Book Review: Americanah

A bit ago, I finished reading Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I'm proud to say that this book has made my "Favorites" and "Quotable Books" lists on Goodreads. So, here's my long overdue review.

Image credit: Amazon

One sentence synopsis: Nigerian girl leaves her home and first love to go attend college in America where she learns lessons on race, culture, love, and identity.

Personal Review: When this book came out back in 2013, I was really excited to read it. Between the Amazon gift card that I got for my birthday and the Amazon Prime trial, I decided to treat myself to a couple books. When it arrived, I read the first few pages and was captivated by the narrator's beautiful voice. For whatever reason, the book was set aside, only to pick it up about a year later. When I started reading it again, I wondered why I even put it down in the first place. A good portion of the beginning of the book talks about Ifemelu and Obinze's life in Nigeria and how they met. The author does a magnificent job of showing how Ifemelu and Obinze feel about each other with out getting mushy or over-descriptive. The story can get a little messy, especially when the narrator jumps from flashbacks to current time, but it's a beautiful mess that starts to make sense the more you read. Even though a majority of the story surrounds Ifemelu, Obinze gets some of the spotlight, too. Obinze has plans to join Ifemelu in America, but instead he's ends up living an undocumented life in London. Through Ifemelu's experiences and her blog entries, this book helped me see a little bit about how non-American blacks might see American blacks. There were times when Ifemelu said or concluded something about Americans, particularly American blacks that sparked a little defense in me. Then I remembered that both character and reader are looking at things from one point of view. One of the things that I got out of this book was that when it comes to love, race and culture are trivial. Would I recommend this book? Yes, to everyone. Would I read it again? Most definitely, especially for the purpose of finding more quotes.

Favorite Highlights: This first passage describes Ifemelu's bout of depression. I remember reading this and practically tearing up. I felt like she needed a hug and for someone to reassure her that they are on her side.

"... and she felt herself sinking, sinking quickly, and unable to pull herself up. She woke up torpid each morning, slowed by sadness, frightened by the endless stretch of the day that lay ahead. Everything had thickened. She was swallowed, lost in a viscous haze, shrouded in a soup of nothingness. Between her and what she should feel, there was a gap. She cared about nothing. She wanted to care, but she no longer knew how; it had slipped from her memory, the ability to care. Sometimes she woke up flailing and helpless, and she saw, in front of her and behind her and all around her, an utter hopelessness. She knew there was no point in being here, in being alive, but she had not energy to think concretely of how she could kill herself. She lay in bed and read books and thought of nothing. Sometimes she forgot to eat and other times she waited until midnight, her roommates in their rooms, before heating up her food, and she left the dirty plates under her bed, until greenish mold fluffed up around the oily remnants of rice and beans. Often, in the middle of eating or reading, she would feel a crushing urge to cry and the tears would come, the sobs hurting her throat. She had turned off the ringer of her phone. She no longer went to class. Her days were stilled by silence and snow." -Americanah pg. 192

This quote about childhood and adulthood.

"Just give her one, Ifemelu thought. To overwhelm a child of four with choices, to lay on her the burden of making a decision, was to deprive her of the bliss of childhood. Adulthood, after all, already loomed, where she would have to make grimmer and grimmer decisions." - Americanah pg. 206

And this quote about novels makes total sense.

"Why did people ask "What is it about?" as if a novel had to be about only one thing." 

Stars: ★★★★★

What's next to read for 2016? A whole lot, I hope.

-B