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A review by notesfromjulia
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
3.0
3.5
I overall really enjoyed this book and following the characters over the course of the years. I totally recommend reading it and I’m glad I did. The narrator of the audiobook, Adjoa Andoh, is great as well and I can really recommend you check it out if you struggle with the physical book like I did (some books just really work better for me if the story is told to me).
I really liked Obinze and I wished we would have had more time with him, Ifemelu was harder for me to connect to but I still think she is a well-developed and interesting character, very stubborn at times but also inspiringly confident. That makes her a very strong protagonist and since the book is extremely character driven, that was really great.
What was my problem with the book was that it felt very drawn out. There were many scenes with gatherings of friends/family (dinners with friends etc.) and during these the political views and attitudes of the people were discussed. That was often very interesting and never shied away from unpopular opinions, I just felt like it took up way too much of the book, making it feel a little bit messy and repetitive. I enjoyed Ifemelu‘s blog entries at times, at others I couldn’t really connect or agree with what she‘d say (there was one specific thing that irked me). Overall, it touches on many important topics that you get to see from the lense of very interesting characters.
I wish there would have been more actual story about the main characters and the ones they were closest to, especially with Obinze. The cast is big but a lot of the characters only play minor roles, so it was not easy to get a great impression of some of them. Still, I think it made the book more authentic because obviously people have complex social connections.
Nevertheless, Adichie has a great writing style, the prose was beautiful, and when the book had it’s great moments, they were really really really good. The more dense parts are worth it and the ending was very well done. I‘ll be sure to check out her other novels as well – her non-fiction is still my favorite though.
I overall really enjoyed this book and following the characters over the course of the years. I totally recommend reading it and I’m glad I did. The narrator of the audiobook, Adjoa Andoh, is great as well and I can really recommend you check it out if you struggle with the physical book like I did (some books just really work better for me if the story is told to me).
I really liked Obinze and I wished we would have had more time with him, Ifemelu was harder for me to connect to but I still think she is a well-developed and interesting character, very stubborn at times but also inspiringly confident. That makes her a very strong protagonist and since the book is extremely character driven, that was really great.
What was my problem with the book was that it felt very drawn out. There were many scenes with gatherings of friends/family (dinners with friends etc.) and during these the political views and attitudes of the people were discussed. That was often very interesting and never shied away from unpopular opinions, I just felt like it took up way too much of the book, making it feel a little bit messy and repetitive. I enjoyed Ifemelu‘s blog entries at times, at others I couldn’t really connect or agree with what she‘d say (there was one specific thing that irked me). Overall, it touches on many important topics that you get to see from the lense of very interesting characters.
I wish there would have been more actual story about the main characters and the ones they were closest to, especially with Obinze. The cast is big but a lot of the characters only play minor roles, so it was not easy to get a great impression of some of them. Still, I think it made the book more authentic because obviously people have complex social connections.
Nevertheless, Adichie has a great writing style, the prose was beautiful, and when the book had it’s great moments, they were really really really good. The more dense parts are worth it and the ending was very well done. I‘ll be sure to check out her other novels as well – her non-fiction is still my favorite though.