The following version of the book was used to create the guide: Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Notes on Grief. Knopf, 2021.

In Notes on Grief Sections 1-6, Chimamanda Adichie relates the story of her father's sudden death. On June 10, 2021, James Nwoye Adichie died from complications of kidney failure. An unspecified infection exacerbated his existing kidney disease. Chimamanda Adichie is "undone" (4) by this news and learns that grief is "a cruel kind of education" (6). Her body is sore from weeping, and her heart rhythms are irregular. She cannot yet accept all the condolence calls and texts. She wishes all her sorrow away, and for the first time, she takes refuge in sleeping pills.

In Sections 7-12, Adichie feels deep guilt because she had missed daily phone calls to her parents in the days leading up to James's death because she sustained a concussion while playing with her daughter. She also worries about how her sensitive brother Okey is taking his father's death because he was present at the time of death. Then she worries about her other siblings as well because they are having to face all the visitors at home in their ancestral village of Abba. She continues to struggle and leaves more calls and texts unanswered because she is not yet ready to face her grief. Those who tell her "He is in a better place" just make her angry now.

In Sections 13-18, Adichie spends much time looking through papers, photos, and videos that bring her father to life again. She also tells the charming story of the courtship of James and Grace. Grace loved the quiet nature of James, and James adored Grace, always defending her against doubters. Adichie remains awash in memories: she recalls the archetypal image of her father checking his watch on Sundays before Mass, and she recalls how carefully he always listened to his children. Moreover, she remembers his delightful humor and the honest feedback he gave her about everything she wrote. Adichie misses his organization and order; without him, she is inconsolable.

As Section 19 opens, Adichie describes a land disagreement between Abba and the next town over. She is overwhelmed with dismay that her father had to worry about this land grab in the final months of his life. In Sections 19-24, she is also concerned about her mother who is trying to follow Igbo dictates for grieving widows. Adichie tells her mother that she is not obliged to follow every custom exactly (such as shaving off her hair), but Grace says that she is glad to follow Igbo rules because they meant so much to her husband James.

Section 25 describes a brilliant, vivid dream in which Adichie's father lives still. His death must have been a mistake! She slaps herself to make sure she is not dreaming, and her father lives still. She is then devastated when she finally awakens to find her beloved father dead after all. In Sections 25-30, Adichie wanders down another road full of memories and one haunting image: a yard full of charred books where her parents used to grow roses. In the Biafran war, Nigerian soldiers burned every book in her father's library. His American colleagues sent him replacements for each book he had lost.

The closing sections of Notes on Grief detail a succession of losses for the Adichie family in 2020. The author loses her favorite aunt, and James's only sister passes away as well. In the last short section, Section 30, Adichie sums up her loss by writing "I am writing about my father in the past tense, and I cannot believe I am writing about my father in the past tense" (67).