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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
Este foi mais um livro que me foi aconselhado por uma amiga, confesso que não tinha o hábito de ler por conselho mas uma pessoa pode e deve aumentar os seus horizontes. E se isso aconteceu com The Catch Trap, voltou a acontecer com este Americanah.
Trata-se do romance editado em 2013 pela nigeriana e aclamada feminista Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. É nele contada a história central de Ifemelu e Obinze, dois jovens que se apaixonam em Lagos, cidade apanhada no ciclo da currupção económica e política, e que a vida separa, indo Ifemelu para os Estados Unidos da América e Obinze para os Reino Unido. Mas não se pense que esta é uma história de amor.
Chimamanda foca-se, sim, nas dificuldades que ambos encontram para se legalizar nos respectivos países sendo que o foco principal é dado a Ifemelu, onde pela primeira vez na sua vida é confrontada com a sua raça e os obstáculos que esta lhe causa no novo País. Ifemelu descobre-se pela primeira vez na vida negra. Ela decide então criar um blogue onde explora o tema do racismo da perspectiva de uma negra não americana. E mulher. Sim, percebi com este livro toda a importância que o cabelo tem na mulher, em particular na mulher negra. Mas é esta também a beleza do livro, chamar a atenção para coisas que nem nos ocorreriam por nos faltar a experiência de/daquela vida.
(...)
Continua aqui: http://oslivroslidos.tumblr.com/post/82184709483/opiniao-americanah-de-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-versao
Trata-se do romance editado em 2013 pela nigeriana e aclamada feminista Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. É nele contada a história central de Ifemelu e Obinze, dois jovens que se apaixonam em Lagos, cidade apanhada no ciclo da currupção económica e política, e que a vida separa, indo Ifemelu para os Estados Unidos da América e Obinze para os Reino Unido. Mas não se pense que esta é uma história de amor.
Chimamanda foca-se, sim, nas dificuldades que ambos encontram para se legalizar nos respectivos países sendo que o foco principal é dado a Ifemelu, onde pela primeira vez na sua vida é confrontada com a sua raça e os obstáculos que esta lhe causa no novo País. Ifemelu descobre-se pela primeira vez na vida negra. Ela decide então criar um blogue onde explora o tema do racismo da perspectiva de uma negra não americana. E mulher. Sim, percebi com este livro toda a importância que o cabelo tem na mulher, em particular na mulher negra. Mas é esta também a beleza do livro, chamar a atenção para coisas que nem nos ocorreriam por nos faltar a experiência de/daquela vida.
(...)
Continua aqui: http://oslivroslidos.tumblr.com/post/82184709483/opiniao-americanah-de-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-versao
At the heart of Americanah is a love story. Not just a love story between two people, but also about loving ourselves for who we truly are. Americanah follows Ifemelu and Obinze, childhood sweethearts in their home country of Nigeria who are separated when Ifemelu moves to the United States and Obinze to the United Kingdom.
I really didn’t expect to connect with this book as much as I did. As someone who has moved away from her home country to the U.S, I really related to Ifemelu’s struggles of adapting to a new country and culture (and that was coming from the U.K - I can’t even image the culture shock of coming to the U.S from Nigeria). You could tell that Adichie has experienced these struggles firsthand, and that kind of honesty and emotion really came across in her writing.
I must admit that, at times, this book did feel a bit preachy, especially with regards to Ifemelu’s blog posts on racism. The more I thought about this though, the more I understood it. I thought these were a good way of showing how frustrated and angry Ifemelu was feeling towards the subject of race in America.
I really enjoyed Obinze’s storyline too and would’ve liked to have seen more of a balance between his perspective and Ifemelu’s.
I really didn’t expect to connect with this book as much as I did. As someone who has moved away from her home country to the U.S, I really related to Ifemelu’s struggles of adapting to a new country and culture (and that was coming from the U.K - I can’t even image the culture shock of coming to the U.S from Nigeria). You could tell that Adichie has experienced these struggles firsthand, and that kind of honesty and emotion really came across in her writing.
I must admit that, at times, this book did feel a bit preachy, especially with regards to Ifemelu’s blog posts on racism. The more I thought about this though, the more I understood it. I thought these were a good way of showing how frustrated and angry Ifemelu was feeling towards the subject of race in America.
I really enjoyed Obinze’s storyline too and would’ve liked to have seen more of a balance between his perspective and Ifemelu’s.
I *gobbled* this book down. I want to write a more developed review when it's not 9:42 pm after a busy day and Shakespeare at the Fort and all, but I loved it. The story is one that takes a unique perspective and experience and opens it up so that it includes the reader. It is gentle with people, allowing them to make mistakes and to change. It's funny and sad, but always hopeful, and it shows that life happens all over the world, celebrating the struggles and the triumphs that people face. I would love to have a chance to talk over it all with Adichie: her strong, clear voice, her willingness to draw positive male and female characters of all races and backgrounds, and her sense of humor make her seem like a person who'd be great to know!
