Americanah
By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Narrated by
Adjoa Andoh4.7
387 ratings
===
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Praise
Dedication
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Part 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Part 3
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Part 4
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Part 5
Chapter 42
Part 6
Chapter 43
Part 7
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Acknowledgements
Keep Reading...
About the Author
Also by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
About the Publisher
===
각 장의 주요 사건과 핵심 내용을 바탕으로 붙인 장별 제목이다.
<제1부>
제1장: 트렌턴의 미용실과 귀국 결심
제2장: 라고스의 오빈제와 과거의 기억
<제2부>
제3장: 라고스 학창 시절과 어머니의 종교적 변화
제4장: 이페멜루와 오빈제의 첫 만남
제5장: 깊어지는 두 사람의 사랑과 교제
제6장: 대학 파업과 불투명해진 나이지리아의 미래
제7장: 미국 유학의 기회와 이별의 준비
제8장: 미국 도착, 브루클린의 우지모 고모와 디케
제9장: 필라델피아 대학 생활과 낯선 미국 문화 충격
제10장: 구직의 어려움과 가중되는 생활고
제11장: 절망 속의 굴욕적인 선택과 깊은 우울증
제12장: 오빈제와의 연락 두절과 침묵의 잠적
제13장: 킴벌리의 보모 일자리와 부유한 백인 가정의 삶
제14장: 흑인으로서의 자각과 모발 릴랙서의 고통
제15장: 킴벌리의 사촌 커트와의 만남
제16장: 커트와의 연애와 미국 주류 사회 진입
제17장: 미국식 억양 버리기와 본래 목소리 찾기
제18장: 취업 성공과 커트와의 관계 균열
제19장: 다른 남자와의 충동적 일탈과 커트와의 결별
제20장: 블로그 개설과 인종 비평가로서의 명성
제21장: 예일대 강연과 지식인 블레인과의 첫 대화
제22장: 블로그 포스팅: 미국 흑인과 비미국계 흑인의 차이
<제3부>
제23장: 런던으로 향한 오빈제의 낯선 정착기
제24장: 위장 신분증 사용과 런던 밑바닥 노동
제25장: 영국 사회 속 아프리카 이민자들의 소외감
제26장: 영국 체류를 위한 위장 결혼 계획
제27장: 옛 지인 니컬러스와의 재회와 런던 적응기
제28장: 위장 결혼식 당일의 급습과 체포
제29장: 이민국 구금 센터에서의 절망과 무력감
제30장: 추방 결정과 라고스로의 강제 귀환
<제4부>
제31장: 뉴헤이븐에서 블레인과의 동거 생활
제32장: 블레인의 학자 친구들과 흑인 지식인 커뮤니티
제33장: 자연스러운 모발(내추럴 헤어)을 향한 회귀
제34장: 오바마의 대선 출마와 고조되는 정치적 열기
제35장: 인종 차별 항의 시위를 둘러싼 블레인과의 갈등
제36장: 오바마 당선 직전의 화해와 선거 운동 동참
제37장: 오바마의 역사적 당선과 벅찬 감격의 밤
제38장: 성공한 펠로십과 내면 깊은 곳의 공허함
제39장: 블레인과의 결별 결심과 귀향 준비
제40장: 디케의 정체성 방황과 충격적인 자살 시도
제41장: 디케의 회복과 미국 생활의 최종 정리
<제5부>
제42장: 귀국 직전, 트렌턴 미용실에서의 마지막 땋은 머리
<제6부>
제43장: 라고스에서 부유한 사업가로 성공한 오빈제의 공허함
<제7부>
제44장: 라고스 귀환과 낯설게 변한 고국의 풍경
제45장: 여성 잡지 편집자 근무와 귀국자들의 모임
제46장: 오빈제의 호화로운 가정생활과 내적 균열
제47장: 잡지사를 그만두고 나이지리아 블로그 시작
제48장: 라고스에서 이페멜루와 오빈제의 운명적 재회
제49장: 오랜 세월을 뛰어넘어 다시 흐르는 교감
제50장: 조심스럽게 되살아나는 옛 감정과 만남
제51장: 오빈제의 깊어지는 고민과 아내에 대한 죄책감
제52장: 서로의 빈자리를 완전히 채우는 두 사람의 사랑
제53장: 아내 코시에게 진실을 털어놓는 오빈제
제54장: 가정 파탄의 위기와 이페멜루의 기다림
제55장: 문 앞에 선 오빈제와 새로운 시작
===
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILEY S WOMEN S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2014.
From the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun, a powerful story of love, race and identity.
As teenagers in Lagos, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Their Nigeria is under military dictatorship, and people are fleeing the country if they can. The self-assured Ifemelu departs for America. There she suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Obinze had hoped to join her, but post-9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Thirteen years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria, while Ifemelu has achieved success as a blogger. But after so long apart and so many changes, will they find the courage to meet again, face to face?
Fearless, gripping, spanning three continents and numerous lives, the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning ‘Americanah’ is a richly told story of love and expectation set in today’s globalized world.
“Actress Adjoa Andoh brings to life Adichie’s complex, beautifully wrought novel – which is both a love story and a nuanced analysis of political topics including systemic racism in America; immigration in the UK; and the class system in Nigeria.” VOGUE
“One of the previous decade’s landmark novels… Andoh is a skilled, exciting narrator.” THE TIMES©2013 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (P)2013 W F Howes Ltd
Release date
11-04-2013
Language
English
Format
Unabridged Audiobook
Length
17 hrs and 28 mins
4.8 out of 5.0
Performance
Got it All
Ninna Millikin·
23 Nov 2020
OMG I LOVED this book. The performance was incredible- so much nuance and the many accents perfectly done. The story was fabulous- I learned so much about POC experience and Nigeria, and the characters were so lovable and real. Can’t rate highly enough.
5.0
Performance
5.0
Story
===
ngozi
Eddie Shumba·
28 Sept 2018
loved how good the narrator switched between accents. fantastic writer. finished listening in 3 days.
