has demanded from her. But besides those glimpses and evident portrait of what kind of man is Mr Trump (which I think almost everyone knows worldwide) I don’t believe this story offered anything new or relevant. Maybe it is because it was so short but I found none of the characters relevant nor the plot interesting. The idea behind the story is great and I think that if it was explored in a full length novel it would be amazing.
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Soy fan de todo lo que escribe Chimamanda y cuando vi este título disponible en audio libro, no dudé en leerlo. Desafortunadamente, me pareció una historia bastante regular y con sinceridad, no entiendo bien cuál fue su propósito. En ‘The Arrangements’ seguimos un día en la vida de Melania Trump, antes de que su marido se convirtiera Presidente de los EUA y que justo se encuentra en campaña. Se nos muestra a una Melania que lleva en efecto, una vida privilegiada, pero que no entiende por qué su esposo quiere ser presidente cuando ya casi lo tienen todo y que teme las repercusiones que esto tendrá en su vida. También nos muestra el temor de esta mujer a los cambios de humor de su marido y de sus propios hijos, en particular de una Ivanka bastante calculadora y fría. La historia, en resumen, nos da un vistazo a la vida de un matrimonio compuesto por un hombre egoísta que persigue sus ambiciones y de una mujer que por años ha cumplido con un papel que se le demanda, esté de acuerdo o no. Pero fuera de estos ‘vistazos’ y un retrato algo evidente de la personalidad del Sr. Trump (que creo no es sorpresa para nadie en estos tiempos) no considero que esta historia nos presente algo innovador o relevante. Quizá fue por su extensión (y es que en verdad es demasiado corta) pero la verdad que ni los personajes ni la trama me parecieron memorables. Creo que una novela pudiera funcionar mucho mejor y sería sumamente interesante.
Another one of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's shorter works, originally written for the New York Times, The Arrangements takes a fictional look at the life of Melania Trump. I was confused by this short story. Throughout, the author had some interesting ideas, mostly surrounding the attitude of Melania towards the Trump children, however I feel that it didn't seem to have a clear message or purpose. Written during the heat of the election in 2016, I thought that this would contain a commentary on Trump's political views but I found that it was merely an imagining of Melania's life with very little purpose. At just 16 pages, or 30 minutes on audiobook, the author doesn't have any time to develop her ideas and the result is a short and forgettable read.
Quería leerme este relato porque la portada del audiolibro es distinta y creí que sería otro de esos ensayos sobre feminismo de Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, pero, ups, estaba equivocada xD
Resulta que el New York Times le pidió a Adichie que escribiera un relato sobre las elecciones estadounidenses para publicarlo en el periódico y, bueno, este es el resultado.
Se trata de un relato de cómo la autora se imagina la relación entre Melania y Donald Trump, y entre ella y las hijas de él, especialmente Ivanka. La verdad es que me enganchó muchísimo y me hizo sentir mucha empatía hacia la Melania de esta historia. Es una mujer resignada que tiene un marido caprichoso y cuya hija es muy manipuladora y que intenta fastidiarla, pero ella, aunque por dentro sufra, mantiene siempre la compostura, siempre estoica y con una sonrisa forzada (e incluso casi que desea que Donald no gane las elecciones).
En fin, pobrecilla xD
El relato está bien. No me ha cambiado la vida, pero está bien.
A short story told from the perspective of Melania Trump, about her adversarial relationship with Ivanka, who is secretly sabotaging Donald's presidential campaign.
It's a fun read with surprisingly multi-dimensional characters (aside from Donald really, who is as flat as his typical caricatures), but not so good that I would recommend it to anyone in the year 2017 - the NYT compared it to Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway but I don't see it retaining its relevance in the way that Woolf's political work has.
A subtle, funny, human story from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about Donald Trump and his campaign as seen from the eyes of Melania. The voices of each of the characters - Melania, Ivanka and the Donald himself - is pitch perfect. I've heard other people opine that this gives them a certain amount of sympathy for Trump and I certainly wouldn't go that far, but it does humanise the monster somewhat.
