Americanah

Americanah (2014) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an interesting and unusual novel in the worlds that she inhibits and exposes over time. It is essentially the story of Ifemelu, a Nigerian woman who emigrates to America for the opportunities that it holds for immigrants like herself. Her story is one of struggle that is punctuated by good fortune and triumph. In the beginning she struggles to adapt and survive in America, but some lucky breaks make her transition much easier. Through a babysitting job she lands a handsome rich, powerful and well-connected white boyfriend who helps her get a job and green card after when graduates. Later she starts a blog on race where she makes pity observations about race from the outside since she is a non American black, which gives her a different perspective on American society in that she didn't know she was black until she came to America. This blog's success leads to further success in a visiting scholar post at Princeton, where she dates an African American professor and experiences the Barak Obama election and partakes in that triumph of the first black American president. It is also a love story, she essentially breaks with her high school sweetheart  Obinze, when she emigrates. Obinze also has emigration aspirations and gets his chance when his mother gets a post teaching in the UK. His experience as a immigrant in London is much harsher and ends with deportation. However, once he returns to Nigeria he finds success as a businessman and his path once again crosses path with Ifemelu when decides to repatriate to Lagos bringing the story full circle. I would have liked to have learned more about the life under the dictatorships in Nigeria during the 60s and 70s. Thus, Aunty Utuy's story as a mistress of a military general was one of the more interesting side stories in the novel for me. I found the stories of Nigerians abroad and in their home fascinating, a rare opportunity to see the world through their eyes. That being said, some aspects of the story seemed terribly contrived-the rich American boyfriend and the blog was a good opportunity for the author to voice her opinions on race in America.