5.0
Performance
4.0
Story
==
Wow!! Brilliant read - couldn’t put it down
Miss Jacobs Little Learners·
22 June 2022
I absolutely loved this book! The narrator is so talented with all those accents and consistency throughout! I truly felt like I was taken on a journey!
Highly recommend!
5.0
Performance
5.0
Story
=
Amazing narrator for a wonderful story
Arielle Bowers·
26 Aug 2019
Rarely does the narration make you feel like a part of the story. I felt that with this book.
I actually recommend the audiobook over the book because of it
5.0
Performance
5.0
Story
==
Beautiful story, fantastic narrator
Maddi·
28 May 2017
This book was a wonderful commentary on love, race and culture. I really enjoyed learning through the various perspectives the book is written from, and enjoyed getting to know the characters. It is not a particularly challenging listen and I got through it quite quickly. Left me feeling warm.
5.0
Performance
5.0
Story
===
Americanah
 Book cover, 2013 | |
| Author | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fiction |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
| Publication date | 14 May 2013 |
| Publication place | Nigeria |
| ISBN | 978-0-307-96212-6 |
Americanah is a 2013 novel by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It is Adichie's third novel and fourth book, and was published on 14 May 2013 by Alfred A. Knopf. The novel recounts the story of a young Nigerian woman, Ifemelu, who emigrates to the United States to attend university.[1][2] Americanah won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction in 2013 and was a commercial success upon publication.
Plot summary
As teenagers in a Lagos secondary school, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Nigeria at the time is under military dictatorship, and people are seeking to leave the country. Ifemelu departs for the United States to study. Through her experiences in relationships and studies, she chronicles her experience of race in American culture Upon coming to America, Ifemelu discovered for the first time what it means to be a "Black Person".[3] Obinze, son of a professor, had hoped to join her in the US but he is denied a visa after 9/11. He goes to London and, committing a crime, refuses to leave before his visa expires.[4][5]
Years later, Obinze returns to Nigeria and becomes a wealthy man as a property developer in the newly democratic country. Ifemelu gains success in the United States, where she becomes known for her blog about race in America, entitled "Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black".[5] When Ifemelu returns to Nigeria, the two consider the viability of reviving a relationship in light of their diverging experiences during their many years apart.
Background
In her 2009 TED talk entitled "The Danger of a Single Story", the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie argued for the understanding of the multiplicity of African experiences. After the publication of her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, Vogue classified Adichie as the first in a series of young African authors who write about their countries with Western audiences in mind. Adichie started writing fiction at Johns Hopkins University and later got a master's in African studies at Yale University.[6]
Adichie said, when she was growing up: "everyone wanted to go to America. But I never wanted to until I realised it would be a way of escaping becoming a doctor".[7] After a year of studying medicine, at 19 years old, Adichie dropped out and left Nigeria for the US to live with her sister in Brooklyn, and then moved to Philadelphia, where she studied. Adichie took four years to write the novel. The title "Americanah" is Lagosian slang for "Nigerians newly returned after a spell Stateside".[7]
Americanah was translated into French by Anne Damour and published by Gallimard in 2015.[8]
Reception
Critical reviews
In her review for San Francisco Chronicle, Catherine Chung wrote: "Americanah is an exhilarating, mind-expanding pleasure of a read. It is a brilliant treatise on race, class and globalization, and also a deep, clear-eyed story about love—and how it can both demand and make possible the struggle to become our most authentic selves."[9] Kristy Davis of Oprah Daily wrote that the novel is "an expansive, epic love story. It pulls no punches with regard to race, class and the high-risk, heart-tearing struggle for belonging in a fractured world",[10] while NPR wrote that "Adichie weaves whole entries into the narrative, and these tart editorials add yet another dimension to Americanah, which is as capacious, absorbing and original a novel as you will read this year".[11] Eugenia Williamson of The Boston Globe called the book "a cerebral and utterly transfixing epic, and said it "is superlative at making clear just how isolating it can be to live far away from home".[12] Mike Peed wrote in The New York Times that the novel "holds the discomfiting realities of our times fearlessly before us ... [It is] A steady-handed dissection of the universal human experience".[5]
In her review for The Washington Post, Emily Raboteau praised the author, writing: "Adichie is uniquely positioned to compare racial hierarchies in the United States to social striving in her native Nigeria. She does so in this new work with a ruthless honesty about the ugly and beautiful sides of both nations."[13] The Dallas Morning News called Americanah "a bright, bold book with unforgettable swagger that proves it sometimes takes a newcomer to show Americans to ourselves".[14] According to John Timpane of The Philadelphia Inquirer: "Americanah tackles the U.S. race complex with a directness and brio no U.S. writer of any color would risk",[15] while Vogue and The Seattle Times called Americanah "that rare thing in contemporary literary fiction: a lush, big-hearted love story that also happens to be a piercingly funny social critique";[6] and "a near-flawless novel",[16] respectively.
