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    Americanah: A novel
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    Americanah: A novel
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    Americanah: A novel
    Ebook638 pages10 hours

    Americanah: A novel

    By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A modern classic about star-crossed lovers that explores questions of race and being Black in America—and the search for what it means to call a place home. • From the award-winning author of We Should All Be Feminists and Half of a Yellow Sun • WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR

    "An expansive, epic love story."—O, The Oprah Magazine
     
    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.

    At once powerful and tender, Americanah is a remarkable novel that is "dazzling…funny and defiant, and simultaneously so wise." —San Francisco Chronicle
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRandom House Publishing Group
    Release dateMay 14, 2013
    ISBN9780307962126
    Unavailable
    Americanah: A novel
    Author

    Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

    Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the author of Purple Hibiscus, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize, Half of a Yellow Sun, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction; and acclaimed story collection The Thing Around Your Neck. Americanah, was published around the world in 2013, received numerous awards and was named one of New York Times Ten Books of the Year. A recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, she divides her time between the United States and Nigeria.

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    Reviews for Americanah

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    • 5/5
      Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, was a wonderful read! I haven't given anything 5 stars in awhile, but this was a novel with plot, with ideas, with well developed characters, and a beautiful, realistic love story. And beautifully written. Obinze and Ifemelu grow up in Lagos, Nigeria where they are first school friends, and become lovers. When their paths to education and careers are blocked, each goes abroad, Obinze to England, and Ifemelu to the U.S. Through their eyes, we learn what it means to be black in these countries, and to be an immigrant. Ultimately, Ifemelu is successful in her quest to stay in the U.S., but Obinze, whose road has been much harder, is finally deported back to Nigeria. It is Ifemelu's experience in the U.S. that teaches us what it is like to be an African in America, where one becomes "black," while in Nigeria, one is simply a person, because everyone is a person of color. Through her eyes, we come to understand the difference between being an African American and being African. We come to understand how whites minimize the racism and oppression blacks experience here. And how blacks are prevented from speaking too openly of their real experience, in order that whites may feel safe. This is seamlessly conveyed through Adichie's writing, both in the dialogue between characters, and in Ifemelu's blog, where she writes about her experience in the U.S.When she returns to Nigeria, we learn so much about the lives of people there, the social mores, and business practices they use. I was not expecting the happy ending--that did surprise me, after everything that happened before. I wonder how realistic that was. All in all, the kind of book that makes me want to postpone starting anything new because I am not ready to leave that fictional world and delve into another that might not be as rewarding!
    • 4/5
      I found this book to be very good and I liked the switching back and forth between the lovers, Ifemelu and Obinze. The book presents their separate experiences of being emigrants. Ifemelu in the United States and Obinze in England. Ifemelu being successful in carving a place for herself in the US and being a successful blogger and Obinze struggling and being deported back to Nigeria. Even with Ifemelu, her emigration experience is not without great difficulty. It also is a book that uses an epistolary technique but having comments from Ifemelu's blogs which read more like social commentary and allow for those parts to be more direct and not left for the reader to glean from the stories themselves. I really enjoyed the blog posts.
    • 4/5
      My first Adichie, and now I want to read her earlier work soon.Ifemelu and Obinzie are young, in love, and have a lot of hope. They both want to go from Nigeria to America for college. Ifemelu gets a visa--but Obinze can't, as a young man from Nigeria he is "a security risk". She goes, he instead overstays a visa in England, working illegally.In America Ifemelu learns she is "black"--and she has to learn to navigate the worlds of whites, African-Americans, and immigrants. She cuts contact with Obinze, as she struggles to find work and eat. And she does, and she gets comfortable, but never completely comfortable. She blogs about her experiences, and the blog becomes her best job and main source of income.Obinze, meanwhile, makes few friends in England, and grows frustrated with some that he had known in Nigeria. And then he is deported. Back in Nigeria he manages to make himself a rich man, he marries, has a daughter, and is a successful man of the new Nigeria.Ifemelu decides to go home. And upon arriving, finds she no longer fits in. She has become an Americanah.
    • 3/5
