To put it simply, Americanah is a book about race in the UK, US and Nigeria that may make you change the way you look at the world. It’s a huge book about two lovers, dealing with themes of identity and race, love and loneliness.
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| ★★★☆☆ |
Our two main characters, Ifemelu, a very independent soul, and Obinze, a gentle soul, meet in school in Lagos, Nigeria and fall in love. Then they attend the same university, where Obinze’s mother is a professor. She welcomes Ifemelu into her family and for a while they live a wonderful life, discussing western literature and romanticizing the western world. Then everything changes when the university professors go on strikes. When Ifemelu gets an opportunity to continue her studies in the US, she takes it. Years later, Obinze travels to Britain in search for a better life. The two will not see each other for more than a decade.
Identity, Race and Immigration
Both Ifemelu and Obinze leave their country not because they have to, but because they are looking for something more. In Nigeria, race wasn’t a thing, but the second they leave, race is everywhere.The two lovers soon lose contact, and Ifemelu starts dating other men.
Ifemelu is being denied low level jobs, people at her university talk to her as she could not understand basic English, she starts hiding her Nigerian accent to fit it. Obinze immigrates to England and outstays his visa. He can only get jobs that he is overqualified for.
Ifemelu starts a blog called “Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black” where she talks about her experiences in America both as a black woman and as an African woman. Her blog posts add something extra to the plot and they were probably my favourite part about this novel.
Adichie captures the struggle and loneliness of immigration, the differences between these cultures, their histories and class structures.
Come for the Story, Stay for the Politics
Personally, I couldn’t care less for the story… or the characters. It dragged on and on and on, and it is a massive book. It makes sense since the story spans over three continents and almost two decades. But it's definitely not an easy read.
However, all the things I loved about this book - the blog posts, Adichie’s subtle way of capturing the nuances of racism and differences of social classes and categories, basically all the ideas about race and identity, the loneliness of being an immigrant, a stranger in a new country and culture - all these things wouldn’t have the same effect if this wasn’t the story.
I cannot explain why, but this is how I feel.
Yes, You Should Definitely Read It!
From all my years of high school literature I learnt one thing: not all books are going to excite you, but some you should read anyway. Americanah is one of those books. It’s not going to be an easy read, it might not even be to your taste, but at the end of the book your world will be richer. The themes Adichie explores and the way she does it are reason enough to give this book a try. And, who knows, you might even like the story more than I did.
But overall, mixed feelings. So many mixed feelings.
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was first published in May 2013
and won 2013 U.S. National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction