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A review by bahareads
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Perhaps Americanah was a revolutionary immigrant novel when it came out but I have read better. Adichie's writing is fantastic. The book unfurls itself in waves. The book is plotless, we see Ifemelu and Obinze going through life. There was no serious character development. While readers see Ifemelu and Obinze grow up they fundamentally do not change. Obinze's POV was just there, Obinze's POV was my favorite. Ifemelu was unlikable for me. I wanted MORE of Obinze throughout the book.
The secondary characters are not fleshed out well. They're there for the plot and to help the main characters progress forward. Dike is the only one I felt attached to at all. I adored him because Ifemelu adored him. I loved being able to see the struggles of the diaspora in him.
I enjoyed how Ifemelu's relationships allowed us to see interactions with White and Black Americans. Ifemelu realises she will never fully be able to understand her White boy and with Blaine (Black bf), she sees she can never fully understand him either. Personally, I don’t think Black people who weren’t born and raised in America can truly understand what it’s like to grow up in the USA’s specific repressive and oppressive environment. I did not like how all the interactions Ifelemu had with African Americans were negative either overly or subtly so; it brought an abrasiveness.
Adichie said in an interview that Americanah was supposed to be funny... It was not. The blog posts of Ifemelu were humorous occasionally but een nuttin' funny in this book. The ending of the book was soft. The book is almost divided into two halves: immigration and romance. The romance was lacking. I understand pinning and star-crossed lovers, but OH BROTHER GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK.
The way Adichie approaches race in the novel is interesting... Ifemelu has never experienced racism in Nigeria. I saw a clip where Adichie says she did not think of herself as Black, and that no one in Nigeria thinks of themselves as Black which.... Ifemelu has experienced colourism; which TO ME is a subcategory of racism. I live and grew up in a Black, former-British-colony society and you can SEE racism within the society. You KNOW you're Black. I understand in a majority Black society you need to find other ways to distinguish yourself, like through ethnicity and class but...
The secondary characters are not fleshed out well. They're there for the plot and to help the main characters progress forward. Dike is the only one I felt attached to at all. I adored him because Ifemelu adored him. I loved being able to see the struggles of the diaspora in him.
I enjoyed how Ifemelu's relationships allowed us to see interactions with White and Black Americans. Ifemelu realises she will never fully be able to understand her White boy and with Blaine (Black bf), she sees she can never fully understand him either. Personally, I don’t think Black people who weren’t born and raised in America can truly understand what it’s like to grow up in the USA’s specific repressive and oppressive environment. I did not like how all the interactions Ifelemu had with African Americans were negative either overly or subtly so; it brought an abrasiveness.
Adichie said in an interview that Americanah was supposed to be funny... It was not. The blog posts of Ifemelu were humorous occasionally but een nuttin' funny in this book. The ending of the book was soft. The book is almost divided into two halves: immigration and romance. The romance was lacking. I understand pinning and star-crossed lovers, but OH BROTHER GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK.
The way Adichie approaches race in the novel is interesting... Ifemelu has never experienced racism in Nigeria. I saw a clip where Adichie says she did not think of herself as Black, and that no one in Nigeria thinks of themselves as Black which.... Ifemelu has experienced colourism; which TO ME is a subcategory of racism. I live and grew up in a Black, former-British-colony society and you can SEE racism within the society. You KNOW you're Black. I understand in a majority Black society you need to find other ways to distinguish yourself, like through ethnicity and class but...