      A fascinating perspective and a worthwhile read, but this is one of those books wherein I find each individual page quite engrossing but there are simply too many of them. ("Too many notes!") My favorite parts were the blog entries, and their conciseness shows how powerful the author can be when she is focused. But this book got mired in the domestic drama as so many digressions piled up, dozens and dozens of characters with only one or two character traits were introduced, and way too many dinner parties were held.
    • 5/5
      In Nigerian slang, the term americanah is used to describe a native citizen who has gone away to live in the United States for a period of time before emigrating back to Nigeria. The affected airs and altered attitudes of these returning sons and daughters are a source of both amusement and frustration for their countrymen who never left. This becomes a perfect framing device for the novel Americanah, in which Chimamanda Adichie gives us the saga of Ifemelu and Obinze, young lovers who meet in Lagos but find they must leave their homeland so as to further their educations and careers. However, the two have very different experiences abroad. Ifemelu goes to college in America and she eventually integrates into society as a successful blogger on issues of race and culture. Obinze cannot get a visa for the U.S., so he ends up in England living underground for years before being deported back to Nigeria. Through it all, they lose touch—despite frequently thinking about each other—and they do not reconnect until Ifemelu decides to move back home to Africa. The book ends with the poignant details of their bittersweet reunion so many years after their love affair began.When I find myself really enjoying a work of fiction, it is usually for one of two reasons. First, the story being told may be really interesting, with complex and relatable characters involved in relations that I come to care about. Second, the book might explore topics that teach me something I did not know or provide insights that help me change the way I see the world. Rarely does a novel accomplish both things, but Americanah did. Certainly, I found the multi-decade connection between Ifemelu and Obinze to be a compelling foundation for the novel, even though neither character was completely blameless when things went wrong or altogether worthy of the outcome they both desired.The real impact that this book had on me, however, came from the message it delivers. Without question, this story offers a rather direct examination of modern-day racial issues, as well as an unvarnished look at what it means to be an immigrant. Unlike other contemporary authors who cover similar ground, the interesting angle that Adichie creates is to have her heroine come to the United States from Africa—where she never considered herself to be black—and comment through her blog on the differences between being American black, non-American black, white, or any other color. Ifemelu and Obinze both spend much of the story torn between two cultural identities and their respective journeys are fascinating and enlightening to observe. For me, this is both an important and an entertaining book that was a pleasure to read.
    • 5/5
      I had been waiting to read this book... but after all the buzz about it, I was almost hesitant, in case it disappointed. Well - I was *not* disappointed. This novel really absorbed me from the first page. I loved the characterizations (particularly the character of Ifumele), which are very rich and three dimensional, and some of my favorite writing is in Ifumele's blog posts.
    • 3/5
      Why 'only' three stars? Because in the end it is a traditional novel, with keen psychological insights, but not startling in the sort of novel it is. Perhaps this extends to it ending as a 'classical' love story, happily.That said, I, being white and European, learned a lot. I do not read a novel primarily to learn something about the world (the way one reads non-fiction). But I appreciate the chance to look with one pair of Nigerian eyes (Ifemulu) to the world, especially Nigerian society. Also, it goes without saying, the intricacies of color as an evaluative category, racism in all its varieties, were brought to life.About Nigeria/ 'Africa' (I know it is wildly generalizing, prejudices are): I notice a bit of weariness when viewing the typical slightly overweight 'African' Male Important Person, and have had it with corruption. Adichie portrays people as also caught up in the world they are born in, perhaps compromising and being no moral hero, but suffering the consequences. In that regard I also read the portrayal of diverse women, always preying 'suitable' men, with interest, and noticed Ifemulu/Adichie regarded some varieties of Christianity (that of Kosi or Aunty Uju, for instance) with a suspicion I could recognize. (I tend to think 'Africans' have an uncritical tendency to all be believers in some kind of religion or magical system)Regarding race, I also appreciated (also artistically) how Adichie managed to portray the interactions between, and relationship of, Ifemulu and the white liberal lady in the USA, where Ifemulu starts babysitting. It is easy to be condescending about liberal white do-gooders. Adichie treats the woman as just as complex as anyone. Ifemulu has a mix of feelings towards her, including positive ones.
    • 4/5
      There is so much to enjoy about this novel. It's funny; it's serious. It addresses some big issues regarding racism. As much as I enjoyed most of the novel, there were times when I was disengaged and had to keep reading to find the story-line again.
    • 4/5
      Interesting story about a Nigerian woman who goes to American and returns to Nigeria. I enjoyed learning about race and attitudes but didn't really connect with the characters. Too much of a romance for me. I had to listen at normal speed until I got used to the Nigerian names and accents but then could speed it up a bit.