In a review for The Chicago Tribune, Laura Pearson called Americanah a "sprawling, ambitious and gorgeously written" novel that "covers race, identity, relationships, community, politics, privilege, language, hair, ethnocentrism, migration, intimacy, estrangement, blogging, books and Barack Obama. It covers three continents, spans decades, leaps gracefully, from chapter to chapter, to different cities and other lives."[17]
Awards and nominations
Americanah won the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.[18] It was shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction in 2014.[19] It won the 2013 Heartland Award for Fiction by The Chicago Tribune.[20]
In 2013, Americanah was rated as "one of the Best Books of the Year" by The New York Times, NPR, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The Seattle Times, Entertainment Weekly, and Newsday. New York Times Book Review selected the novel as one of the 10 Best Books of 2013.[21] In March 2017, Americanah won the "One Book, One New York" program by One City One Book.[22][23] In 2024, it was ranked 27th in The New York Times' list of 100 best books of the 21st century.[24]
Legacy
By 2015, Americanah had sold more than 500,000 copies and had been translated into 25 languages.[25] The novel remained on NPR's Paperback Best-Seller list for 78 weeks.[26] The New York Times included it in its list of best books of 2013, and by 23 December 2013, it was at number 179 on Amazon's list of its 10,000 best-selling books.[27]
Censorship
In 2022, Americanah was banned in the Clay County School District in Florida.[28]
Adaptations
In 2014, it was announced David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong'o would star in a film adaptation of Americanah[29] that to be produced by Brad Pitt and his production company Plan B Entertainment.[30] In 2018, Nyong'o told The Hollywood Reporter she was developing a television miniseries based on the book that she would produce and star in.[31] It was announced on 13 September 2019 HBO Max would air the miniseries in ten episodes, with actor and playwright Danai Gurira as writer and showrunner.[32] On October 15, 2020, it was reported the miniseries would not proceed due to scheduling conflicts.[33]
References
- "'Americanah' Author Explains 'Learning' To Be Black in the U.S." Fresh Air. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: NPR. 27 June 2013. Archived from the original on 16 October 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
- Day, Elizabeth (15 April 2013). "Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Review". The Guardian. London, UK. Archived from the original on 16 April 2024. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
- Reuter, Stefanie: "Becoming a Subject: Developing a Critical Consciousness and Coming to Voice in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah", in: Anja Oed (Hg.): Reviewing the Past, Negotiating the Future: The African Bildungsroman (forthcoming).
- Navaratnam, Subashini (9 August 2013). "Race-in-America Is a Central Character in 'Americanah'". PopMatters.
- Peed, Mike (June 7, 2013). "Realities of Race 'Americanah,' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie". The New York Times.
- "Coming Home: With Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Has Written a Love Story for Our Time". Vogue. 2013-05-13. Retrieved 2025-10-09.
- Ramaswamy, Chitra (2013-04-27). "Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on writing about race". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2025-10-09.
- Simon, Catherine (31 January 2015). "« Americanah », de Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, les tribulations d'une « Noire non américaine »". Le Monde (in French).
- Chung, Catherine (2013-05-17). "'Americanah,' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2025-10-07.
- Davis, Kristy (2013-05-29). "Americanah". Oprah.com. Retrieved 2025-10-09.
- Reese, Jennifer (2013-05-22). "A Different Kind Of Immigrant Experience In 'Americanah'". NPR. Retrieved 2025-10-09.
- Williamson, Eugenia (2013-05-18). "'Americanah' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2025-10-09.
- Raboteau, Emily (10 June 2013). "Book review: 'Americanah' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie". The Washington Post. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
- "Book review: 'Americanah,' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie". Dallas News. 2013-05-25. Retrieved 2025-10-09.
- Timpane, John (2018-11-22). "'Americanah' a sprawling novel on poisonous racism". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2025-10-09.
- Beason, Tyrone (2013-06-02). "'Americanah': Africans' struggle to become American". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2025-10-09.
- Pearson, Laura (June 28, 2013). "Review: 'Americanah' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
- "National Book Critics Circle Announces Award Winners for Publishing Year 2013". National Book Critics Circle. March 13, 2014. Archived from the original on March 14, 2014. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
- Brown, Mark (7 April 2014). "Donna Tartt heads Baileys women's prize for fiction 2014 shortlist". The Guardian. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
- Taylor, Elizabeth (November 3, 2013). "Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's 'Americanah' awarded fiction Heartland Prize". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
- "The 10 Best Books of 2013". The New York Times. December 4, 2013. Archived from the original on December 6, 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
- Weller, Chris (16 March 2017). "New Yorkers just selected a book for the entire city to read in America's biggest book club". Business Insider.
- Williams, John (31 January 2017). "One Book for Five Boroughs". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
- "The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century". The New York Times. 8 July 2024. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
- "Video: Nigerian author's 'Americanah' comes to France". France 24. 2015-01-23. Retrieved 2026-04-14.
- "Americanah". NPR. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
- Meyer, Robinson (December 23, 2016). "When Beyoncé Samples Your TED Talk, This Is What Happens to Your Book". The Atlantic. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
- Rodriguez, Gabi (2023-09-17). "Roughly 300 books were removed from school libraries in Florida last year. Here's the full list". NBC 6 South Florida. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
- Mandell, Andrea (January 4, 2015). "You're really going to want to see Lupita's next movie". USAToday. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
- Kroll, Justin (15 December 2014). "David Oyelowo to Star With Lupita Nyong'o in 'Americanah' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
- Galloway, Stephen (January 25, 2018). "Lupita Nyong'o: From Political Exile to Oscar to Marvel's 'Black Panther'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
- Otterson, Joe (September 13, 2019). "Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira's 'Americanah' Adaptation Ordered to Series at HBO Max". Variety. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
- Goldberg, Lesley (October 15, 2020). "'Americanah' Drama From Lupita Nyong'o and Danai Gurira Dead at HBO Max". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
External links
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치마만다 응고지 아디치에의 장편소설 <아메리카나(Americanah)>는 나이지리아 출신 이민자의 시선을 통해 인종, 정체성, 계급, 그리고 귀향의 의미를 탐구한 수작이다. 제목인 <아메리카나>는 미국으로 건너가 미국식 억양과 사고방식을 체득한 뒤 고국으로 돌아온 나이지리아인을 일컫는 말로, 동경과 냉소가 뒤섞인 복합적인 뉘앙스를 담고 있다.
<줄거리 요약>
소설은 라고스의 고등학교 시절 사랑에 빠진 두 인물, 이페멜루와 오빈제의 삶을 교차하며 따라간다. 1990년대 군부 독재 치하의 나이지리아에서 대학 교수 파업 등으로 미래가 불투명해지자, 이페멜루는 장학금을 받아 미국으로 유학을 떠난다.
미국에 도착한 이페멜루는 나이지리아에서는 겪어보지 못한 생소한 현실에 직면한다. 아프리카에서는 자신이 그저 <이보족> 또는 <나이지리아인>이었으나, 미국 땅을 밟는 순간 단순한 <흑인(Black)>이라는 거대한 단일 범주로 묶인다는 사실을 깨닫는다. 극심한 생활고와 문화적 충격 속에서 일자리를 구하지 못해 겪는 수치스러운 경험은 그녀를 깊은 우울에 빠뜨리고, 그 수치심 때문에 고국의 연인 오빈제와의 연락마저 끊어버린다.
점차 미국 사회에 적응한 이페멜루는 블로그 <인종주의 혹은 미국 흑인이 아닌 비미국계 흑인이 미국 흑인(과 백인)에게 전하는 다양한 관찰들>을 개설한다. 솔직하고 날카로운 필체로 미국의 인종 문제, 미묘한 차별, 흑인 여성의 헤어스타일 정치학 등을 다루며 큰 성공을 거두고 프린스턴 대학교 펠로십까지 얻는다. 부유한 백인 커트, 흑인 지식인 블레인과의 연애를 거치며 미국 사회 주류에 안착하지만, 마음 한구석의 공허함을 떨치지 못한다.
한편, 미국 비자를 받지 못한 오빈제는 런던으로 향해 불법 체류자 신분으로 힘겨운 노동을 이어가다 결국 추방당한다. 나이지리아로 돌아온 그는 부동산 개발업으로 막대한 부를 쌓고 가정을 꾸리지만, 내면의 허무는 채워지지 않는다. 13년간의 미국 생활 끝에 이페멜루는 모든 기득권을 내려놓고 나이지리아로 영구 귀국하기로 결심한다. 라고스에서 재회한 두 사람은 세월과 각자의 삶이 남긴 상처를 마주하며 진정한 자신들의 자리를 찾아간다.
<작품 평론 및 주제 분석>
인종이라는 사회적 구성물
작가는 미국 사회의 인종 개념이 생물학적 사실이 아니라 철저히 사회적으로 구성된 권력 구조임을 명쾌하게 포착한다. 아프리카 이민자(Non-American Black)와 노예제의 역사를 짊어진 미국 흑인(American Black) 사이의 미묘한 긴장과 차이를 드러내며, 백인 중심 사회가 강요하는 흑인성에 대한 고정관념을 해체한다.
모발의 정치학과 동화의 압박
작품에서 흑인 여성의 머리카락은 정체성과 동화의 갈등을 보여주는 핵심 장치다. 직장을 얻기 위해 화학 약품으로 곱슬머리를 펴야(릴랙서) 하는 과정은 백인 중심의 표준에 맞추기 위해 자신의 고유성을 지워내야 하는 이민자의 고통을 상징한다. 이페멜루가 직모를 포기하고 자연스러운 아프로(Afro) 헤어로 돌아가는 과정은 자기 긍정과 정체성 회복의 중대한 전기가 된다.
경계를 넘나드는 자의 통찰
이페멜루는 미국인이 되지 못한 아프리카인이자, 고국으로 돌아와서도 이미 순수한 나이지리아인으로 머물 수 없는 <경계인>이다. 소설은 이민자가 겪는 상실감뿐만 아니라, 어느 한 국가나 민족주의에 종속되지 않은 채 양쪽 사회를 한 걸음 물러서서 예리하게 관찰하는 디아스포라적 시선의 힘을 설득력 있게 증명한다.
<아메리카나>는 뼈아픈 인종 비평과 현대인의 고독을 담아내면서도 경쾌한 유머와 온기를 잃지 않는, 21세기 세계 문학의 빛나는 성취다.
===
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WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD
'A delicious, important novel' THE TIMES
'Alert, alive and gripping' INDEPENDENT
Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria. In America, Ifemelu suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Meanwhile, Obinze plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, when they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion – for each other and for their homeland – they face the hardest decision of their lives.
Fearless, gripping, spanning three continents and numerous lives, the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Americanah is a literary masterpiece, and one of the defining books of the decade.
'A love story for our time' VOGUE
‘A brilliant novel: epic in scope, personal in resonance and with lots to say’ OBSERVER
'A tour de force. Hugely impressive' MAIL ON SUNDAY
===
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Americanah: The stunning and literary, cross-continental novel from global bestselling author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Americanah: The stunning and literary, cross-continental novel from global bestselling author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
byChimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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4,390 customer reviews
From Australia
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful honest complex
Reviewed in Australia on 4 August 2016
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Her best book so far. Very intelligent and profound. I loved the blogs on race in America. Some slow and less captivating passages, especially scenes in Nigeria towards the end. But overall excellent read on all levels.
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Anne Whight
4.0 out of 5 stars A powerful novel, my third by Adichie.
Reviewed in Australia on 25 July 2018
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
4 and a 1/2 stars. This is my third book by this talented writer. A story that enlightens, informs, and pulls at the heart strings, a story about race, power, politics, women's rights, culture, migration and love - all seen through the eyes of Ifemelu, a young Nigerian woman, growing up in Lagos, living for a while in America, then returning home. The other two books I've read by Adichie I gave 5 stars, and nearly did for Americanah, except that it took a while to get into, though once I did, I was hooked.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!
Reviewed in Australia on 1 November 2017
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I kind of stumbled on to this book and I'm so pleased because it was such a treat to read... Fabulous story.
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Chanda Mulenga
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely loved this book
Reviewed in Australia on 26 July 2015
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Absolutely loved this book! As an immigrant, I could relate to a lot of the situations in this book. But overall, really well written and the characters are so believable. Well done Chimamanda!
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Janice Tade
4.0 out of 5 stars Honesty that coats like honey
Reviewed in Australia on 7 April 2017
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What a marvellous, upsetting, enlightening book. I felt so humbled by the honesty and understanding Miss Ngozi sheds on the black white...Nigerian non Nigerian....educated uneducated....mature immature....hotchpotch that is the humanity of her world and mine.
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Tiffany Davy
3.0 out of 5 stars Looking in
Reviewed in Australia on 8 November 2024
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It is always good to get a fresh perspective. To examine the world with different eyes and to think about what is good and what is embarrassing.
Reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is like that. And this book, especially so. I enjoyed the characters, especially Ifem and getting to know them and was sorry to say goodbye.
