Andrew Wang

Shane McCoy
English 111H
SA 3: Blurb
April 12, 2015
Americanah Blurb
Two lovers, Ifemelu and Obinze, go their separate ways into the strange and harsh
western world. Beautiful and adventurous Ifemelu leaves for America with just her fellowship in
hand as well as her knack for writing blogs; she encounters and reflects on her experience and
conflicts with the American Dream as well as with herself. Obinze, on the other hand, falls
intolands in London illegally and lives a dangerous life that leads to his success down the road.
The distance between the two creates a torque that could send the two in completely different
directions, while facing moments that are moving and funny, yet powerful and wise.
In my blurb, I just chose to include the main elements and structure of the novel to create
a concise and honest expectation for the reader. I avoided flashy, blockbuster adjectives and
details to add on to the honesty of the blurb. I believe that the content of the novel itself is
enough to interest the reader into the novel instead of extraneous content that is commonly used
to appeal to consumers. I did include some details to hook the reader, such as mentioning
Ifemelus blog. Mentioning a blog appeals to the Information Age that we are living in, as blogs
are more commonly read than books by this generation. I chose to say that the distance could
send the two in completely different directions, so that the reader wcould wonder what will
happen to the two characters. I also chose to regard the western world as strange and harsh, as
this is a statement that the reader will either connect with, or will not understand and it will push

them to read the novel for insight. I finished my blurb with moving and funny, yet powerful and
wise for the same effect on the reader.
The audience that I am targeting with my blurb is a very general audience with an
emphasis on people who read for wisdom or insight. This is achieved by what I chose to include
inside the blurb, such as strange and harsh western world, experience and conflicts with the
American Dream as well as herself, and dangerous life that leads to success, as these are all
subjects or life experiences that people go through to gain wisdom, and that passionate readers
look for in terms of a powerful and moving plot. I also chose to include moving and funny, yet
powerful and wise, just to appeal to the general audience as humourhumor is a desirable trait in
novels and entertainment, and including powerful and wise shows that it isnt low-attention
span humourhumor that the reader will be dealing with, but an intellectual humourhumor.
For this blurb, I chose to omit specific details in order to not give the book away. I choose
not to disclose whether or not Ifemelu and Obinze will come together with the distance creates a
torque that could send the two in completely different directions, since this is the main plot of
the story and that it should not be given away. I also chose not to include the secondary
characters as they are simply put into the novel to support the plot of Ifemelu and Obinze, and
adding them would simply serve as a distraction in the blurb.
Trigger words are not an emphasis of this blurb, as I believe that they are commonly used
as a cheap trick to sell books rather than interest the reader. The content of the blurb itself should
hook the reader, such as Obinzefalls into London illegally and lives a dangerous life that
leads to his success down the road. The words illegally and dangerous can be seen as
trigger words, but the statement as a whole serves the purpose of triggering the hook on the
reader.

CP: 5With the exception of a few areas, your central purpose is well supported throughout the
paper.
O: 5The organization makes sense in this draft. I would recommend including a paragraph on
what you changed, how you changed it, and why you made the changes you did between the first
draft and the second draft.
D: 5Be sure to add more textual evidence from the blurb in the places Ive marked.
Fu: 5Well executed paper.
Fl: 6Language is varied throughout and word choices are appropriate.
Pr: 5Be sure to add more textual evidence where needed. Also, be mindful of your margins.
Total: 31; 3.7

Cp: 5 I felt your central purpose was good just make sure to double check on the information
given at the beginning of your blurb when Ifemelu comes to America
O: 5 The organization for your paper was very clear and concise and flowed well
D: 4/5 Your details were a little off in the beginning but your explanation for your blurb and why
you chose to incorporate what you did was well presented
Fu: 5
Fl: 6
Pr: 5

CP: 5 -Agreed with the lady before me

O: 4 - This was much better than mine. The blurb was excellent with some minor changes. The
only thing that wasnt great was the lack of quotes throughout
D: 4 The blurb was wrong. Ifemelu didnt know what shed encounter in Murika, she had no
idea she would get a fellowship OR even start a blog. Read summaries or reread the first couple
chapters to recall
FU: - 5 Id say this is a full paper
FL: - 5 You seem proficient in english

P: 5
Stephen
PS: You have way too many unread emails

Works Cited
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi . Americanah. Torino: Einaudi, 2014. Print.