    • 4/5
      Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Ifemelu and Obinze met as teenagers. When they met they trusted each other suddenly and completely and immediately had an intimacy between them. He made her like herself. It was almost like love at first sight and they were together up until Ifemelu moves to America to attend college. Ifemelu really struggles when she moves to America. She can’t find a job, she doesn’t fit in, and she misses Obinze. Then something happens to her and she cuts off contact with Obinze. He is completely confused about why she has stopped contacting him. “He missed her, a longing that tore deep into him. He resented her. He wondered endlessly what might have happened. He changed, curled more inwardly into himself. He was, by turns, inflamed by anger, twisted by confusion, withered by sadness.”Ifemelu soon finds out, “You are in a country that is not your own. You do what you have to do if you want to succeed.” “I came from a country where race was not an issue; I did not think of myself as black and I only became black when I came to America.” “How many other people had become black in America? How many had felt as though their world was wrapped in gauze?” She begins a blog about race that is a huge part of the novel and it becomes successful. She has two serious relationships in America and then she finds that her heart just isn’t in it anymore. “She did not know what it was but there was something wrong with her. A hunger, a restlessness. An incomplete knowledge of herself. The sense of something farther away, beyond her reach.” “There was cement in her soul. It had been there for a while, an early morning disease of fatigue, a bleakness and borderlessness. It brought with it amorphous longings, shapeless desires, brief imaginary glints of other lives she could be living, that over the months melded into a piercing homesickness.”Meanwhile Obinze is feeling the same way. “He had begun, in the past few months, to feel bloated from all he had acquired and would, from time to time be overcome by the urge to prick everything with a pin, to deflate it all, to be free. He no longer felt sure, he had in fact never been sure whether he liked his life because he really did or whether he liked it because he was supposed to.” “His mind had not changed at the same pace of his life, and felt a hollow space between himself and the person he used to be.”So Ifemelu moves back to Nigeria and she and Obinze find each other again. Will their love be enough? Will he be able to leave his wife to be with her again? I desperately wanted a happy ending for these two and I won’t say whether they got one or not because I don’t want to spoil it for you. I found this book to be boring and tedious at times and the race subject was a little overkill. However, I kept reading because I was very invested in the love story between Ifemelu and Obinze. Adichie is a very talented and amazing writer and I will continue to read anything she writes.
    • 4/5
      Adichie's novel is complex, many-layered. One could read it as a tale of star-crossed lovers; or as a comparison of black life and concerns in Nigeria and in the United States; or as a story about a young woman growing into her aspirations, desires and talents. OR as a portrait of entitled young Nigerians. It is all of these things and more. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Americanah which is a page-turner in addition to all the other things it is.
    • 3/5
      This tells of two childhood sweethearts and how they plan their lives - only it doesn't quite go to plan. Along the way, they loose touch, their lives drift in very different directions and they almost forget each other. Almost, but not quite. Ifemelu and Obinze meet at school. He is the one with grand plans to go to America and make a new life for himself. Ifemelu is rather more content to follow his lead. When they graduate, she is the one who is able to get the visa to the US and works her way through a number of different jobs to make ends meet. Not all of them where what she had intended to so and this is one of the causes is disillusionment that run through the book. Obinze ends up in the UK, as an imiogrant who has overstayed his visa and is working jobs on someone else's NI number in order to make ends meet. He ends up being uncovered and deported. In different ways, the two of them end up back in Nigeria. There is, again, an air of expectation being un-met on their return and things not entirely going to the plan that you have for your life as a young adult. It could be described as a love story, and there is a thread of these two being destined for each other throughout. However I thought it was as much about making the best of what you have - the grass is not greener on the other side for either of the two protagonists. There is a fair propiriton of the book devoted to the subject of race and skin colour. I'm not at all qualified to comment. It was interesting in terms of perspective and the dangers of grouping people of disparate experience into a single bucket. It was not especially edifying. It was, overall an enjoyable books and one I found easier to relate to than the previous book of hers I had read.
    • 3/5
      Overall I enjoyed this book. The person that showed it to me was not a fan of her writing style and though it wasn't the most poetically written book I found it true to what it was trying to convey. I especially liked the blogs posts.
    • 5/5
      From my Cannonball Read VI review...

