Book Review of Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Americanah: A Nigerian who has returned from overseas to Nigeria.

In an interview, Adichie defines Americanah as a Nigerian word that can describe any of those who have been to the US and return American affectations; pretend not to understand their mother tongues any longer; refuse to eat Nigerian food or make constant reference to their life in America.

-Wikipedia

I know there are lots of reviews on Americanah but I don’t mind adding my two cents on this book.

I love Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, I believe she can never do wrong in her stories regardless of how she ends her books.

Chimamanda didn’t disappoint me in Americanah and I loved that, she has a way of provoking you to think, quarrel, question a lot of things and that’s what I love about her works.

A lot of people especially Nigerians don’t accept some of her thoughts but that’s fine, do you!

When I wrote my review I didn’t know where to start, my heart was heavy after reading this book. A reminder, I had been reading this book since last year and have never gotten to finish it due to procrastination. This was the bookclubs’ read for June and we had a beautiful discussion.

Americanah is a book that is so real, it’s not your conventional love story with a perfect Happy-Ever-After. It was infused with strong themes, I love how Chimamanda was educating us about ‘the abroad’ infused in a love story. Ifemelu and Obinze are childhood sweethearts with the dream of greener pastures and we are taken through their journey through adulthood.

After reading this book, I asked myself the new Nigerian dream is going abroad, but is it really worth it?

This book was really thought provoking, it was a bit long though, I lost interest at some point but I still saw it through.

There were so many strong themes here RACISM and its effects especially on African youths, culture, tradition, gender, marital life and its expectations, family, and finally, Americanahs and overseas life.

My favourite character was Ifemelu despite her toxic traits I loved her and was rooting for her😂 I’m not in support of divorce but Chimamanda made me root for Obinze leaving his wife, that’s how well Chimamanda writes .

In Summary, you should read Americanah and if you have what did you love about it? Who was your favourite character?

Who also saw Chimamanda in Ifemelu?

I can’t leave without sharing some quotes as usual:

“You sound American” into a garland that she hung around her own neck. Why was it a compliment, an accomplishment, to sound American”

Interesting question! It baffles me too.

“He knew about Nigerians, he told her, he was an assistant professor at Yale, and although his interest was mostly in southern Africa, how could he not know about Nigerians when they were everywhere? “What is it, one in every five Africans is Nigerian”

😂😂 Nigerians are just everywhere!

“She recognized in Kelsey the nationalism of liberal Americans who copiously criticized America but did not like you to do so; they expected you to be silent and grateful, and always reminded you of how much better than wherever you had come from America was.”

“Dear Non-American Black, when you make the choice to come to America, you become black. Stop arguing. Stop saying I’m Jamaican or I’m Ghanaian. America doesn’t care. So what if you weren’t “black” in your country? You’re in America now”

“So if you’re going to write about race, you have to make sure it’s so lyrical and subtle that the reader who doesn’t read between the lines won’t even know it’s about race. “

And this was exactly what Chimamanda did in Americanah!

That’s all folks, till next time!