More later. For right now, go buy it. Full price, at your local bookstore. I did, and I don't regret it one bit. This book deserves to be a bestseller!
ETA: Before I send this off for Julie to read, I wanted to tie in a few passages I marked to give a sense of Adichie's way with language. Ifemelu reflects on the kind of books her boyfriend likes: "novels written by young and youngish men and packed with things, a fascinating, confusing accumulation of brans and music and comic books and icons, with emotions skimmed over, and each sentence stylishly aware of its own stylishness. She had read many of them, because he recommended them, but they were like cotton candy that so easily evaporated from her tongue's memory." (12). And then she describes Obinze's mother: "She was pleasant and direct, even warm, but there was a privacy about her, a reluctance to bare herself completely to the world, the same quality as Obinze. She had taught her son the ability to be, even in the middle of a crowd, somehow comfortably inside himself." (69/70) What a vivid way to describe that particular element of certain people--and that element defines Obinze's character and the relationship Ifemelu has with him throughout the novel.
Another thing the novel did was discuss how Americans deal with foreigners, especially those from African countries. Ifemelu comments on the usual response being "Isn't there a war there?" as well as the attitude toward accents and toward non-American names. Having read those sections, I took a deep breath and forced myself to stop skimming the names and thinking, "There's the main character, her name starts with an I" and really figured out how Ifemelu's name was spelled and (probably) pronounced. Adichie doesn't hector, but she presents a clear picture of what it's like to be on the receiving end of such stereotypes and expectations. Also, she creates a character, Ifemelu, who is known for being outspoken, who alters her accent into Americanese and then, deliberately, recaptures her Nigerian style of English when she realizes what she's done. Ifemelu has advantages, has opportunities: she is aware of them and how they enable her to make a life in the US and a life in Nigeria. If we're moving toward a "world is flat" type global identity, Adichie's Americanah and her characters offer a possible model for how that reality could be lived.
Hopeful, humane, articulate, and perceptive, Adichie has created a valuable, arresting novel full of characters I'd love to meet in real life.
More later. For right now, go buy it. Full price, at your local bookstore. I did, and I don't regret it one bit. This book deserves to be a bestseller!
ETA: Before I send this off for Julie to read, I wanted to tie in a few passages I marked to give a sense of Adichie's way with language. Ifemelu reflects on the kind of books her boyfriend likes: "novels written by young and youngish men and packed with things, a fascinating, confusing accumulation of brans and music and comic books and icons, with emotions skimmed over, and each sentence stylishly aware of its own stylishness. She had read many of them, because he recommended them, but they were like cotton candy that so easily evaporated from her tongue's memory." (12). And then she describes Obinze's mother: "She was pleasant and direct, even warm, but there was a privacy about her, a reluctance to bare herself completely to the world, the same quality as Obinze. She had taught her son the ability to be, even in the middle of a crowd, somehow comfortably inside himself." (69/70) What a vivid way to describe that particular element of certain people--and that element defines Obinze's character and the relationship Ifemelu has with him throughout the novel.
Another thing the novel did was discuss how Americans deal with foreigners, especially those from African countries. Ifemelu comments on the usual response being "Isn't there a war there?" as well as the attitude toward accents and toward non-American names. Having read those sections, I took a deep breath and forced myself to stop skimming the names and thinking, "There's the main character, her name starts with an I" and really figured out how Ifemelu's name was spelled and (probably) pronounced. Adichie doesn't hector, but she presents a clear picture of what it's like to be on the receiving end of such stereotypes and expectations. Also, she creates a character, Ifemelu, who is known for being outspoken, who alters her accent into Americanese and then, deliberately, recaptures her Nigerian style of English when she realizes what she's done. Ifemelu has advantages, has opportunities: she is aware of them and how they enable her to make a life in the US and a life in Nigeria. If we're moving toward a "world is flat" type global identity, Adichie's Americanah and her characters offer a possible model for how that reality could be lived.
Hopeful, humane, articulate, and perceptive, Adichie has created a valuable, arresting novel full of characters I'd love to meet in real life.
Really enjoyed this book! Beautiful, complicated love story between two main characters that I was rooting for the whole time.
An honest showing of young love and its shift through time. Contains valuable insight into the U.S. and U.K. as an immigrant, and feelings of homecoming.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
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
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5/5. The author is a gifted writer. Which is why I’m not sure why this book was hard for me to get through. It wasn’t until over 100 pages in that I was invested in the characters. Of the almost 600 pages, most of it is back story. It is robust and full of vivid detail of 2 starkly different countries, and comparing race relations in the US to those in Nigeria was fascinating and a delight to read. However, in relation to the two main characters, they actually don’t meet in the present time until there are only about 100 pages left, where it begins to feel rushed, and almost out of character. In this sense I think the book blurb is slightly misleading. This is a small stylistic preference I think, because overall the grandness of the author’s story is beautiful, and her thoughts on racial justice from the vantage point of a Non-American Black woman were incredibly frank and insightful. For those points alone this book would still be great. For those who love the details of time and place in a book, and long and languid backstories, this is definitely for you.