      I first learned about Ms. Adichie from her Ted Talk.

      After viewing that video I knew I needed to read her writing. I chose Americanah because I’d heard more about it than her other works, but based on how much I enjoyed this novel I know I’ll be looking the rest

      The blurb on the back of the book, while technically correct, doesn’t adequately capture what the book is about. Americanah follows Ifemelu and her boyfriend Obinze through youth and into adulthood, but it is definitely Ifemelu’s book. The situations that Obinze faces are I suppose technically what the back blurb says, but overall I think it’s a better book than the one the blurb describes. The writing jumps around a lot – sometimes it is present day U.S., sometimes the Nigeria of Ifemelu’s youth, and sometimes it is the U.S. in between. But it isn’t confusing – each chapter quickly establishes the time and place, and it all works so well together to build a story.

      Usually I write all through my books, but I was just too absorbed in this to make many notes. It’s nearly 600 pages long, but I read it over the course of a week while on vacation and found that when I would pick it up I’d read 100 pages in a stretch. The story itself is more interesting and complex than a simple love story – I can honestly say I did not know how it would end until I finished the book. But it’s also fantastic because of its social commentary. The main character Ifemelu starts a blog from the perspective of a Black African living in the U.S. and navigating race in a very different way than she was used to in Nigeria. The sample blog posts are interesting and insightful, as are some really great chapters about immigration and London. It’s a well-crafted piece of writing that I hope many people choose to read.
    • 5/5
      Honesty has become rare. Many lie outright, others mistake their prejudices for truth, some cover truth with tact, some are clueless, and some dance near the truth but are more concerned with their cleverness. This book hits you with the real, not as Baldwin did, but within the embrace of a narrative, a romance. An immigrant's look at America and leaving home, at being suddenly black, not Nigerian, at having a blond lover, an Afro-american, and a Nigerian. Read it. You need it.
    • 4/5
      This is not the sort of novel I would normally read, but I had heard very good things about it. And indeed, I loved it. It's the story of Ifemelu, a Nigerian woman living in America, contrasted with the experiences of Obinze, her high school sweetheart, as he moves up the ranks in the Nigerian business elite. There's much discussion of race from a point of view I have not encountered often (namely, the non-American Black), a fair amount of culture shock (Nigeria, America, England, and combinations thereof), and complicated relationships. I found Ifemelu particularly compelling, watching her brilliant mind encounter American things alien to her yet familiar to me, and then Nigerian things familiar to her yet alien to me. Perhaps what drew me in most was the fact that I did not feel like there was any commentary on the relative merits of each culture. Neither America nor Nigeria was considered to be "superior". Just different, and explored with such sympathetic and likable characters that I was completely absorbed. Definitely going to have to look up Adichie's other works.
    • 4/5
      This was my 1st read regarding Nigerian immigrants and/or Nigerian characters. As it is definitely a love story, it was more than that. Interesting view of a Nigerian student on a visa in the USA; who does what it takes to get a job, who eventually becomes a blogger on Race issues; I was very intrigued and agreed on some of her observations regarding Non-american blacks vs Black American's attitudes; as well as differences on the have's and have nots. This story, has many truths; some are not so flattering for America or Americans and in ways, very sad when looking through the eyes of a Non American Black. Also, interesting on how people actually do come here pregnant to deliver and have their child born american and then return to their native country. Understand the concept and motivation but do not feel its acceptable in many ways.
    • 4/5
      I truly enjoyed Americanah, and it gave me quite a bit of food for thought. However, I will freely admit this is not a book for everyone. I love reading stories about the immigrant experience, and while I did not like Ifemelu as a character, I did like her observations and the commentary on the different societies portrayed in the novel (American, British and Nigerian). I agreed with much of her "blog" posts in the novel, even the jabs at American liberals. :-) By the end of the story, I was also starting to get the impression that some of the characters actions and thoughts were exaggerated for a reason. That despite the serious subject matter, it is meant to be read with a side of humor.
    • 3/5
      I had been putting of my review of this book for a couple of days. I honestly did not know how to approach the review without taking focus off the book's central point, which brings forward a discussion about race and what race means. I believe I can start this review with applause for a masterful work of fiction that effectively begins a deeper conversation about race not yet seen in American literature. Being Black is not a homogenous feature. Being African-American is different from being Nigerian. The centralizing argument presented by the protagonist, Ifem, is that she had never experienced race in Nigeria, that race is an American minefield wrought with subtleties difficult to understand. Ifem is positioned as the "Other" of the "Other" providing a depth of insight and a bringing forth of questions that Americans seem to refuse to discuss. Bravo!

