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A review by sidharthvardhan
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
4.0
"when white people say dark they mean Greek or Italian but when black people say dark they mean Grace Jones"
Weak as a love story but powerful in its social commentary. I found a lot of similarities between people of Nigeria described here and that of India- people wanting to migrate to developed countries and real estate being the only investment that attracts the rich.
" There are many different ways to be poor in the world but increasingly there seems to be one single way to be rich.”
Then, there are migrant problems - the social and psychological stress they have to bear. The best parts though are Ifemelu's sometimes angry blogs about racism in U.S.A. It is not always about the dark racism that is pointed out in the book, sometimes it is nice white people trying hard not to be racist:
"Kimberly was smiling the kindly smile of people who thought “culture” the unfamiliar colorful reserve of colorful people, a word that always had to be qualified with “rich.” She would not think Norway had a “rich culture.”
Adichie is powerful and honest in her social observations and it is that which makes this otherwise weak love story ( it is so real that it is boring) worthwhile.
"Racism should never have happened and so you don’t get a cookie for reducing it."
"In America, racism exists but racists are all gone. Racists belong to the past. Racists are the thin-lipped mean white people in the movies about the civil rights era."
"American Blacks and American Whites use drugs at the same rate (look this up), but say the word “drugs” and see what image comes to everyone’s mind."
Weak as a love story but powerful in its social commentary. I found a lot of similarities between people of Nigeria described here and that of India- people wanting to migrate to developed countries and real estate being the only investment that attracts the rich.
" There are many different ways to be poor in the world but increasingly there seems to be one single way to be rich.”
Then, there are migrant problems - the social and psychological stress they have to bear. The best parts though are Ifemelu's sometimes angry blogs about racism in U.S.A. It is not always about the dark racism that is pointed out in the book, sometimes it is nice white people trying hard not to be racist:
"Kimberly was smiling the kindly smile of people who thought “culture” the unfamiliar colorful reserve of colorful people, a word that always had to be qualified with “rich.” She would not think Norway had a “rich culture.”
Adichie is powerful and honest in her social observations and it is that which makes this otherwise weak love story ( it is so real that it is boring) worthwhile.
"Racism should never have happened and so you don’t get a cookie for reducing it."
"In America, racism exists but racists are all gone. Racists belong to the past. Racists are the thin-lipped mean white people in the movies about the civil rights era."
"American Blacks and American Whites use drugs at the same rate (look this up), but say the word “drugs” and see what image comes to everyone’s mind."