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Felicia Semple
5.0 out of 5 stars Joyful
Reviewed in Australia on 12 July 2020
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Loved it!
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JonathanMete
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read!
Reviewed in Australia on 6 November 2018
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My partner loves this book, I would definitely recommend
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars A little too overwrought but a great book
Reviewed in Australia on 2 April 2019
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It was a page turner, it was a different and unusual take on race and I enjoyed the story. It was sometimes a little too technical or self aware.
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Deso
4.0 out of 5 stars not what I expected
Reviewed in Australia on 3 May 2026
Format: Kindle
I thought this was well written this persons Live in hope and aspirations and to be able to write them down in a clear and concise way with I didn’t think the story had much body and it would’ve preferred you to follow some core plot.
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painsy
4.0 out of 5 stars Good points to make but a bit tedious.
Reviewed in Australia on 3 August 2018
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
I found this book a bit monotonous after a while and although it made its point I found it hard work to finish it
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Jacinta
2.0 out of 5 stars A Thesis on Race?
Reviewed in Australia on 21 July 2015
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This book read more like a non-fiction account of the author's ponderings about race. The main character runs a blog and the book has pages and pages transcribed from it expressing her views on race - African blacks in relation to black Americans, American whites in relation to black Americans and African blacks. It got pretty tiresome and the narrative took a back seat. And I don't know why she spent so much time talking about hair! I finished it as I had to for my Reading Group but otherwise would not have persevered. ( And it was never explained how Obinze ended up being so wealthy and why he adopted that style of life-maybe I missed something) I preferred the chapters about Obinze in England to anything else.
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mystery
3.0 out of 5 stars Love story with race politics
Reviewed in Australia on 1 July 2017
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I enjoyed this quite a lot, it has stories set in Nigeria and the US and has a lot of thought provoking discussions on modern racial politics seen from an African view point (as opposed to African American) but it was a little slow in some parts.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!
Reviewed in Australia on 22 December 2015
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Very interesting depiction of black and white America. I couldn't put this book down!
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Kris
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in Australia on 11 April 2015
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Really loved Americanah. The people in the book came alive. Recommended read.
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Martusia
4.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written but lacks depth
Reviewed in Australia on 24 August 2020
Format: Paperback
I couldn’t put this book down. I loved the writing and the characters. The narrative about American Blacks and Non-American Blacks was so interesting to read and I appreciated the honesty of the story-telling. However, the story lacked depth for me. At times, it felt safe, as though Adichie didn’t want to offend. I would have happily read another 477 pages to know more of Obinze’s story or to understand Dike and Aunt Uju’s relationship or Blaine and Shannon’s history. The end, which I don’t want to spoil, seemed rushed and as I closed the book, I was equally disappointed as I was eager to read my next Adichie novel. What an incredible talent this woman has.
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Alanya Drummond
5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't wait to find out how this story ended.
Reviewed in Australia on 10 April 2016
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Loved learning about Nigeria. Beautifully crafted characters. Didn't want the story to end and yet I couldn't wait to find out how it did end. Beautiful.
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Suzanna1
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in Australia on 22 October 2014
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Terrific novel which inspires one to think about racism.
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Kate Forsyth
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in Australia on 26 February 2015
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Fantastic
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Louise Redmond
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!
Reviewed in Australia on 6 August 2015
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Brilliant novel. I was thoroughly engaged the whole way through - can't wait to read more of her work.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Australia on 5 November 2015
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Fantastic read!
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amanda
1.0 out of 5 stars Not a fan
Reviewed in Australia on 18 May 2014
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At the start I had a high expectations and wanted to read about people and culture that I had never touched on before, Nigeria and Nigerians living in USA, then it just became a romance novel and not an especially interesting one. If you like formula romance then this may be a bit different, I was bored and only finished it to discuss at book club.
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Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 stars Two Stars
Reviewed in Australia on 7 February 2015
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
I was not over impressed
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Melanie Wilson
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and engaging
Reviewed in Australia on 21 June 2014
Format: Kindle
We read this book for my book club, and it got mixed reviews, so I know that it's not for everyone.
However, I loved it. I found it really engaging and I enjoy the way the author writes. Definitely worth a read in my opinion.
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Tim
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Australia on 21 March 2016
Format: Kindle
BRILLIANT!
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From other countries
Ilaria
5.0 out of 5 stars IDENTITY
Reviewed in Italy on 14 March 2021
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Book arrived in excellent condition. Extremely compelling. Americanah is the lucid observation of a black African woman in a world tailor-made for white people, who all too often can't stand (and perhaps still don't fully accept) the presence of blacks.
Ifemelu is a Nigerian emigrant to the United States who sees her compatriots change their identity, lose their uniqueness to become the same as the Americans, to be accepted by them, indeed to be like them for all intents and purposes, she will come to do things she will regret but in the end the protagonist becomes the creator of her destiny and affirms her identity. Super recommended
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Renate
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I've ever read
Reviewed in Spain on 22 November 2016
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
This beautiful book explains so much more about Africa, Nigeria, the USA! It gave me so much insight on how it is for a colored person to live in the USA in the days that we pretend that racism does not exist anymore. The cultural differences between Nigeria and the US.
How it is to be a woman struggling to find her place in society.
It reads like a autobiography and is truly engaging.
I recommend it to everyone!
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Flavio Arnaldo Braga da Silva
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantástico!
Reviewed in Brazil on 25 November 2017
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Um dos melhores livros que já li! Muito bem escrito, rico em detalhes, estória bem construída. Chimamanda é uma das melhores escritoras da atualidade.
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MUN13
5.0 out of 5 stars Sable, caramel or hues of blue-black ?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 April 2013
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What is the difference between an African-American and an American-African? Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's new novel Americanah gives you much fodder for thought if you have never stopped to think about such detailed distinctions on your own.
Although the book tells the story about the love and lives of its two central characters Ifemelu and Obinze, Americanah is essentially a book about race, the way race is perceived and the way it exists in today's modern and globalised world.