      Now, comes my difficulty with the book. I had extreme difficulty with the privileging of the male that is loudly whispered throughout the book. I think I need to explain my difficulty is shaped by an experience I had while reading Adichie's masterpiece on a flight.

      I had started the book a few weeks back and chose to take the book with me on an overnight trip to Seattle to attend my Son-In-Law's Naval pinning ceremony announcing his arrival as Chief Petty Officer. It was a quick trip. I was leaving in the afternoon, staying the night, attending the ceremony the following morning, and flying home that same evening. When I boarded my departing Southwest flight, I was lucky enough to draw seating with the first boarding group and settled into my favored window seat with Adichie's book. At one point I looked up, saw the stream of passengers boarding, caught the eye of a male, I smiled, and he took that as an invitation to join me in my row. So far, so good. Problems began with the fact the male had been drinking (he smelled), continuing when he proceeded to pick up on me, repeatedly, persistently, and creepily. Throughout the flight I was extremely uncomfortable. I tried to be polite so as not to be disruptive but ignore him as much as possible concentrating on Adichie's book. I did not share my name with the male. I did share I was going to Seattle and why in preliminary chit-chat I soon regretted. This male was also heading to Seattle. When the plane landed after the first leg of the journey, I let him leave ahead of me hoping to create distance. I then proceeded to get near my next gate planning to grab an adult beverage while I waited for the next flight to board (I needed it). I saw the drunk male at the gate, thought, "Fuck!," and scurried into the nearest bar to stay far away from him. The drunk male spotted me and proceeded to come into the bar and sit next to me. Here, I share a synopsis I posted on Facebook:

      Bartender: What can I get you two.
      Creep: [Turns to me] I'd like to get this woman whatever she wants.
      Me: No.
      Creep: It's no problem. I'd like to buy you a drink.
      Me: No. [In turn to Bartender and passing him my debit card] I'll take a marzdan.
      [Creep orders what he wants. I go back to reading my book.]
      Creep: [To Bartender] Is there a restroom around here?
      Bartender: Just around the corner.
      [Creep leaves, but leaves his bag like I will watch it.]
      Bartender: [To me] Interesting guy. Are you two friends?
      Me: No.
      Bartender: Do you know him?
      Me: No. He sat next to me on the plane, tried to pick me up, we are on the next flight together, and he followed me in here. I apologize, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to get quite rude in a moment.
      Bartender: No problem.
      [Creep returns]
      Creep: I can't believe you are as old as you say you are. I'm only 36 and would love to ask you out.
      Me: I am the age I said I am, and I perfer that you don't ask me out.

      I down my beer and leave. Bartender tells me to have a good rest of the day. I go sit at the gate next to other people. I am in the first boarding group and plant myself at the front next to a lovely, wonderfully nice woman. She's from Seattle, is also a grandma, and we had a happy, comfortable, pleasant visit. I told her about the creep. She said just pretend I'm your girlfriend. It was a nice flight into Seattle then. However, when I get into my daughter's vehicle at the curbside loading zone outside Sea-Tac, I turned around and the creep was standing there. I told my daughter that's was the guy who was bothering me. She was shocked that he would be so close to me, even through the airport.
      I have never been harassed like that on a flight or in an airport. My humor is gone. There won't be a next time. NO ONE, NO MALE, has an unmitigated right to a space, place, or person. EVER! I will simply have the passenger or myself reseated. I was too nice. Lesson learned.

      Getting back to Americanah, there are extreme parallels between the drunk, creepy male and the males in Adichie's book. Everyone one of Adiche's male characters assumed their opinion was akin to God's (or was law); that they had an unquestioned, privileged right to possess space, place, and person. Neither Curt, nor Blaine, nor the apparent love of Ifem's life, Obinze, refrained from treating Ifem like a possession, like something they deserved (and acting like spoiled children when they didn't get their way). Reading the chapters, sitting next to the drunken creep on the plane, I wanted to pitch the book across the row planning on hitting the creep upside the head. Perhaps sexism was part of the questioning Adichie wanted to bring forward. It is so subtle in execution, I'm not certain she did. Yet, it wasn't subtle enough not to unsettle me and hate everything I read about every male in her book from my encounter with the creepy male forward.