Virginia Woolf and Donald Trump, the perfect couple? Say what now? A belated mention of this recent brief work, The Arrangements, by the author of Americanah, in the 3 July issue of the New York Times Book Review. In her new short story, Adichie has rewritten Virginia Woolf, with Melania Trump (Mrs. Donald Trump) in the role of Mrs. Dalloway in Mrs. Dalloway. The Book Review states that for the first time ever, it had commissioned an original short story, addressing "anything about this election season." Adichie chose Mrs. Trump and, in reality, Mr. Trump. Adichie's The Arrangements consists of the thoughts of, and conversations with, Melania Trump, combining Virginia Woolf with the headlines and news stories of today. She thus introduces us to the imagined inner life of the mostly silent wife of the much praised and much attacked presumptive Republican American presidential nominee. The thoughts described seem eerily probable, more credit to Adichie, as non-fiction credibility rings through the fictional feel of the writing, the Woolfian echoes coming through clear and bright. I won't make any editorial comments here about The Arrangements, merely wanting to make more people aware of this interesting new short story. So, here is a new work by, and the point of view of, the well-known Nigerian novelist who is also a graduate of Johns Hopkins and Yale universities in the States. Which begs the question, what would Virginia Woolf have made of Trumpism? Seek it out (it's an ebook), enjoy, ponder. [3.5 Stars]
A fairly entertaining account of the Trump family narrated by Melania. Greed, vanity, selfishness and eye-squinting/lip pursing humor invade this satire that I could see as being slightly true.
As I read this, I envisioned the Trump's getting a reality series à la The Osbournes where the crazies come out to play, yet they take themselves seriously.
The opening line goy me hooked because of its similarity with Mrs Dalloway. Light and quick read about Milana Trump and her view on living with someone as Donald Turmp. For me I would like a longer version of that narrative but all in all it was nice and quick read and I got a glimpse about what life would be like between two characters like them.
Ever wondered what life might be like for Melania Trump? Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has a way with words and her imaginary day in the life of Melania is delightful. Political figures seemingly so familiar to us through their portrayal in the media, or in the Trump family's case the demonisation, are given a fresh breath of air. It's easy to forget politicians are human; let alone remember that their spouses and children have their own lives and needs. And they're not above family drama. It's still beyond me why anybody would choose to share their lives with Donald (there are other outrageously wealthy men out there with less misogynistic/racist etc. personalities). For Melania, the benefits outweigh the downsides of such an arrangement.
??? What a horrible fanfic. If I wanted rich white family "drama" I'd really just have started any episode of Arrested Development, at least that one's funny.
Love the introduction and rewriting from a piece of Virgina Woolf's text. Because of that, I somehow associate Melania with Mrs Dalloway in the beginning, and for some reason I like her more because of it? Maybe she feels... stronger. I don't know.
But there are more connections to Mrs Dalloway than the introduction - the internal dialogues, a beautiful woman with a politically active man, both are committed to their home and planning a big party (though this is a big dinner). It's interesting. However, I think it might be different to read the text with today's eyes (with Trump as president) than if you read it when it was written (before he became president)? I don't know.
However, I do not like that Melania and Trump's daughter are portrayed as rivals and that Melania is portrayed as a superficial European model. At the same time, I think that the rivalry and Melanias ancestry shows the social structures and the human based on gender and our age. Melania belongs, but she does not belong.
Also, something that felt so sad was the yoga teacher. Signaling so much loneliness within Melania.
It truly pains me to give one star to everything written by one of my favourite authors (and icon) but this was just terrible and I can't find one saving grace. Throughout the whole story, I was left baffled and wondering "for what purpose was this written?" it seemed pointless. There was absolutely no depth to it, it didn't add anything new to the table, didn't have anything to say in a political or societal sense. I'm reiterating but it was just pointless! I love Chimamanda and would continue reading her work but this one was a huge miss. Wouldn't recommend this to anyone, sadly.
Very short, very bland, I did not particularly like the writing, no interesting ideas or insights, just a 30 minute piece about the Trump family, on a very regular day, which was quite boring to be honest. (listened to this on audiobook)
This audiobook was immediately available at the library and since it was such a short read (only 31 minutes), I decided to give it a go. I've read only one other book by the author and I have another one to read (or maybe two, I'm not even sure) so my experience with Chimamanda's work is limited but I was tempted to see where this one lead me. To be completely honest, I didn't even know what this short-story was about. It was an impulse thing that made me jump to this reading but I had hoped to be surprised. Well, I have to say that I wasn't that impressed with this story. This short-story is an account of a day in Melania Trump's life. Not that the subject or the person interests me much but I've got to say that I was curious to see how the author would portray the Trump family, especially because the story itself is modeled on the novel Mrs. Dalloway. I think it was interesting to see how the author tackled the life of one of the most famous families in the USA but the story itself didn't really grab me.
An interesting, quick read, with clear parallels to Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. Loved the writing, still hate the MC's, but it was nice how Adichie humanised Melania, and I giggled at her dislike of Ivanka and parts of Donald.