Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
(Format used for this read: Audiobook)
This book was FREAKIN’ FANTASTIC, yall.
100 percent just flat out AMAZING LITERATURE.
The author is transformative in the way she writes….using descriptions and phrases that just transport you to places around the world and also into the minds of the main characters.
She writes with strength and yet also with gentleness….with unbridled passion and yet also with calm restraint….with intense descriptions and also straight forward facts.
This author is WONDERFULLY GIFTED…and so is the narrator of this book, British actress Adjoa Andoh.
The wide range of talent she has with her voice just transfixes you….she is able to take on many different dialects (Nigerian and American just to name a couple) with ease and believability….she can also flawlessly take on a male or female voice with the same skill.
I so appreciated being able to hear the correct pronunciation and enunciation of all the Nigerian words, phrases and names on audio…I am a billion percent sure I would *not* have pronounced them correctly AT ALL in my head if I read the book in print. It really helped to culturally educate me.
Before I continue to go into all the things that made this book so outstanding, let me give you the official summary right quick:
“The bestselling novel from the award-winning author of We Should All Be Feminists and Dear Ijeawele. The story of two Nigerians making their way in the U.S. and the UK, raising universal questions of race and belonging, the overseas experience for the African diaspora, and the search for identity and a home.
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. “
At first glance, you may think this book mostly explores the romantic journey of two people.
Which it does go into.
But what it ALSO talks about is what it’s like to immigrate to a new place in the world and how it feels to leave your home country. All the confusion, difficulties and heartbreak one can experience while at the same time experiencing freedom, excitement and fascination.
Following the stories of Ifemelu and Obinze as they grow and mature—as they connect, then disconnect, then reconnect with each other– the author allows you to crawl into both of their brains and hearts as she switches back and forth between each of their stories. This is a format I have seen used plenty of times before BUT never with this kind of depth and cultural exploration.
So while this book IS about relationships, it also is a coming of age story mixed in with with an examination of racial/social hierarchies and injustices which also teaches you about Nigerian history and culture.
The author also explores what “home” really means and feels like deep in human souls. Is it a place someone can always return to or is it somewhere that will never be the same again once they have left?
Straight up FASCINATING, yall.
This is a work of fiction that just has so many tremendously good things about it that it feels like it’s too big of a thing of awesomeness for me to describe accurately.
A part of the novel I found very unique was how the author explains race in America seen thru the eyes of an African immigrant (Chimamanda is also from Nigeria and has spent some of her life in America).
After living in America for a few years, Ifemelu starts a blog called “Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black.”
The author includes the blog entries Ifemelu writes where she dissects things such as white culture, hair choices, cross-cultural dating relationships, assimilation and microagressions.
It was eye opening and convicting to see this country thru an African immigrant’s point of view.
I highly recommend this read…and if you’re into audiobooks, DEFINITELY listen to this one as I really think it adds to the enjoyment and understanding of the reader.
This book = Social commentary + Cultural education + Love story
One of my fave reads of the summer.