Adichie explores effect of politics, social changes, consumerism, familial conflicts, Africa as a unit vs. Africa as seen by outside world, alienation in a foreign land, cultural diversity, ethnicity within the borders, moving to America for a better future, etc. She uses these themes to expose humanity in sometimes gut wrenching and mostly realistic depiction of people. She is a great observer of life and people around her. 
 "Cell One" 
 is story of a handsome college student from a respectable family, put in jail under the suspicion of being in a cult. As is the case in many third world countries, the boundaries of a jail is ruled with a totalitarian intent and law becomes a flimsy excuse to exercise power. The boy experiences complexities of real life while being in a cell with a seventy year old man. The boy is shocked to find out that the old man is jailed instead of his son because the police weren't able to find the son to arrest him. Having been excused for all his miscreant ways by his family, he is suddenly forced to face reality in the way police and the rest of his cellmates treat this old man. He stands up for this old man and gets beaten into submission for it. When he walks out of the jail, the raw jagged edges have smoothened. 
 In 
 "Imitation" 
 , a married woman living in America decides to go back home to Lagos, Nigeria when she finds out that her husband has moved his girlfriend to their Nigerian home. Its an impressive display of upper class Nigerian society - the affluent people who make it big and find a way to extract most from their lives. Adichie rouses a conversation about displeasure with colonialism/rule and plundering of her people that took place under the name of "exploration". 
 Anyone who understands communal violence, clash between ethnicities or 
 warring social classes will appreciate 
 "A private experience" 
 . Two women representing conflicting ethnicity share same space during riots. Its a testament to everyday life of people who want to carry on about their life in their own capacity without getting caught in larger political agenda. Adichie softens the experience when the women help each other fully knowing they are going to lose the people who they left behind. Though the story ends in a tragic note, Adichie leaves us with hope. 
 We all meet people whom we have left behind in our past life - some willingly and many because of circumstances. In 
 "Ghosts" 
 , two people in their seventies meet and reminisce. They mask their worry about corrupt government and corrupt morals. Its a story about friendship that borders on hostility and affection and now that they are retired, they ponder how to move forward. 
 A Nigerian nanny observes the family she works for in 
 "On Monday of Last week" 
 . She catalogs parental involvement, comforts given to children and the relative entitlement they grow up with. She compares them to her own childhood and muses how it reflects the society itself. 
 "Jumping monkey Hill" 
 a sad reflection of man's view of the plight of women from a cosmopolitan city when he refuses to believe the possible abuse she might have gone through while at the same time his eyes never leaves her chest. Adichie critiques the process of critiquing, a patriarchal bias on a work written by a woman and the literary symmetry she offers with the characters in this story and the stories these characters write as a part of writers workshop. Its one of my absolute favorite short stories. 
 That awful choking crawling feeling of helplessness and hopelessness clogs your throat and makes you grasp for filaments of reality around you. 
 "The thing around your neck" 
 is a gut wrenching story about an immigrant worker in America from Nigeria. 
 A mother can never recover from seeing her child put down in the ground. It will haunt her forever and she will always blame herself even when logic dictates it wasn't her fault. Being wife of a journalist who speaks out against government during Nigeria's turbulent times, sees his family going through intimidation and harassment from those who aren't happy with the article. After the death of her child, she decides to seek asylum from America. In 
 "The American Embassy" 
 she cannot bring herself to go through the process during the interview when she sees how a person on the other side of counter is responsible for her future when the person doesn't know the story at all. She walks away from the embassy without going through the process of applying for political asylum. 
 In 
 "The Shivering" 
 , two people find solace in shared grief when they find out a plane has crashed in Nigeria. They watch the news online as they are currently living in America, they both have their own personal demons to tackle. While one insists on praying and pursuing faith relentlessly, the other worries about their ex who was supposed to be on that flight and question God's plans. 
 A woman newly migrated to America after her marriage finds out that her husband is actually married to another woman to procure green-card. In 
 "The Arrangers of Marriage" 
 , the woman struggles to understand America-obsessed husband who wants to let go everything that they represent - the culture, cuisine, the phrases used and even their Nigerian names. She finds herself in a precarious position and in the end decides to make the most of the situation by taking advantage of her husband in the way he did to her. Like her new friend says: This is United states of fucking America. Never too late to start afresh. 
 A brother dies in a tragic accident while climbing avocado tree and the sister lies about her grandmother's involvement in it all. Wrecked with guilt, eighteen years later the sister comes back to Nigeria to attend her grandmother's funeral. The cousin who was there with her the day her brother died, tells her that the guilt is now shaped like her brother - all grownup and asking him questions. 
 "Tomorrow is too far" 
 is a story about guilt, repercussions and lies a ten year old can say that can change the family forever. 
 Adichie takes us back to turbulent times in Nigeria when society and people at large were caught between old tradition and newly emerging cosmopolitanism. 
 "The headstrong historian" 
 is a wonderful study in societal evolution told from the perspective of two women who stand on the boundaries of their respective societal construct.