Anchor Books Americanah

original product

The letters were in big font, so this was a negative surprise.

Got Americanah for someone special. It’s a thoughtful and engaging read, and I truly hope they enjoy it.

I love this author's ability to deal with serious subjects in a way that has warmth and positivity. What is it to be a woman? What is it to be a citizen of this or that country, a member of one race or another? Her lead character is trying to figure this out but never gets stuffy. We can see cameos of many lives on the edges especially in immigrant communities in the states and UK but it's all bearable because of the love story between the main characters and their home country, Nigeria.

El mejor libro que he leído de Chimamanda, la manera que disecciona el racismo inherente en los países de primer mundo, especialmente Estados Unidos, pero al mismo tiempo habla sobre le clasismo en Nigeria es sorprenderte y los mas sorprendente es la manera tan sutil con que lo hace, sin que aburra, ni sea panfletario. Con este libro Chimamanda se consagra como una de las mejores narradoras contemporáneas.

This was overall an excellent, well written book! As a 30 year old black woman, it is easily one of my favourite reads of the last couple of years. Slightly too long, but I enjoyed the journey and the conversations on culture and race in both America and the UK. The author captured perfectly the difference between the two places and of course them and Nigeria. Overall this is a story of identity, race, immigration, coming of age and love. All equally important and complex. I read the book in 4 days, it was a page turner. A couple of critiques I had: 1. Not becoming black until moving to America - This was a central theme, but is race non-existent in Nigeria or is it just less important? If race was non-existent, skin bleaching, fake British and US accents and other whitening endeavors would not exist in Africa and other black countries worldwide. Blackness is a fact. But becoming a minority through immigration and race becoming a person's number one defining feature, is what changes. 2. Ifemelu's life became too easy for me - Apart from her initial struggle in America, which was awful!, she really never struggled again. She had steady jobs, steady boyfriends, lucrative blogs. Even though there were issues, I think the fact that essentially everything she tried for worked out to some extent, is not indicative of life in your early 20s to mid 30s. Those times are often much more turbulent and riddled with mistakes and failures, in my opinion.

When reading Americanah, I definitely has a few laughs and could relate to the experiences shared by Ifemelu. Adichie definitely wrote Ifemelu’s story with excellence. Although, I did struggle reading through Obinze’s story as it is a bit boring for me, I really enjoyed Ifemelu and Aunty Uju’s storyline. As well, the first I’d say 150 pages are a bit hard to get through for me as it is giving the backstory back in Nigeria it is interesting but her life in America is really captivating and keeps you wanting more. The theme of race is really well examined throughout the book and the comparison between how it is seen in Nigeria and in America is well written and was a part of the book I really enjoyed (especially her blog entries, definitely related to that).