Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A Rare Backlist Review

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Publisher: Knopf
Release Date: May 14, 2013
Length: 496 pages
Amazon

{A Bit of Backstory}

Single Sentence Summary

Americanah tells the sweeping life stories of Ifemelu and Obinze who met and fell in love as teenagers in Nigeria, but then went on to live very different lives, in very different places, and under very different circumstances.

From the Publisher

“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. “

The Draw

• Americanah has been on my backlist “to be read” list forever!
• This is the July pick for @diversespines on Instagram.
• I haven’t read enough diverse books this year, so it all fit together nicely.

{My Thoughts}

Americanah has been a book that I’ve mentioned time and again as being on my backlist “to be read” list. Somehow I just never seemed to get to it, but that changed last week when I finally met two characters I came to love, Ifemelu and Obinze. Theirs is a rich, multi-layered story, beautifully told by by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. So, let’s look at some of those layers.

• Above all else, Americanah is the love story of Ifemelu and Obinze, who meet as teenagers, share their lives and their dreams, and set a plan for their futures. As often happens with young love, life gets in the way forcing Ifemelu to immigrate to America and Obinze to stay behind. Their plan for Obinze to follow never works out, but even after moving on, they remain deep in each others’ hearts.
• Americanah is a story of immigration, legal and illegal, simple and complex. We see both characters struggle with finding not only their footing, but jobs, and a life in the U.S. and England. Their journeys are heart-breaking and eye-opening., scary, and triumphant.
• Americanah is a story of race in America and what that looks like through the eyes of a non-American African. As such, Ifemelu is sometimes treated with a more respect/interest than African Americans, but more often she faces the racists attitudes and prejudices that she never knew growing up in Nigeria. It’s an education for her and she learns the lessons well.
• Finally, Americanah is a story of deep friendships, some lasting life times, others only briefly, but all vivid and essential.

Adichie’s writing was amazing, always capturing true emotions and laying them bare. More than once, she brought tears to my eyes and I loved Ifemelu’s blog posts about race in America. I found a few parts a little tangential which made the story occasionally drag. Still, I always just wanted to get back to Ifemelu and Obinze. If like me, you’ve not read Americanah, I highly recommend that you change that! Grade: A-

If you liked this book you might also enjoy:

• Exit West by Mohsin Hamid – A story of immigration as a young couple meets, falls in love, and makes the difficult decision to leave their homeland, torn apart by warring factions. (my review)
• The Book of Unknown Americans by Christina Henriquez – This is a story of the struggle to assimilate. In it, immigrants from different countries try to find their way in America.