Americanah: A novel
From the award-winning author of We Should All Be Feminists, Americanah is a must-read modern classic about star-crossed lovers that explores questions of race and the search for what it means to call a place home.
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Readers say *Americanah* by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie offers a deep, nuanced exploration of race, identity, and immigration, vividly portraying Black e...
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Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
588 pages
What’s it about?
This novel is a love story, an immigrant’s story and a story of race in America.
What did it make me think about?
This is a book I wanted to love. It started off so promising for me, and parts of the novel were amazing. I found the main character smart, interesting, insightful and sometimes just harsh and hard to understand.
Should I read it?
I found the authors' commentaries on race in America thought provoking. Her observations on being a new immigrant to America were also interesting. Her ability to stand back and observe, and then write social commentary makes this novel worth reading. However be warned- the second half of the book got tedious for me.
Quote-
“There was a manic optimism that he noticed in many of the people who had moved back from America in the past few years, a head-bobbing, ever-smiling, over-enthusiastic kind of manic optimism that bored him, because it was like a cartoon, without texture or depth. He hoped she would not have become like that. “
If you like this try-
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyimi
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
588 pages
What’s it about?
This novel is a love story, an immigrant’s story and a story of race in America.
What did it make me think about?
This is a book I wanted to love. It started off so promising for me, and parts of the novel were amazing. I found the main character smart, interesting, insightful and sometimes just harsh and hard to understand.
Should I read it?
I found the authors' commentaries on race in America thought provoking. Her observations on being a new immigrant to America were also interesting. Her ability to stand back and observe, and then write social commentary makes this novel worth reading. However be warned- the second half of the book got tedious for me.
Quote-
“There was a manic optimism that he noticed in many of the people who had moved back from America in the past few years, a head-bobbing, ever-smiling, over-enthusiastic kind of manic optimism that bored him, because it was like a cartoon, without texture or depth. He hoped she would not have become like that. “
If you like this try-
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyimi
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Read for my book club, which was canceled. :-(
Very moving and powerful story about Ifemelu and Obinze, two young lovers growing up in Nigeria, who find themselves on different paths in life. Ifemelu heads to the States to study and chase the "American dream" that Obinze had wanted for both of them, only to be confronted with racial issues for the first time in her life. She starts a blog to talk about race and racism in America, becoming wildly successful but moving further and further away from Obinze, whose life took unexpected turns when he was not able to get to America.
After years in the States, Ifemelu decides it's time to return home, and their reunion is bittersweet and complicated.
Very moving and powerful story about Ifemelu and Obinze, two young lovers growing up in Nigeria, who find themselves on different paths in life. Ifemelu heads to the States to study and chase the "American dream" that Obinze had wanted for both of them, only to be confronted with racial issues for the first time in her life. She starts a blog to talk about race and racism in America, becoming wildly successful but moving further and further away from Obinze, whose life took unexpected turns when he was not able to get to America.
After years in the States, Ifemelu decides it's time to return home, and their reunion is bittersweet and complicated.
I loved the characters! Ifemelu was a very different main character that was fascinating in her untraditional viewpoints. Aunty Juju another example of this. It was refreshing to hear a middle class African perspective that is not steeped in the narrative of African poverty that is so prevalent.
The novel is long-winded, that’s for sure. I thought Adichie offered a strong discussion of race relations and immigration. Still, these themes, like those of romance, elitism, and striving for something more, became murky as they seeped into one another. I don’t think I minded though, because that’s how life is. There’s no clear linearity in how different facets of life interact with one another, just as Ifemelu and Obinze are not perfect, linear characters. I found Ifemelu and Obinze to be deeply human, despite how frustrating they could be at times, and above all, the novel did a great job of situating them within their circumstances.
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