Review by yourlocalscrivener - Americanah

yourlocalscrivener 's review for:

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

3.25

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

If you enjoy contemporary literary fiction, this book is for you. Since I'm not a huge fan of literary fiction and began reading this without looking at the Storygraph classification, I believed that this book was heavier on the star-crossed romance than it was. In fact, it's more a novel about Ifemelu's experiences coming to and living in America. I liked Obinze for all except the final chapters, but he's really not a main character in the story. He's more of a side character at best.
Once I readjusted my preconceived notions about the story, I came to enjoy it. It tackles quite a few dark topics besides racism (read trigger warnings). Adichie's writing of the flash backs and flash forwards requires an active reader. Nevertheless, her writing style kept me going even when the story dragged for me in the second half. Also, as other reviewers have noted, the ending is comparatively abrupt to the rest of the story, and... morally questionable.
The book did encourage me to reflect on myself though, in a non-pretentious way.
Overall, it didn't encourage me to seek out more literary fiction, but I'm definitely willing to give Half of a Yellow Sun a go for Adichie's writing.

Content Warnings