Thoughts on "Americanah"

Americanah is a novel by the Nigerian award winning author Chimamanda Adichie Ngozi that won her the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction in 2014.

What is it about?

I would consider Americanah a romantic novel since it revolves around two characters "Ifemelu"  who is nicknamed "Ifem" and her boyfriend Obinze who she refers to as 'ceiling'. Theirs is not a direct story and the origin of the nickname "ceiling" is funny and sweet. 

They start dating in high school and join the same University. Due to strikes, Ifem tries her luck and succeeds to move to America. Unlike her, Obinze doesn't succeed. They keep writing to each other until Ifem, who is struggling to pay her bills in the USA stops writing after she has what i would refer to as a creepy encounter with some coach. Obinze goes crazy trying to reach her until she closes her email account. She moves on to date other people as she blogs on issues affecting black people in the USA which garners a lot of attention. 

On the other hand, Obinze tries his luck and manages to go to England registered as  his mother's research assistant. He however isn't lucky in securing his citizenship. He is arrested on his way to a sham wedding and is deported back to Nigeria. He struggles and eventually manages to get into real estate and is eventually seen as one of the rich people in his circle. He goes on ahead to marry the perfect  woman named Kosi but he doesn't feel about her the way he felt about Ifem. She is beautiful and agreeable but to him, she is boring. Together they have  a daughter named Buchi.

When he receives an email that Ifem is going back to Nigeria, he has mixed feelings. He doesn't know if she is coming back with the guy she was dating in the USA or not. He is also angry at her for just cutting off communication without any explanation.

What will happen when she goes back? Will he leave his daughter Buchi and his very beautiful wife Kosi to go after Ifemelu who has strange natural hair or will he stick to his wife?

Americanah

Characters i fell in love with.

1. Obinze's Mom

She treated Ifem well and gave her the honest talk all moms ought to give their daughters. She also stood up for what she believed in and fostered a healthy relationship with her son.

2. Curtis

This is a white boyfriend that Ifem dates while in the USA. He treats her like a queen and is always looking for something else to do. He harasses a certain salon that does not want to make Ifem's brows into doing them. I lowkey want a man like that. 

3. Dike

This is Ifem's young cousin who is easy to fall in love with. It saddens my heart when he tries to commit suicide.


 What I liked about the book.

Chimamanda describes her characters in a way that you can easily visualize them. From the general, to the weird coach and to the 'chief'. I can actually picture each one of them in my head. She brought each one of them alive. 

What i did not like about it 

It's hard to point out.. The characters were too many. If you are not keen with names, you'll probably find yourself lost in there somewhere.

Rating. 

I would give Americanah a solid 7.5. It's an awesome book that one should definitely read.


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