Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Americanah

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a novel about life in Nigeria, experiencing race and racism in the US and trying to find oneself. Ifemelu and Obinze grew up in Nigeria together but saw no opportunities for themselves in this country. Ifemelu managed to move to the US and had to leave her love Obinze behind. There she experienced race and racism for the first time and had trouble adapting to her new life. After years in America, she moved back to Nigeria and realized how different she had become.

I wanted to read this book for a very long time. And now I am not fully sure what to think about it. In general, I liked the book. It felt very authentic and gave me a new insight into Africans’ experiencing racism in the US and Europe. It really broadened my horizon. The plot was very diverse. We heard about race and racism, about everyday racism, normal life, struggles, love and relationships.

However, the story was very long. Some scenes were not interesting at all and seemed to make the story longer. I was very confused at the beginning of the book. The author was jumping around within the plot, talking about the present and then jumping back to the past, writing several chapters about Ifemelu's youth and then suddenly jumping back to the present again. This confused me a lot in the beginning. Therefore, it took me ages to get into the story and to start liking it. I found Ifemelu's actions often questionable. She was cheating on her boyfriends a lot. And if there is one trope I don't like in books, it is cheating!

In the end, I started to like the book more and more. We got different perspectives and read about lots of different experiences. The love between Ifemelu and Obinze was really nice. I expected something different from the book, but in the end was pleased. I can recommend it!

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courtneyfalling's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

My girlfriend recommended this book, and I'm so glad she did! It definitely deserves its status as a new classic. Ifemelu especially has a wildly impressive and intricate interiority, which is fascinating from a character who’s also often scared of her own interiority. Lots of insight and slow, well-crafted plot. I'm only knocking the half a point because I wanted just a little more conclusion from the ending, with how much of these characters' lives we had seen.

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vgp's review

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emotional informative 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? No

4.0

I think this is a necessary book to understand racism in it’s multiple forms, many subtle to those not suffering it. Black hair as an example of my ignorance and as a example pf how deep is the believe system set around race.
I loved the account of migration stories to the States and to Britain. Feeling like an outsider everywhere, struggling with the cultural nuisances. And then, the stories of being pushed to the limits of a person until it breaks.
I could not relate and got a bit bored with some of the parts of the life in Lagos, but that’s just one side of all those that compose the life of Ifemelu.

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Some quotes:

“she had not had a bold epiphany […] it was simply that layer after layer of discontent had settled in her, and formed a mass that now propelled her”.
“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 though it was the right size.”
“It’s a bit tiresome to talk about America as being insular, […] since if something major happens [there] it is the headline in Britain; something major happens here, it is on the back page in America”.
“countries in Europe were based on exclusion and not, as in America, on inclusion.”
“the other guests […] understood the fleeing from war, from the kind of poverty that crushed human souls, but they would not understand the need to escape from the oppressive lethargy of choicelessness. They would not understand why people […] conditioned from birth to look towards somewhere else, eternally convinced that real lives happened in that somewhere else, were now resolved to do dangerous things […] to leave”.

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nmiall's review against another edition

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emotional informative slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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tree_hugging_ginge's review

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I feel that Imfelu's reflections on race in america was interesting but I just didn't like how superior she felt to everyone else and how she regarded her view as the only correct or only valid view. I definitely feel that Ifemlu was a self insert of Ngozi Adichie. Also I wish we spent more time with Obinze

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ariannam's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was a beautiful, well-written book. The characters are round, sometimes flawed, very human; you get the sense that Adichie is extremely skilled at choosing each word, and nothing is just there to fill the page.
The novel gave me an insight into many unfamiliar situations and places (in Nigeria, USA, and UK), which sometimes proved hard to digest (Ifemelu's first years in the US are… sometimes almost unbearably hard to swallow, because of how unjust the system is), but always very engaging. What was most engaging, in my opinion, and most well-written of all, was the human aspect, especially in relationships. The dynamics, even the ugly ones, or the unsaid and unspoken things between people, are beautifully explored in these pages.
I would like to talk about the ending (spoilers below) with somebody, because the conversations I've had with friends about it make me think I'm alone in actually enjoying the ending. Is that true? Did anyone here like the ending?
Spoiler opinion/question about the ending:

I think it is a little romance-novel idealistic that Obinze leaves his wife to be with Ifemelu at the end of the book, but I strongly disagree with my friends that this "ruins the book" and "Ifemelu goes back on her development" to be with him. For one, I don't think being happily in love is bad for character, and I think for what Obinze and Ifemelu had, they had to be together. They have a unique connection that can't be severed, so they would've been able to move on without each other, yes, but a cloud of unhappiness and unfulfillment would've hung over them. I'm happy he made the brave choice and decided to be with her, even though I don't believe it would easily happen in real life.

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