Ifemelu and Obinze meet in high school and fall head over heels in love. They come from very different backgrounds. Ifemelu's father is a former civil servant out of work and her mother is a middle class woman blinded by her prejudicial faith in God and His miracles. She encompasses everything that happens around her in the light of the lord, creating explanations that only serve her deep faith, without much touch with reality.
This is modern day Nigeria in the eighties where the military reign seeps into everyday life and Ifemelu's mother changes her church to one which is supported by the generals. When her husband's distant cousin Uju (who has come from a small village to live with them in Lagos) decides to become the kept woman of a married, much older general, Ifemelu's mother terms it a 'miracle of God'.
Here Ifemelu grows up, with a general distrust for the obvious. Right in the beginning of the story, Adichie makes it clear that Ifemelu and Obinze are not easily bought into the conventional. They ask, prod and try to find their own ways to deal with things around them.
When the general is killed, Aunt Uju manages to cross continents to make her way to the USA with the general's illegitimate son. Ifemelu too finds herself in the USA soon thereafter, winning a scholarship for higher studies. The harrowing experiences that follow are the making of Ifemelu. All her experience or idea about the land of opportunities is from such glossy TV shows as the Cosby Show. Facing a reality that is nothing like the obscure shiny images in her mind, Ifemelu eventually lands on her feet, but not before she manages to destroy her now long distance relationship with Obinze.
Ifemelu's self-consciousness and awkwardness turn into pride; she also finds herself distancing herself from her own kind who she feels are too desperate to blend in, like her Aunt Uju. Someone who once appeared full of practicality and wisdom and smartness now stinks of desperation. Uju herself faces the harsh reality of earning a livelihood instead of being kept by someone.
Adichie very eloquently describes this falling out between Ifemelu and her once mentor as Uju tries to blend into being a American. Ifemelu finds a long term relationship with a white boy and discovers the depths of patronising from others on issues of race and colour. White American women, almost clueless about how to deal with a dark skinned girl, call her a 'beautiful woman', in tones that actually mean 'ordinary-looking black woman.'
Adichie weaves this racial awakening of Ifemelu through a subtle input of events that expose the protagonist to her own identity. Adichie's characters are not all black, they are more multi coloured so to speak. They are in fact 'sable' or 'gingerbread' or 'caramel'. At one point Adichie describes one coloured woman as someone with 'skin so dark it has an undertone of blueberries.'
Ifemelu deals with her increasing frustrations through her blog titled "Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black". She eventually wins a fellowship at Princeton, something Adichie herself won. The writer has said that many of Ifemelu's experiences are her own.
Meanwhile, Obinze finds himself in the UK but ends up as an illegal immigrant. His experiences are really a world away from Ifemelu's more sophisticated problems with finding respect. Obinze is just looking for a day he can feel 'free' as he walks down the streets of London or Essex, cleaning toilets and putting up with crude racial encounters as he tries to make it on his own.
Chimamanda Adichie is a wonderful observer of human nature, of qualities and the finer, grainier, subtle things that become the reasons for a person to become who he becomes. She captures human interactions superbly in this book. Ifemelu's extended visit to a New Jersey hair salon, where each hairdresser is justifiably 'correct' in the way she sees America as opposed to Ifemelu's own, is one of the first and most captivating such scenes in Americanah. African hair itself represents a political statement as the writer has said in most of her interviews. Promoting this book takes up some space in explaining how deep the roots of racial treatment has seeped into people's cultures.
Ifemelu feels free after she stops hiding her Nigerian accent under an American one. She refuses to straighten her hair even when African-Americans ask her, 'You ever wonder why he likes you looking all jungle like that?" on observing her long term relationship with a white man.
Perhaps it is this dignity and pride in her own ethnicity which is also her authenticity that allows Ifemelu to survive. Obinze struggles and fails and is shortly deported back to Lagos.
Eventually, though, Obinze thrives in his own country, gets married to a high aspiring woman and again gets caught up between the values of wanting to be 'his own' or a 'wanna-be'. Ifemelu also returns to Nigeria and the rest of the novel very predictably returns to the unfinished love story between the two main protagonists. However, here too it is the writer's strong story telling capability that shows the reader the world that Nigeria is; the reason why Ifemelu or Obinze are who they are. The proud, home grown generation has no time for such nonsense as 'Americanahs' who seem to be returning home to just belittle and deride their own kind.
Americanah is not just a simple novel. It deals with issues. It is a story of the new world, where immigrants are of a new kind. Ifemelu or Obinze are not the old world sixties' or seventies' immigrants; they are smart, capable, intelligent and educated middle class protagonists, who are forced to emigrate not because of ambition, or conflict or poverty but by "the oppressive lethargy of choicelessness".
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's 2006 Orange Prize winner Half of a Yellow Sun was a complex book about the experiences of Igbo civilians during the Biafran war. The story was about history and politics and people. In Americanah, Adichie subtly tones her writing down one notch to deal with something that is far more complex than a war and history - she deals with identity and race in the modern age while explaining the present day socio-cultural and political background that makes people who they are.
However sudden or rushed, the ending of the novel feels as if it is emphatic, rich, real, perceptive and of course, hugely entertaining.
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Elle H
5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and moving book
Reviewed in Japan on 15 September 2024
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I love this author's ability to deal with serious subjects in a way that has warmth and positivity. What is it to be a woman? What is it to be a citizen of this or that country, a member of one race or another? Her lead character is trying to figure this out but never gets stuffy. We can see cameos of many lives on the edges especially in immigrant communities in the states and UK but it's all bearable because of the love story between the main characters and their home country, Nigeria.
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msiee
5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read for Americans and non Americans
Reviewed in the United States on 15 March 2017
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Americanah follows the main characters Ifemelu and her boyfriend, Obinze, as they both try to find a better way of life for themselves, when a school strike leaves them out of school for an extended period of time. They both seek to gain visas to America to take them out of their current status, however, Ifemelu is the only successful one at gaining the visa. It is at this point where things begin to take a turn for the couple as they each struggle to find themselves and look for happiness and success. It is their different turns that provide the climax and enjoyment for the reader.
