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sudsm's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
joyaanthony's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
xtinaji's review against another edition
4.0
★ ★ ★ ★/5 Stars.
I finished reading Americanah on a rainy morning, just before dawn. The world outside was still blue and shadowed, and the shape of buildings slowly emerged from the dark, brick by brick, pane by pane, as the sky lightened. The sound of toads and birds rose up from the twilight silence, their throats defrosted and open with warbling calls upon waking.
To be honest, I already knew what I was going to rate this book around the halfway mark. I had high expectations when I picked up this novel, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie delivers on everything the back blurb promises — a star-crossed romance focused on race and identity and love. There’s a refreshing frankness to her prose that I have found to be my favorite part of contemporary literature, and Adichie does well to hone in on her elegant, clean writing in a way that does not still provides exceptional depth and insight. A few of my favorite lines are:
“There was a moment, a caving of the blue sky, an inertia of stillness…”
“This was truly her; this was the voice with which she would speak if she were woken up from a deep sleep during an earthquake”
“…Kimberly’s repeated apologies were tinged with self-indulgence, as though she believed that she could, with apologies, smooth all the scalloped surfaces of the world.”
Adichie intersperses critical insight between the lines of prose, and these observations are the core of the novel. The book is split into 6 parts, and we follow Ifemelu and Obinze from their instant attraction and young love to the turmoils they both encounter as immigrants in foreign countries.
Adichie does an incredibly job at weaving in characters, themes, and identities to create a sprawling story across seas. Ifemelu’s argument that as a blogger, she wants to observe rather than to educate is what I found to be at the core of the novel’s approach. This book will not give you answers; it won’t tell you the solutions to micro-aggressions or even how to go about being a great ally or activist (even our educated Yale boy Blaine is seen through Ifemelu’s eyes as patronizing more often than not). And yet, reading this book through the eyes of an African woman and man, can lend us here in the states more clarity towards the biases and inherent privilege we engage in, such as even well meaning acts of assistance or charity. It gives the book a sense that there is no one answer. In depicting these scenarios for what they are, through characters who experience racial prejudice but are in many ways historically distant from the situation, Adichie doesn’t need to argue a specific point—she shows us that we need to find these conclusions for ourselves. While I do agree that the book, particular the second half, becomes preachy without plot (and, admittedly, boring and drawn out towards the end), I believe Adichie’s talent in cultivating a story of this scale and nuance to be commendable. To conclude, I am wowed and intimidated by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s characters, her writing prowess, and the scope of her stories.
Read my full review and analysis here: https://www.christinaji.com/all-posts/americanah-by-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie
Follow my bookstagram: @mytholoji
I finished reading Americanah on a rainy morning, just before dawn. The world outside was still blue and shadowed, and the shape of buildings slowly emerged from the dark, brick by brick, pane by pane, as the sky lightened. The sound of toads and birds rose up from the twilight silence, their throats defrosted and open with warbling calls upon waking.
To be honest, I already knew what I was going to rate this book around the halfway mark. I had high expectations when I picked up this novel, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie delivers on everything the back blurb promises — a star-crossed romance focused on race and identity and love. There’s a refreshing frankness to her prose that I have found to be my favorite part of contemporary literature, and Adichie does well to hone in on her elegant, clean writing in a way that does not still provides exceptional depth and insight. A few of my favorite lines are:
“There was a moment, a caving of the blue sky, an inertia of stillness…”
“This was truly her; this was the voice with which she would speak if she were woken up from a deep sleep during an earthquake”
“…Kimberly’s repeated apologies were tinged with self-indulgence, as though she believed that she could, with apologies, smooth all the scalloped surfaces of the world.”
Adichie intersperses critical insight between the lines of prose, and these observations are the core of the novel. The book is split into 6 parts, and we follow Ifemelu and Obinze from their instant attraction and young love to the turmoils they both encounter as immigrants in foreign countries.
Adichie does an incredibly job at weaving in characters, themes, and identities to create a sprawling story across seas. Ifemelu’s argument that as a blogger, she wants to observe rather than to educate is what I found to be at the core of the novel’s approach. This book will not give you answers; it won’t tell you the solutions to micro-aggressions or even how to go about being a great ally or activist (even our educated Yale boy Blaine is seen through Ifemelu’s eyes as patronizing more often than not). And yet, reading this book through the eyes of an African woman and man, can lend us here in the states more clarity towards the biases and inherent privilege we engage in, such as even well meaning acts of assistance or charity. It gives the book a sense that there is no one answer. In depicting these scenarios for what they are, through characters who experience racial prejudice but are in many ways historically distant from the situation, Adichie doesn’t need to argue a specific point—she shows us that we need to find these conclusions for ourselves. While I do agree that the book, particular the second half, becomes preachy without plot (and, admittedly, boring and drawn out towards the end), I believe Adichie’s talent in cultivating a story of this scale and nuance to be commendable. To conclude, I am wowed and intimidated by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s characters, her writing prowess, and the scope of her stories.
Read my full review and analysis here: https://www.christinaji.com/all-posts/americanah-by-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie
Follow my bookstagram: @mytholoji
sammy_ajani's review against another edition
4.0
It is the first book that i read about African culture and the diaspora they face once they move into another country. The book is really well written. One can easily relate to the protagonist who can be but not fit in. The plot is a cliche but the events that take place and the things that the protagonist goes through makes it very interesting.
abbysalmon's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
blueberry31's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of the most intelligent books I have read in a while. It touches many topics and issues with such sincerity: priviledge, race, gender, and even more broadly the experience of being an immigrant in the US. I learned a lot from this book on the subtle or non-subtle ways that racism is experienced by its victims and brushed off by its perpetrators. And I found that to a certain extent I could relate: especially on one's experience of American life when coming from another country. While Ifemelu brings a Nigerian external point of view on US habits and behaviors, I could find myself really smiling at her observations because they rang so true to me (even though I am French, which is a different point of view with fewer layers, as I obviously can't experience the race-related things).
This book is important and necessary because it offers a brilliant and well-documented analysis of discrimination and intolerance that is still very much alive today in the US (and not only). It also explored the complex and conflicting feelings of never quite fitting in anywhere ever again, after leaving your home country.
I can only recommend this book a million times. It is a true lesson in empathy. May all white people strive to be "the white friend who gets it." We must.
This book is important and necessary because it offers a brilliant and well-documented analysis of discrimination and intolerance that is still very much alive today in the US (and not only). It also explored the complex and conflicting feelings of never quite fitting in anywhere ever again, after leaving your home country.
I can only recommend this book a million times. It is a true lesson in empathy. May all white people strive to be "the white friend who gets it." We must.
anahlopes2005's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
acmarinho3's review against another edition
4.0
Um excelente livro, com uma ótima crítica à América e à ideia de raça, à identidade americana e africana e às perspetivas em que são vistas essas identidades. É um livro cheio de multiculturalismo, procura de liberdade, descoberta pessoal e amor. Adoro as personagens: Ifemelu e Obinze. A prova de que o que tem de ser, tem muita força; de que o amor supera tudo, mesmo que demore quinze anos. Chimamanda escreve muito bem, de uma forma leviana, mas bastante crítica e inteligente. Uma voz que merece ser ouvida. É maravilhosa a forma como aborda a complexidade humana neste livro. Foi uma ótima leitura.