10.6k reviews for:

Americanah

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

4.34 AVERAGE

megprescott's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective slow-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

kossenjfk's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

aidee_rosie's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

vahidx's review against another edition

4.0

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Lots of feelings on this
- being able to follow the journey of the characters from childhood to adulthood has a sort of whimsical charm to it that made me more invested in them then a lot of other books have managed to do.
- the outsider perspective of race in America (Hair politics, identity tied to class) was really interesting in how some views seem to directly clash or oppose the common Western view.
- The blog post ended up being a weaker section of the book for me just because I felt like the things that were said were never as deeply thought out enough to be really challenging or radical
- I find myself struggling in knowing what I pulled away from the book in terms of lessons, themes, perspectives that I either didn't have before or really can say I understand now
It would be a great book to discuss in a group setting

saribo's review against another edition

4.0

hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

brennakelly11's review against another edition

5.0

emotional 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

lisosa's review against another edition

4.0

inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

isabel4321's review against another edition

5.0

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

emely_481's review against another edition

3.25

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Since I've already read "We should all be Feminists", which is non-fiction, I thought I might give her fiction books a try. But this one didn't really win me over. The writing style in itself was truly great, Ngozi Adichie really has a way with words. The characters felt extremely real and in some ways realatable, mostly I think because this is contemporary fiction, not because their actions were relatable. And that is my main issue with this book: the character's actions. Don't get me wrong, I won't give a book a bad rating because the characters did bad things, that wouldn't really make sense. But it was the way their mistakes were portrayed that had me questioning the author's position on certain issues. The migration and racism- related issues are not exactly something I can judge from the characters' perspectives but what I can judge is the way Ifemelu and Obinze go about their relationship(s), especially in the second half of the book. Obinze is, for a huge portion of the story, married to a, according to description, beatiful dutyful and kindhearted woman named Kosi. There is nothing wrong with her, she just wants to have a family with him and live her life as a housewife. Obinze on the other hand has for a long time, maybe even for the entirety of their marriage, emotionally checked out. He says he feels a certain responsibility for here, other than that there is nothing, but he acts like there is. All his life he has been in love with Ifemelu, and she with him as well. Even while going no-contact with each other for the longest time, they still always consider each other to be "end-game" in that sense. At the end of the book it even goes as far as them sleeping with  each other, with that Obinze cheating on his wife. And that exact ending is my problem with how the author wrote it. Because she wrote it in a way that seems to glorify cheating because it's the "true soulmate you're doing it with so that is alright". The worst thing about this is that Obinze doesn't quite feel that much remorse about his actions and they go very casual about their actions, for example them meeting at a cafe, and Ifemelu casually asking if he was prepared (with condoms) so that they could finally give in. And the way it was written suggests that there is no shame, or little wrong with what they're doing and on the last page it is indicated that Obinze left his family for Ifemelu, after she already distanced herself from him again. They're both not really great people with very questionable morals but the way they're "trying" to be portrayed seems to me like them having loved each other for so long makes every messed-up thing they do excusable. Kosi's breakdown at the end is truly my worst nightmare, if anything her character, even though she wasn't an actual protagonist, was the most relatable to me. She felt so safe in her life and marriage, and then this is droppe on her, she was living my personal hell. I think this book lacks accountability for the characters. And that's what bothered me the most. 

lesaird's review against another edition

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Enjoyed this. Good insight on living in a different country & culture. Nice to read something so contemporary. Will read more of her work.