      After Ifem leaves America to return to live Nigeria, Obinze, so in love with Ifem, decides to leave his wife and we are not given any further detail. The end. I found myself feeling very sorry for the wife who was so easily obtained to dangle on Obinze's arm (he got what he bought and had buyer's remorse) and so easily discarded in a social-climbing society that would, more than likely, turn the ex-wife into a kept woman on precarious, unstable ground. Obinze retains possession of his wife's person because it is Obinze who can give the marriage up in freedom not afforded his wife though his wife will forever carry the mark. To me, this makes Ifem no better than the women she criticizes for being simplistic and naive in their sole focus on obtaining a marriage with a prominent Nigerian in an effort to obtain the myths of an assured place in society and a secure socio-economic status. That's harsh, but it is how I see the unfolding of the story. For me, being Americanah is epitomized in just this exchange. Ifem is not westernized enough to tell Obinze to go fuck himself and that she has, can, and will support herself and live outside the reality surrounding her. But rather, Ifem is, essentially, one of the Nigerian women she criticizes so liberally only having a little more financial, social, and cultural collateral to ensure she gets the man she wants. The relationship is still an exchange that privileges the male remaining unsteady and precarious. Ifem is straddling and negotiating two identities. I do not like the result.

      I hope I stop being mad. I hope I can turn to the true genius of the conversation this book opens about race. I think it will take me some time. I hope Ms. Adichie can forgive me and understand I will eventually find my way to join her where I believe she wanted the book bring me. Until then, please save me a seat.
    • 4/5
      What I liked the most about this book was the African feel to it. I highly recommend if you are looking to read this book, to listen to it on audio instead. The narrator did such a good job giving the book it's African feel, which for me felt a little like going home to my African village were I lived for a year and listening to those around me speak. It brought back such memories of the cultural transition I went through moving to Africa and again when I moved back to the states. But beyond that and how it related for me, the book itself says a lot of good things about race, about love, about cultural differences that can cripple how we look at other human beings. Books about race are hard to read sometimes. This book hits on all good points. It can make you take a good look around at our world, and I think everyone should allow themselves such times, forced to open our eyes wider than normal. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      When I first finished this novel, I gave it five enthusiastic stars. After sleeping on it, I realized that the writing isn't quite as transcendent as I'd like to see in a five-star novel, even though the themes and perspective were top-notch. I have been wondering for a while about the experience of immigrants, both what they experience and what they think about the cultures into which they're immersed. And since I was born in the U.S. and have always lived here, I'm most interested in how outsiders view American culture. (My 11yo would get after me for saying American to refer to the United States. "What about Canadians and Mexicans and South Americans?" She would ask, such a stickler for accurate language she is.) Through a compelling story, Adichie delivers not only this viewpoint but also a perspective on African-American culture as compared to black culture from Africa and the Caribbean. Ifemelu's voice is frank, direct, and self-reflective. She includes herself in her criticisms when appropriate. I didn't understand it all, and the parts set in Nigeria were particularly difficult for me to get my head around, although I felt more of a sense if place in this novel than I have in others set in African countries. I found the descriptions of places in the United States to be less detailed and less visual for me than those in Nigeria, which was a refreshing change. When I finished the novel, I wished there were more to read in this story and about these characters. That's always a good sign.
    • 5/5
      Loved it!!! The writing was amazing. The story was great. I couldn't put it down. It's about two Nigerians who fall in love as teenagers and their lives apart. Her in the US and him in England. And then coming back together later in life in Nigeria. Race relations is definitely a big part of the book and sometimes seems a big like you are being hit over the head with ideology. It would have been more effective if the author could have more subtly made the same points. Aside from that the book was AMAZING.
    • 5/5
      So glad I finally picked this one up - rich, full, brimming with life, it was a pleasure to lose myself in this world. A completely modern love story, with just enough heartbreak to be real. A fascinating look at race and culture and how those words mean different things in different parts of the world. An excellent, rewarding read.
    • 4/5
      This novel has a lot to say regarding how Americans view race from the perspective of an immigrant from Nigeria in Ifemelu. We also gain perspective of race as we follow Obinze in England until he is deported back to Nigeria. I also learned a lot about the culture of Nigeria.Characters in this novel seem so real I wonder how autobiographical it is. The novel is filled with small stories of race in America from hair weavers to dinner parties. This novel pulls no punches inregard to race and class structure. My only criticism would be that at times the language gets a bit preachy.
    • 5/5
      this is awesome. I 've gat lots of books to keep me busy. Am really loving it
    • 3/5
      Ifemelu is a Nigerian who when offered an opportunity to move to America takes it, and moves in with her Aunt. She struggles to find any work at all at first, but she is tenacious enough to keep trying until she establishes herself.

