Book Blog #334: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

 

Title: Americanah

Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

# of Pages: 477 (hardcover)

Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: 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.

Review: It felt good to read Americanah after 5 long years of it sitting on my to-read shelf. I remember when this was recommended to me - I was on the bus, the person showed me the non-informative cover, and told me it was a really good read. After hearing a verbal synopsis (which I didn't fully absorb), I got the sense it must be nonfiction, added it mindlessly to my shelf and didn't bother to look at it further (until now).

Admittedly thankfully, it is not nonfiction. Beginning third of the book is worthy of 4 stars - I really enjoyed hearing about a Nigerian immigrating to the US and how the introduction to race differs from someone beginning to experience it in adulthood vs African Americans who grew up experiencing racism all their lives. 

I actually didn't mind the time skipping either (skipping between the "present" and the retelling of Ifemelu's life leading up to her going to and living in the US). What I didn't like is the third person POV switching between Ifemelu and Obinze. Obinze's perspective is unnecessary and could have been told through Ifemelu hearing about it instead. 

I started to dislike the story a bit more once it became more preachy (likely on purpose, to address racism in America). It began to feel less like a story about Ifemelu and more educational - I would have preferred Adichie to be less blatant with the messaging.

By the end of the book I was exasperated. While I understand that making Ifemelu and Obinze flawed in their passion for each other makes the characters more realistic to life, it made it difficult as a reader to cheer for these characters. The story lost some of it's direction - is it a story about African pride (or lack thereof) and race, or is it a hopeless romance? 

I am on the fence on whether I would recommend this book. Although the writing style is better than the previous book I read (Saving Noah),  I definitely enjoyed and was less gripped to the story in Americanah.