Adichie,
C. N. (2013). Americanah. New York: Knopf.
Adichie has
written a chilling masterpiece. This novel can’t be about just one topic because so much is
woven together. Here are some of the questions addressed: What does it mean to
be African and live in America? How
does moving from Nigeria to America affect and change someone? What is the impact this will have on
relationships? On love? What will
be realized about communities? White privilege? What will be learned about
ethnocentrism and about our own identities? These are all questions that
Adichie discusses through her character Ifemelu, a young Nigerian woman who
moves to America in pursuit of a higher education.
Ifemelu has moved to America to study and to
become a wrier. She has her ideas about what America should be like based on TV
shows like the Cosby’s, but upon her arrival she realizes its not what she
thought. She is there to attend school and starts off fresh and new and is
learning a lot about her new homeland called America. Truth is, the experience
of coming to America, taught her a lot and taught her about things she did not
know existed, including the four letter word: race. The concept of race didn’t
exist in Nigeria, but it exists on every street corner, store, and train
station in every city in America. She learns what it means and what it feels
like to be “black” in America. Ifemelu begins to write a blog about race in
America. She does not have it easy
in America – she hits some real lows and struggles to find a job, but through a
lot of flashbacks we learn that she does gain an education, a fellowship at
Princeton and finds a new love in an African American professor. Her life was kind of easy in comparison
back in Nigeria, or maybe it was just simpler. Ifemula ends the blog and
returns to Nigeria after thirteen years of living in cities all around the U.S.
But she isn’t returning to what she originally planned. Things have changed.
To make the story more interesting, there are
parallel stories intertwined. Her teenage love, Obinze, wanted to also come to
America to finish school, but because it is post 9/11 he is not permitted to
enter the U.S. Instead he goes to London and faces his own challenges with
finding a job. He tries to fake a marriage but is deported. He struggles just
as much as Ifemelu, but upon his return to Nigeria he marries again, but the
problem is it wasn’t for love and he is not happy. Adichie’s characters are
both unhappy and unsatisfied with the position that they found themselves in,
although oceans and continents apart. Their love went in opposite directions while
their hearts remained in Nigeria, though they didn’t know it. It took a journey
of self-realization to appreciate the life they had. However, the experiences
taught them and stretched them.
This realistic love story will provide readers
with plenty of insight for those who want to have their eyes opened to the
issues of race, migration and struggles in America. This book is highly recommended
for all readers. Though race has an important role in this book, not only
Africans or African Americans need to read this. This is one book that all
readers from all races should read because the honesty of the characters and
their experiences will teach us all. It belongs in every library’s
multicultural collection. This work is highly recommended for all public
libraries.
