REVIEW: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

(Source: https://postcardsfrompurgatory.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/americanah-cover-image.jpg)

Please excuse any gushing. Chimamanda Adichie is the queen of my heart.

Americanah tells the story of two Nigerians, Ifemelu and Obinze. They meet in high school, fall in loved and stay together in university. Nigeria is under military rule at this time, to escape the constant strikes at their university Ifemelu leaves to study in America. Obinze promises to follow soon. Instead, they are seperated for 13 years. When they reunite, Ifemelu has returned to Nigeria after running a successful race blog in America, while Obinze is married and had a child.

Americanah is a love story. Through all of Ifemelu and Obinze's faults, their trials and sucesses, part of you waits for the moment they reunite. Even stronger than Ifemeulu and Obinze's personal love story, is a love story for Nigeria. Ifemelu carries two things with her as she live in America, Obinze and Nigeria. Through all her blog entries, included when relevant in some of her chapters, is a sense she is writing her way home. While she becomes a savvy "Americanah"*, her blog makes sense of a world that was incomprehensible to her when she newly arrived. When she returns to Nigeria, part of her doesn't understand why, only that she must go back. Once she does, she is lost in the beginning. She soon starts another blog, writing her way back to Nigeria she knows.

All of Obinze's loves fail. Only his love for Ifemelu is strong enough in the end. He is the opposite of Ifemelu, he loved America but found that it was not when he expected when he arrived. He does not love his wife but is content with his life. Obinze spends much of the book having lost his way. While financially successful, most of his life seems only to be going through the motions. Unlike Ifemelu, instead of holding on to his convictions his worldview becomes gradually shaken up. Only when Ifemelu returns does he begin to rediscover who he really is.

Adichie also has masterful characterisation. Even the minor characters are shown with their own stories. Ifemelu spends six hours in a hair salon and by the end of it the reader feels as if they know her hairdresser as well as they know Ifemelu.

I loved Americanah. I stayed up until 1 a.m. reading it and didn't even realise it. READ THIS BOOK. If I haven't been enough to convince you of the power of Adichie's writing here's a review of her book Purple Hibiscus by a girl I was in class with:

"[I reached a certain part] and I flung the book across the room"**

*A term used for a Nigerian who goes to America and comes back in the novel. Please correct me if I'm wrong

** The good kind, the I don't know what to do with myself the author is so good kind