Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This novel does something that very few books manage: it makes you laugh on one page and question your entire worldview on the next.

Ifemelu leaves Nigeria for America. Obinze goes to England. Their love story stretches across continents and years, but the book is not really about their love. It is about what happens to your identity when you leave home and discover that the world sees you differently than you see yourself.

Ifemelu's blog posts about race in America are the sharpest social commentary written in fiction this century. Adichie uses a fictional blog to say things that non-fiction writers spend entire careers trying to articulate.

The return to Lagos in the final act is perfect. Because going home is never going back. It is going forward to a place that moved while you were away.

Who should read this: every African in the diaspora. Every person who has ever felt like they are performing an identity that does not fit. Everyone.

Rating: 10/10. The great diaspora novel. Nothing else comes close.

#NircleReads #Salsa #BookReview #Americanah #ChimamandaAdichie #AfricanLiterature #Diaspora #Immigration #MustRead #Reading

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Cruz Paola @paolacruz5293

ugh the part about performing an identity that doesn't fit... that hit me right in the chest. I'm not even African but I grew up moving around a lot and I felt that so hard. Adding this to my list ASAP
5 days ago

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