Americanah in CMU Alumni Association Faculty Bookshelf

Jan 17, 2015 Cindy Leighton rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, immigration-stories, race-and-ethnicity, national-book-critics-award, social-justice

I can't begin to say how much I loved this book. At every level. Ngozi Adichie is an incredibly gifted author, raised in Nigeria and living now in the US and Nigeria, her insight into race in the United States is spot on, and her portrayal of love, of identity, of the life of an immigrant living between two worlds is compelling.

As a white woman in the midwest my "race" expertise is limited; however it is a topic I discuss often with my high school students - a very diverse group of students incl I can't begin to say how much I loved this book. At every level. Ngozi Adichie is an incredibly gifted author, raised in Nigeria and living now in the US and Nigeria, her insight into race in the United States is spot on, and her portrayal of love, of identity, of the life of an immigrant living between two worlds is compelling.

As a white woman in the midwest my "race" expertise is limited; however it is a topic I discuss often with my high school students - a very diverse group of students including many immigrants from many different countries. Her essays on race through the voice of Ifemelu as a Nigerian immigrant writing as a NonAmerican Black in America are spot on with everything my students tell me, and everything I read. I could quote her all day"Sometimes they say 'culture' when they mean race. They say a film is 'mainstream' when they mean 'white folks like it or made it.' When they say 'uran' it means black and poor and possibly dangerous and potentially exciting. 'Racially charged' means we are uncomfortable saying 'racist.'"

Part of what I love most about immigration stories (and all "Americans" are immigrants) is the perspective and reflection that non-native Americans have on "americans" Ngozi Adichie is incredibly insightful, biting, brilliant. I also love the disdain for American English as opposed to British English, revealed in such delicious examples throughout. I also love the heartbreaking nature of immigration stories - of people who never feel totally at peace in either world.

But this is not just a treatise on race (although it is a powerful one), or simply an immigration story (though it is a beautiful one) but it is also a love story, and a story of identity, and of what is is to be a woman. This story has so many levels I will have to read it again. And perhaps again. The love story between Ifemelu and Obinze that spans continents, lifetimes, other relationships, is one of the more compelling love stories I have read. My heart aches for them. I long for what they have.

I have read Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus and loved it also - but this may be one of my all time favorite books. Read it. Now. Or if you want a real treat listen to the audio version recorded by Adjoa Andoh - beautiful to hear the Ibo names and words pronounced correctly. And the British English overall gives the appropriate flavor. The American English sounds appropriately grating. Listen. Read. Learn. Remember.

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Apr 14, 2019 Emily Green rated it really liked it · review of another edition

In Americanah, Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie tells the story Ifemelu, a young Nigerian woman who comes to the United States to complete her college career and take advantage of being in America. Ifemelu’s story is guided, in part, by the romance of her childhood sweetheart, Obinze. Obinze, unlike Ifemelu, cannot get permission to go to the United States, and instead tries England.

As Ifemelu adapts to the US, she experiences racial prejudice as omnipresent for the first time. It has such an impact on ...more

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Jul 05, 2017 Mversaw rated it it was amazing

Race, identity, culture and a love story. Perfect. I loved this book. ❤️❤️❤️

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Mar 17, 2019 L rated it it was amazing

Shelves: topreads, thought-provoking

Amazing. I cried.

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Mar 16, 2015 Jenny Belardi rated it it was amazing

This book absolutely deserves all its accolades. I learned so much about Nigeria, and the book made me think about so many things in my own daily life that I'd never really considered before. What I loved most about the book is that even with so many characters, cultural references, and a multitude of story lines, it never lost its true identity as a love story. The ending was perfection, something I won't soon forget. ...more

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