You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
informative
slow-paced
While parts of this story gave some really interesting insight into things I don’t have personal experience with, I found the narrative style hard to follow at times.
A very interesting story that unfolds with non-chronological jumps through time. I was very curious to know what would happen to characters as I saw snippets of their lives. While the main plot seems to be a love story, I felt that underneath it was trying to be about a single main person’s search for identity, not two main characters. The commentary on racism in America was intense and definitely uncomfortable in a way that challenged me, although I didn’t find the blog super compelling throughout. I most appreciated the beautiful descriptions of life in Nigeria and both Lagos and Nsukka in particular. It was fascinating to discover a bit of the country and culture through this book.
DNF. I just could not get into this book. Read through page 278. I think the subject matter and message are important, but I struggled with the characters. I have so many books I want to read that I decided to move on.
This is one of the best contemporary books I've read in what feels like a very long time. I absolutely loved Adichie's writing and her wide array of well developed characters. I found Ifemelu to be a much stronger character than those in any previous female-centered novel I've read recently. (Note: strong female character means well-written, not 'she doesn't fall in or believe in love'). It's hard to explain, but she was a really smart girl who who took on some bad situations that I won't spoil, and really came out stronger from it. The plot is very character driven. The pacing can drag a little at times, but Adichie's writing and characters are very enthralling so I enjoyed every bit of it. Being white, I can't really comment on how she deals with race from an immigrant perspective verses an African American perspective. However, a lot of what she brought up with racism, sexism, etc I found to be very on point.
No exaggerating: this was the best book I've read in YEARS! Amazing on so many levels. I often derive greater connection, meaning, and understanding from fiction than nonfiction, and this novel, with its relatable, flawed characters taking all-too-real journeys, struck every chord that I needed to hear.
As a voluntary immigrant and expat, I derived a lot of amusement from the sections where Ifemelu moves to the United States. Those feelings of otherness so perfectly encapsulated by this passage: "She had the sudden sensation of fogginess, of a milky web through which she tried to claw. Her autumn of half blindness had begun, the autumn of puzzlements, of experiences she had knowing there were slippery layers of meaning that eluded her."
But as a white person born in the United States, I value even more the author's incisive depictions and unflinching portrayals of the structure of systemic racism in my home country. The clueless vapidity of some of the privileged characters unnerved me because they were real — actually, often gentler than what I grew up around in rural Tennessee.
The author delivers a polemic on race, class, and gender. She deftly peels back layer after layer of the hierarchy of social structures that affect everyday life for all but those who exist at the so-called top echelon. How race affects the lens of your eyes at a hair salon, a train station, a job interview... in a lover's bed. How it is so, so, so much more than black-and-white.
In a world fraught with racial tension, it's nigh impossible to have a frank conversation with friends, family, or colleagues about race in "post-racial" times, but this book nails it. A character in the book says, “You can’t write an honest novel about race in this country. If you write about how people are really affected by race, it’ll be too obvious. Black writers who do literary fiction in this country… have two choices: they can do precious or they can do pretentious.”
Adichie chooses neither path, and what we have is a brilliant, character-driven novel with characters I desperately cared about. Though I learned much, I never felt preached at. Instead I followed Ifemelu through her life, picking up the jewels of knowledge that she left strewn in her path and marveling at their beauty and perfect pitch.
Blaine, Ifemelu's liberal academic American black boyfriend in the second half of the book, was particularly interesting to me. His inflexible certainty of what was good and right was often misplaced and unhelpful even though he was on the "right side" of things. I know that for some people, I am a Blaine. Interestingly, though, other people feel like that to me, people I know I should agree with but whose sense of right and wrong is laser-focused on the wrong things — and uninterested in hearing alternate viewpoints. I feel that same sense of stifled-ness and eye-rolling exasperation that Ifemelu feels about Blaine, but I know I make a different subset of my own acquaintances feel that way too.
I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone — most particularly, my white American friends.
As a voluntary immigrant and expat, I derived a lot of amusement from the sections where Ifemelu moves to the United States. Those feelings of otherness so perfectly encapsulated by this passage: "She had the sudden sensation of fogginess, of a milky web through which she tried to claw. Her autumn of half blindness had begun, the autumn of puzzlements, of experiences she had knowing there were slippery layers of meaning that eluded her."
But as a white person born in the United States, I value even more the author's incisive depictions and unflinching portrayals of the structure of systemic racism in my home country. The clueless vapidity of some of the privileged characters unnerved me because they were real — actually, often gentler than what I grew up around in rural Tennessee.
The author delivers a polemic on race, class, and gender. She deftly peels back layer after layer of the hierarchy of social structures that affect everyday life for all but those who exist at the so-called top echelon. How race affects the lens of your eyes at a hair salon, a train station, a job interview... in a lover's bed. How it is so, so, so much more than black-and-white.
