‘Americanah’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Nigeria in 1977 but has lived and worked in the US. Her book Half of a Yellow Sun was a masterpiece about the Biafran war. As an “American African” (a distinction she makes from “African American”), she has a foot in both worlds and is good at capturing the nuance of racism in America. This book, although it is fiction, has a very personal feel to it, including some stories that she may very well be gleaning from her own experience. There are amazing snapshots of her Nigerian home country. Having lived for many years in a few African countries myself, I can relate to her descriptions and recognize her character types. Her book is full of insights about racism which she first encountered when she moved to the US. Her character Ifemulu says, ” I only became black when I came to America.”

Ifemulu and Obinze fall in love in Lagos when they are both teens. In Nigeria, at that time, there was a continual striving to move out to Western countries, and both achieve this at different times. But their relationship suffers when they are parted and both establish their own lives until they meet again, after many years. Ifemulu is still the gutsy outspoken unique woman that Obinze remembers, and Ifemulu realizes too late that Obinze was always the love of her life. What happens when Ifemulu returns to Nigeria and they meet again, is best left to the reader. This is a slow and thoughtful book and though the story is enjoyable, at times I felt a bit more plot would have made it even more compelling. The strength lies in the observations she makes and the eloquence with which she makes them. I especially enjoyed the section where she comments on the Obama presidential campaign.