      Her boyfriend in Nigeria, Obinze, tries hid luck in the UK> he has to work using someone else's Ni number, and has a opportunity to marry someone to become a resident, by he is caught and deported by the authorities to Nigeria.

      Ifemelu starts to live the life of the American, she has a white lover, her career is on the rise and she feels happy with her lot. A fling with a neighbour means that she splits with Curt, but soon finds Blaine, and joins the immigrant set. She begins a blog on race and racial comments and slower gains a wider following, and is made a fellow at Princeton. At this career peak she makes the decision to move back to Nigeria. When she returns she finds that Obinze is married with a daughter, and they rekindle their old love.

      Adichie has written a modern story centred around three themes, love, immigration and race.

      The love part is fairly standard, boy a girl fall in love, separate and after a period of time reconnect with each other causing friction with existing partners.

      The immigration parts show just how tough it is coming to another country, finding work, staying in work, and trying to settle and make a home. She highlights how difficult this is in the UK and America with Obinze and Ifemelu's stories of their struggle and their success and failure to do so.

      The final theme of the book is race. Through Ifemelu's blog, Adichie shows that there is still a strong undercurrent of covert racism there, and there is a a hierarchy of skin colour, and that defines your place in society, Princeton fellowship or not.

      It is beautifully written, as was her other book that I have read. She has a way of being able to make these difficult themes accessible to a wider audience.
    • 2/5
      During the stay at home order I've been reading books that have been on my to be read list for awhile. Mainly because I can get these books electronically from the library but, I'm glad. I've missed a lot of good books over the yearsSo Americanah tells the story of race in America by a Non American Black. But the books starts in Nigeria and is a love story of two teenagers. One goes to America where she writes the blog addressing race as a Non American Black and the other goes to England, gets deported back to Nigeria and starts making money finally by the usual Nigerian way, knowing someone and maybe a little illegally to start.The race discussion seems to be spot on but I am white so maybe I don't really know.When she comes back to Nigeria she know longer feels the race issue because everyone is black.A good book, I'll be thinking about it for awhile.
    • 4/5
      I read this book for the library-sponsored book discussion group that I lead, and as I was reading, I was thinking to myself "however am I going to lead a discussion about this book with a group of middle- and upper-middle class white women without all of us choking on our own hypocrisy?" And I realized that the only possible way was to get that issue out of the way right up front. So we started out our discussion by owning our own perspectives and acknowledging that each of us came to this book with our own set of assumptions.I'm pleased to report that my tactic of putting it out there allowed us to have a frank and honest conversation about this book, perhaps one of the best book discussions we've had (YMMV). And there's a lot to discuss in this book! Adichie does not pull her punches in describing the thoughts of Ifemelu, her main character, on racism and classism and immigrants and love and going home again. Ifemelu has a blog on which she explores many of these issues, and her blog posts punctuate the narrative, creating a different way of sharing her insights than the typical internal monologue. Ifemelu's reflections may provoke you to examine your own beliefs on these topics. I think she would hope so.
    • 4/5
      The story of Ifemelu and Obinze. Their romance overarches the narrative, but there are long periods (at least 50% of the book) where they are not even on the same continent and they both must get on with their lives. Neither character is easy to like, but then neither is racism.
    • 5/5
      It has been a very long time since I've sunk into a book containing prose this rich and dense with meaning and imagery. So much of soi-disant literary fiction is nothing more than the angsty whining of the affluent, white, and powerful that I had forgotten its capacity for realness and complexity.This was a luxurious read. I savored it over the course of fifteen days—pausing often to examine a revelation, to relish an especially apt turn of phrase, or to simply close my eyes and envision the images painted by her words.This is a book that I am sad to put down but look forward to reading again in the future to see what an older and more experienced me can find in its pages.