While reading Americanah, I felt was reading it too late and on the other hand, just in time. Set in Nigeria, England and America, the book is a joy to read from start to finish. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie became an author who made me want to write after a long time. As I do with any author who has her own voice and writes with grace and intelligence, I said to myself: Thank God there is literature.
Americanah is about race, westernization, immigration and love. The book, which proceeds through the characters Ifemelu and Obinze, helped me think more about racism than I expected. Ifemelu and Obinze grow up together in Nigeria and fall in love with each other. Ifemelu finds a way to go to America, and after some unfortunate events, he does not or cannot meet with Obinze. Obinze, on the other hand, can not get his American visa, but eventually, he can go to England. Both are grappling with more or less the same problems in different countries. Ifemelu creates a blog about this new state of being black she is experiencing in America, and she becomes more popular than expected. She goes to good schools, makes her own life, and finally becomes an American. Obinze’s situation, on the other hand, is a little different.
I’m stopping here to give as few spoilers about the book as possible. Americanah is about a whole life story, with many lives included with what I have summarized here. And their stories are all different. This book taught me a lot and helped me to look at myself from a different perspective. Since I have not always achieved such an achievement in fiction books, I’m incredibly impressed by it. Adichie’s prose flows seamlessly. Whenever I picked it up, I read more chapters than I wanted to read. I am sure it will be the same for you. Enjoy!
Americanah
Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion—for each other and for their homeland.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer whose works range from novels to short stories to nonfiction.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