The novel goes back and forth between the point of views of Ifemelu and Obinze. Through each narration, readers are drawn in by the travails of the character in focus. With Ifemelu, readers see how she sheds her innocence and is no longer naïve to how life in America is “supposed to be”. A quick example: when Ifemelu arrives in the U.S. to stay with her aunt Uju, she is surprised to see that she struggles to maintain a life for herself and her son. This aunt who once lived “large” in Nigeria, was now living in a roach- infested one bedroom apartment. The initial idea that the struggle was over when one arrived in the U.S..... Hmmm…not so much.
For Obinze, through the assistance of his mother, he was able to go to London, however, he learned that making money (especially as a foreigner) was not easy, and that since he was trying to obtain citizenship via the back way, he would struggle in almost anything he did. Life was not better in London compared to what he was accustomed to in Nigeria. Through the various jobs he took to survive and the relationships he attempted to make, there was always that feeling that he was losing a piece of himself. Definitely, not the life he imagined.
Without giving so much a way, I will say, this was a good book. This is a good book for those that are curious about immigrants, those who come over to seek a better way of life legally and those who enter a country illegally or through other means risking much, in search of what may be better. Due to the political climate we are experiencing now in the U.S., this is a book that should be on everyone’s reading list, if not, bookshelf. This book also tackles the social issues that our characters are faced with. If you have not addressed them personally, you will almost be forced to confront your own biases, whether you are white, black American or black and African.
I was drawn to each character in the novel- even those with minor roles for the reader, but significant to the main characters of the story. Adichie is so colorful with her words, she has the ability to transport you into the story and make you a front row spectator. Dry moments in the novel, barely. Once introductions are made at the beginning of the story and our characters determine where they are headed, the action begins and you are curious to see where the story will take you.
Would I recommend this book? With a resounding “YES”! How can I not? This book speaks to my heart. It took me two and a half weeks to read this book, but that was me with a million of other things and books on my plate. However, if this is the only book you are reading, it should be an easy and fast read.
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levent from dubai
5.0 out of 5 stars original product
Reviewed in the United Arab Emirates on 2 October 2022
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Michellefabness
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
Reviewed in Germany on 6 November 2020
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Where do I even start. I had to read this book for my college class 'feminism around the world' and boy am I happy I did. I don't think I would have read it otherwise, and would have hated missing out on what I know now. It is BEAUTIFULLY written and encapsulates you from the very beginning. I laughed so many times while reading this and 2 scenes brought tears to my eyes. The character design is authentic and great and it goes in depth to the perfect extend, never riding a dead horse or leaving the reader with questions. The chronic structure of having this big flashback is makes reading this so enticing. This book is amazing and I can not recommend it enough, honestly.
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Lupitapsiq
5.0 out of 5 stars Diferentes formas de vivir la migración
Reviewed in Mexico on 4 April 2026
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Excelente libro. Fue un regalo y le gustó mucho la temática sobre cómo se vive el estar en una cultura que no es la tuya pero que aprendes a sobrevivir con una realidad cruenta en ocasiones y otras negando las raíces.
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Lady Chab
5.0 out of 5 stars Great novel
Reviewed in France on 10 April 2025
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Beautiful novel, a page turner about racism, money, feminism, Africa, America, and above all about love. And a highly effective writing too!
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Jasonín d'Asturies
4.0 out of 5 stars Modern Nigeria
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 August 2014
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I really enjoyed this book. The central characters were thoroughly believable and I enjoyed the structuring of it, with parallel lives in London and America. I also leanrt a lot about myself, my own prejudices and preconceptions, which before reading the book I would have struggled to admit. (I'm all English, all white.)
One of the messages of the book is that, as a white person, you should just listen. Not rush in with an opinion or an evaluation. I have heard the same thing said by feminists for the same reasons and I would strongly recommend white men to read the book.
The only thing that bothered me about it was the emphasis on the heroine's beauty and sexiness. At one moment I am to believe that a man in a US supermarket tells her she is fat- and I think you have to be pretty big for that to happen there- and the next she is attracting a succession of men with her svelte charms. Something didn't add up and it stopped me giving the last star.
I read this book because it was up there on the list of books to read by women authors. It is the compelling tale of a young woman's journey to the United States and back to Nigeria again. Adichie has some tart observations about American society. She doesn't seem to love it much: there is no affectionate description of any of the little details of Americana, ironically enough, that might have made the descriptions of America equal to those of Nigeria.
At the end I'm not sure quite how to read the book: as satire, as a straight-forward love story, as a book for and about women, as a book about exile.
It is a well-written, well-structured novel that would appeal to any general reader. It will certainly educate you if you know nothing about Nigeria. It will give you depth of understanding if you know something.
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Paul Tauberg
4.0 out of 5 stars Informative and entertaining
Reviewed in Canada on 9 June 2015
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This is a very informative and well written book. Too bad that these two qualities fight for space and prominence within the story with result being something that is perhaps too long and of uncertain identity.
The informative part provides the reader with a wealth of extremely interesting details about it means to be black in US, UK and Africa itself. The original element is that most of it is presented from the perspective of middle and upper-middle class people thus avoiding the traditional and well-worn themes of poverty, slums, crime, etc. Ifemelu, the Nigerian born female hero is actually writing a blog about the black experience in US and the author is so keen to share with us what she has observed, that the book contains many long paragraphs from the blog, reproduced in their entirety. All very, very interesting but perhaps to extensive for a work of fiction.
The well written part refers to the actual story and the way the characters are portrayed. This is a two points of view book and the two protagonists, Ifemelu and Obinze make the reader care for them and be interested in what is happening to them. The presence of the “blog” or blog-like sections however dilute the pace and intensity of the story.
It would have been better to split this in two pieces: a social study and a love story. Even so it is a very entertaining read and I definitely recommend it.
