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Americanah

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Start date: February 1, 2017

Finish date: February 28, 2017

Discussion: Monthly Group Reads

Why we're reading this: February theme/topic of Immigration Status.
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Americanah by Chimaman…more
[close] February theme/topic of Immigration Status.
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Americanah

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What Members Thought

Nov 02, 2017 Kay Dee (what is your storygraph name? mine is in my bio. join me!) Meadows rated it liked it · review of another edition

3 stars for the commentary on race and sex and government and culture. 2 stars for the fiction story that surrounded it and did not do a good enough job of hiding said commentary.

8 likes · Like · see review

Dec 05, 2017 Christina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, literary-fiction, books-i-would-read-over-and-over, lauryn-s-future-reading-list, contemporary, cultural-africa

I truly cannot write a review of this book.

Americanah... this was a great book! It told of how a non-American black goes to live in America, only to return back with "supposed" unfulfilled dreams and aspirations, with a sense of "Americanism" that screams from their person the minute they hit the Nigerian soil. The two main characters, Ifemelu and Obinze are written in such a way that they seem like REAL PEOPLE!

This is a story of young love, who encounter life changing decisions that shape and ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Mar 14, 2013 ColumbusReads rated it it was amazing

I never wrote a review of this classic when I read it back in 2013? A travesty! Gushing with praise all around for this brilliant writer. Adichie is everything I tell you! Everything!

4 likes · Like · see review

Oct 06, 2017 Kris rated it it was amazing

Shelves: five-star-books

Some books open your eyes to perspectives you have not considered before - this was one of those books for me. Adichie is skilled in writing a book for an English-speaking audience that broadens the scope of their knowledge of both immigrant and African experiences. It is funny and relateable, all while also being foreign and poignant. The characters are likable but far from perfect, and they make choices that can be criticized, but don't we all? Their humanness is what makes the book easy to co ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 23, 2013 Marilyn Diamond rated it really liked it

Ifemela a Princeton fellowship at the University falls in love with Obinze. Ifemelu is as independent and fierce as her legacy of Igbo Nigeria. Ifemelu's father once told her that she had a singled natural proclivity towards provocation. Obinze is Americanized living in a country and life that appears American but is as foreign as his Americanah marriage. The descriptive words takes me to native Africa to experience growing up and loving in a foreign soil. Americanah takes us through three conti ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 12, 2015 Porscha rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, would-recommend, race-class-and-privilege, favorites, feminism

Easily one of the best books I've ever read!

I began this book with a lot of anticipation and just a teensy bit of dread - I really hoped it hadn't been overhyped - and I was thrilled to discover that it was everything everybody said it was.

My favorite books are the ones that defy singular classifications. This is a fiction book, yes, but it's so relatable. It's romance, yes, but it's entirely realistic and unfolds beautifully. It also deals, quite deftly, with the identity politics of being an ...more

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Apr 27, 2015 Maggie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2015

Did I enjoy it? I did! I thought that Ifemelu's story was more engaging than Obinze's, and I didn't care about the romantic aspects of it, but I thought it was an interesting look at the intricacies of race, immigration, and cultural identity.
Would I read it again? It was a bit heavy to get through for me, definitely not a quick beach read, but I would like to go back and reread parts of it again.
Who would I recommend it to? If you're interested in the complexities of race in the US and UK, immi Did I enjoy it? I did! I thought that Ifemelu's story was more engaging than Obinze's, and I didn't care about the romantic aspects of it, but I thought it was an interesting look at the intricacies of race, immigration, and cultural identity.
Would I read it again? It was a bit heavy to get through for me, definitely not a quick beach read, but I would like to go back and reread parts of it again.
Who would I recommend it to? If you're interested in the complexities of race in the US and UK, immigration, cultural identity, feminism, and life in Nigeria vs life in America, this would probably interest you. It's difficult to pin this book down to one topic of genre, but I do think it is an important social commentary and that people should read it, even if they don't think it's their "style".
Any other thoughts? It’s hard to describe this book. The main character is Ifemelu, but she is mainly there to give the audience a view into the main themes that Adichie wants to address. Ifemelu is a blogger who moved from Nigera to the United States for college and ends up staying for about 15 years. Her blog is about her observations on race in America, as well as the difference between what she calls “American Blacks” and “Non-American Blacks”. This is not a character-driven book. It’s not even really a plot-driven book. It’s a book fueled by observation. Ifemelu felt very much like a stand-in for Cimamanda Ngozi Adichie herself, though I admit that I don’t know much about her personal life. Adichie makes a point that there ought to be more novels about how people experience race today, instead of the endless parade of books about slavery or Jim Crow that make us feel good about how far we’ve come rather than challenging us to do better, and she’s absolutely right. It felt strange to be reading a book about race set in the 21st century, but it shouldn’t be a strange thing at all! I thought her observations about race in America seemed exaggerated at times, but were mostly accurate. Adichie makes some sweeping generalizations at times, but as a white, born-American citizen, I don’t feel that I have the cultural background to really dispute a lot of the experiences that Ifemelu had. But I also think that her perspectives as an outsider looking into American culture were not always accurate. There’s a lot of nuances that can be lost in translation between cultures, but it’s always interesting to see how parts of your culture is interpreted by someone from a different culture. Ifemelu was incredibly judgmental at times, and didn't ever really seem to think that anything she did was wrong (cheating on her boyfriend, having an affair with a married man, etc). There were also a lot of characters brought in just for one scene and then discarded. I had a hard time keeping track of some of them later, I couldn't remember if they had already been introduced and I was supposed to remember who they were, or if they were new characters being used for one specific scene. I enjoyed the view into Nigerian culture, written by an actual Nigerian. I thought that was fascinating, since so much of what we hear about Nigeria is often negative and doesn’t focus on the actual people living there. This book was incredibly ambitious, and I think that at points Adichie kind of lost track of what she was trying to say, and the book suffered from a lack of any character development whatsoever, but overall it was an enjoyable, if slow, read. ...more

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Jan 15, 2015 Susanne rated it really liked it

Shelves: 8-female-authors

Rating 3.75

The majority of this book is her story, not their story, as the summary leads you to believe. Although he shows up periodically, they don't see each other again until the last 15% of the book. But it was enjoyable. It's a book about race and life in America and Nigeria. Well written, but a little long. ...more

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Jan 14, 2014 Sharon rated it it was amazing

This novel is searingly honest about race, about immigration, about women's experience. Amazing how Adiche expresses what it's like to be a Nigerian woman, both here and there, which is her own experience, but ALSO the racial experiences of Americans, both black and white. She gets into the stuff that is never spoken of so directly. And the story is gripping as well. Read this book!
...more

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