Nene La Beet's Reviews > Americanah

This is a lovestory, a beautiful one. But it is also much more than that. And men can read it too, because this is NOT chick-litt.

Everytime I read a book by a non-British/American writer I promise myself to continue along that track and read more French, Spanish, German, Asian, African literature. But it's easier said than done, because we come across so few on the bestseller lists and on the review pages of newspapers. But here's one - even though it's written in English. The best of both worlds, in fact, because nothing is lost in translation.

This is also a book about racism. Not the overt obvious one in the comments on Facebook but the one most of us white people are guilty of, because we forget that we're the norm. It's so good to be reminded this way - in a non-bitter and non-agressive way we get to recognise ourselves in the not-always-very-kind portraits of white people in the book. Also we get a rare peek into the minds of young, educated Africans. And guess what: They're just like us, only with much less opportunities.

I listened to it as Audio book and it was probably the best narration ever - by Adjoa Andoh. Such a joy.