In a world fraught with racial tension, it's nigh impossible to have a frank conversation with friends, family, or colleagues about race in "post-racial" times, but this book nails it. A character in the book says, “You can’t write an honest novel about race in this country. If you write about how people are really affected by race, it’ll be too obvious. Black writers who do literary fiction in this country… have two choices: they can do precious or they can do pretentious.”
Adichie chooses neither path, and what we have is a brilliant, character-driven novel with characters I desperately cared about. Though I learned much, I never felt preached at. Instead I followed Ifemelu through her life, picking up the jewels of knowledge that she left strewn in her path and marveling at their beauty and perfect pitch.
Blaine, Ifemelu's liberal academic American black boyfriend in the second half of the book, was particularly interesting to me. His inflexible certainty of what was good and right was often misplaced and unhelpful even though he was on the "right side" of things. I know that for some people, I am a Blaine. Interestingly, though, other people feel like that to me, people I know I should agree with but whose sense of right and wrong is laser-focused on the wrong things — and uninterested in hearing alternate viewpoints. I feel that same sense of stifled-ness and eye-rolling exasperation that Ifemelu feels about Blaine, but I know I make a different subset of my own acquaintances feel that way too.
I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone — most particularly, my white American friends.
Luscious writing, wonderful characters, this book gave me a glimpse into other worlds, including the worlds of immigrants and African Americans in America. Best of all, it let me see Americans, including myself, through others' eyes.
Sometimes a book catches you at just the right time for it to really make an impact. This one had been languishing on my TBR list for well over a year, despite coming highly recommended by a reliable source. For some reason I was avoiding it - probably because I didn’t particularly enjoy Half of a Yellow Sun - but I’m glad I put it off because I feel like I read it at the right moment.
Three weeks ago I relocated from London to Brooklyn, New York. And yes, I know, it’s not directly comparable to a Nigerian woman moving here from Lagos, or a Nigeria man working illegally in London, but I still think many of the themes of this book were particularly close to the surface for me.
Then again, I feel like, thematically, there’s something here for everyone. This book is like an infinite all-you-can-eat gourmet buffet and everyone is invited. You fancy some deep and well-informed insights into race and identity in the USA and UK? Help yourself; poignant observations on globalisation and the immigrant experience more to your taste? Pile your plate high; blistering commentary on modern-day Nigeria? Take your fill; and make sure you leave room for a beautiful, vivid and authentic love story as well.
The whole book was brilliantly written, toeing the line between angry social commentary and sermonising while also offering a gripping plot and believable characters. This one is going straight onto the favourites shelf.
Three weeks ago I relocated from London to Brooklyn, New York. And yes, I know, it’s not directly comparable to a Nigerian woman moving here from Lagos, or a Nigeria man working illegally in London, but I still think many of the themes of this book were particularly close to the surface for me.
Then again, I feel like, thematically, there’s something here for everyone. This book is like an infinite all-you-can-eat gourmet buffet and everyone is invited. You fancy some deep and well-informed insights into race and identity in the USA and UK? Help yourself; poignant observations on globalisation and the immigrant experience more to your taste? Pile your plate high; blistering commentary on modern-day Nigeria? Take your fill; and make sure you leave room for a beautiful, vivid and authentic love story as well.
The whole book was brilliantly written, toeing the line between angry social commentary and sermonising while also offering a gripping plot and believable characters. This one is going straight onto the favourites shelf.
I read this story as a love story. I liked it that way. It made me gape and drool over the romantic, sappy, poetic shit, EVEN THOUGH I am living through my era of disbelieving in real romantic, sappy, poetic shit. Guess I read to escape. Or see things I can’t see or choose not to see in life.
Romantic af quote:
“She rested her head against his and felt, for the first time, what she would often feel with him: a self affection. He made her like herself. With him, she was at ease; her skin felt as thought it was her right size…. It seemed so natural, to talk to him about odd things. She had never done that before the trust, so suddenly and yet so completed and the intimacy, frightened her. They had known nothing of each other only hours ago, and yet, there had been a knowledge shared between them in those moments before they danced, and now she could think only of all the things she yet wanted to tell him, wanted to do with him.”
Romantic af quote:
“She rested her head against his and felt, for the first time, what she would often feel with him: a self affection. He made her like herself. With him, she was at ease; her skin felt as thought it was her right size…. It seemed so natural, to talk to him about odd things. She had never done that before the trust, so suddenly and yet so completed and the intimacy, frightened her. They had known nothing of each other only hours ago, and yet, there had been a knowledge shared between them in those moments before they danced, and now she could think only of all the things she yet wanted to tell him, wanted to do with him.”
I loved every sentence of this book. I 100% recommend it. Please read it. This book will teach you a lot about racism in the US. I learned a lot. It is one of those books which make you understand even better what black people have to get through every single day.
4.5 stars. This woman is amazing she makes me think.