2023 EDIT: Part of my 2023 clear-up, of books I no longer like, or am no longer interested in, or remember well as standing out, or find as special anymore, or I otherwise will not miss.
(Also I no longer support Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - see here for more.)
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
A spectacularly-written contemporary love story about race and culture, and how it all is from different perspectives.
'We Should All Be Feminists' introduced me to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and her work. 'Americanah' is the first novel I've read of hers.
She is a fascinating person and writer. 'Americanah' is about imperfect people with imperfect lives lived and yet to live. It explores how, no matter where we come from, no matter our privileges, many of us are unsatisfied with our own backgrounds and history, and yearn for something more and better in far-off places of dreams. Rich, exotic dreams.
Except nowhere is perfect, no one is perfect, and yeah, the American dream is a huge fat lie. A trap.
Could we truly be happy then? Even if we are with the people we love, will there always be complications - real world and internal struggles - and unfocused issues in the way of achieving a healthy relationship?
'Americanah' is beautiful in its writing of various settings and introducing a set of colourful, memorable, and tragically human characters. So many characters, and none of them are ever forgotten about. There is a whole spectrum of themes touched upon aside from cross-culture racism (like how nobody African-born is considered black until they enter non-African countries like America and England, plus how African-Americans must see themselves when they live in a racist society). Feminism, corrupt politics and businesses, immigration, travel survival, depression, classism, the societal differences (each problematic in their own way) between countries from the "Third World" and "First World", and hope for a better world that is not really here despite the progress we have made. The way we're going, true equality might never come.
The author looks in on the African main characters' lives and experiences - their names are Ifemelu and Obinze - from an authentic African viewpoint. The "plot" of 'Americanah' is mostly told in flashbacks: the reader is immersed in how the two distant lovers change overtime, from wide-eyed enthusiastic teenagers from Lagos, to beaten-down adults living abroad (Ifemelu in America and Obinze in England and then back to Nigeria) and making the best of their individual situations. Dreams, love, passion; these things wither and die in the face of the worst adversities. Or do they?
Ifemelu is a high-profile race blogger in America - an outsider within - who does not know as much as her writing suggests, and Obinze starts from nothing but becomes a wealthy Nigerian businessman with a family. Despite everything that happens to them, they find that after years of being apart and no longer in contact with each other, their old innocent passion kindles still. How will it end for Ifemelu and Obinze? Though in life there is no ending, only beginnings.
'Americanah' is smart, emotional, funny, heartbreaking, genuine, enticing and addictive. It has incredibly planned-out events; effortless moments of reflective character development as the story goes. This is what I read novels for. And for my first novel of 2017, this year is off to a great start.
It isn't perfect, with naivete and submissiveness being annoying traits in certain characters, and a rushed ending which has the feat of wrapping up everything yet not wrapping up much at the same time. Not satisfying exactly, but such is the way of real life, isn't it?
Like 'Persepolis', the 'Millennium' series, 'Jane Eyre', and the works of Maya Angelou and Jacqueline Woodson. But 'Americanah' is unique in its own right, and deserves to be lauded as such. For any outsider looking in on African culture, American culture, African-American culture, and English culture and society, this is a 477-page learned lesson. A personal quest for everyone to hear.
'Americanah' is not merely to be read, or criticized. It is an experience to be lived through.
Final Score: 4/5
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