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Giovanni Maria Troianiello
4.0 out of 5 stars Many penetrating observations, various gaps, an irritating protagonist cherished by the author
Reviewed in Italy on 2 July 2020
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Chamamanda Ngozi Adichie is a skillful and shrewd writer. Her best quality, at least in this book (the only one of hers I’ve read until now), shows up in the apparently minor, revealing detail of a sentence, a gesture, a movement of the body. At times, it seems to me, with the subtlety of a joycean suggestion: “[…] Chief said, and his guests laughed, three guffawing, knowing men,” “Mariama all the time smiling a smile full of things restrained.” Constantly, Ifemelu delights in displaying the ordinary hypocrisy of social intercourses: “ ‘Man, The Zed, you look well!’ he said, his words aflame with dishonesty,” “ ‘You sound like my mother,’ Paula said in the barbed tone of a private fight being continued, words meaning other things.” Many other examples, although often amusing, may be considered to fall into more ordinary and predictable categories, such as linguistic jokes on the triangulation of English between Nigerian, British and American peculiarities.
The architecture of the novel is powerfully conceived. It does however leave many loose threads, to the point of making a few turning points quite hard to evaluate when not hopelessly nonsensical. Take the evolution of her relationship with Curt, whom she has met while babysitting for his cousin Kimberly. He is, in his own words, “a rich white guy from Potomac”, and thanks to his money Ifemelu ends up luxuriating in fantastic opportunities of trips around the world: “her passport filled with visa stamps, the solicitousness of flight attendants in first-class cabins, the feathery bed linen in the hotels they stayed in.” We readers would expect that in the meanwhile this lavish globe-trotting must have put an end to her job as a babysitter, although without letting us know. Instead, to our astonishment, we learn that after quite a while Curt “asked her to give up babysitting; they could spend more time together if she didn’t have to work every day.” Everyday? We are left with some doubts about the plausibility of such an intense schedule. Not to mention that, all the while: “Her graduation was approaching.” A little time also for academic pursuits, maybe? It is hard to imagine that the author has been given the editing support she obviously needed.
A relevant feature of the novel is Ifemelu’s blog, which in a way mirrors Adichie’s real life presence on social media. At the very beginning I was delighted to encounter the admittedly irrelevant passage with the name “SapphicDerrida” attributed to one of the posters: funny although maybe too clever by half, as Adichie’s key tends to be through the whole narration, which is the reason why I mention it. And undoubtedly smart is the idea of presenting in the blog the opinions of an apparently distant “Professor Hunk” who actually corresponds to Ifemelu’s boyfriend Blaine. But the presence of texts from the blog tends to oversaturate the reader’s attention, and after a while the interest in the blog’s several intelligent suggestions about the racial problem along the other triangulation, in this case between African Americans, black Americans and whites, leaves room to eagerness to move on.
And the characters? Some of the very minor portraits — my favorite ones are Kimbelry and her sister Laura, as well as Curt’s mother — seem to me simply perfect. As we go up the ladder of importance, though, flaws appear, and become irritating, until we reach the three most important men in Ifemelu’s life: Obinze first of all, then Curt and Blaine, who frankly fail to elicit a real interest in the reader. The point is, I think, that to Ifemelu herself, and to the writer through her, they basically appear quite unprepossessing, and even wimpish, their relevance in the story and the official declarations in their favor notwithstanding.
As for Ifemelu, well, she comes out as an unpleasant and at times frankly obnoxious person. The author, whether out of an autobiographical identification or not, is always unconditionally and totally backing all her utterances and stances, even the most conceited and needlessly aggressive ones. Very relevant is her (Ifemelu’s? Adichie’s?) identification with Nigeria, which is certainly qualified, and does not prevent her from seeing the corrupt sides of the immensely wealthy nouveau riche class. But it is exactly this class that she (Ifemelu? Adichie?) delights in belonging to, while dispensing no more than a fleeting glimpse to the vast oppressed and destitute majority of Nigerian population. And this indifference reaches a despicable level with the lack of any commentary about the sudden acquisition of wealth on the part of Obinze by acquiescence to and participation in a vast dishonest scheme, never really explained because evidently considered irrelevant. “He [Obinze] was also newly rich and newly disoriented: one week he was broke and squatting in his cousin’s flat and the next he had millions of naira in his bank account.”
By way of conclusion I want to mention that Adichie’s stylistic qualities, beyond all the flaws I also found in the book at hand, stimulate me to pass to another book of hers, “Half of a Yellow Sun.” From what I read, it now seems to me a priori more appealing than “Americanah,” because less at risk of indulging a tendency to narcissistic slides into hidden traits of autobiography.
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Somi
4.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Read
Reviewed in the United States on 20 May 2013
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I am probably biased towards this novel, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, not only because Adichie's first novel, Purple Hibiscus, which I read as a very young girl, awoke in me the possibility of good writing and beautiful prose by a Nigerian like me, but because of the familiarity of the book. In Nigeria, we are brought up on foreign movies, sitcoms and TV shows, foreign books and foreign news, we know how English should be spoken, and many of us who bother to read a lot, are very familiar with the colloquialisms of the west. This is perhaps why, we do not recognize how much we miss our own particularly Nigerian way of expression, in the literature we read. It is perhaps why, when we read a phrase that is essentially Nigerian, in a novel like Americanah, "Tina-Tina, how now?" "Why are you looking like a mumu?" "How will you cope/how are you coping?" all familiar Nigerian modes of speech, we are infinitely grateful.
It's like the word Americanah, such a Nigerian word, used to describe someone who had lived abroad for so long, they no longer understand the nuances of being Nigerian. They use American swearwords, or complain that the fries at KFC Onikan are limp, even though you see nothing wrong with them. This is when you turn to someone who understands and say, (No mind am, na Americanah), Don't mind him, he is an Americanah.
Adichie's latest follows Ifemelu, a bright, sharp and observant girl, from her early years in 1990's Nigeria, to a life in America, where after the first rude shocks of culture change in a new world, where `fat' is a bad word and not merely a statement of fact, where colour is such a big issue that it can rule people's lives, and where everything is different, she slowly and surely starts to become an Americanah.
In Americanah, ifemelu observes, and we are informed by her observations, she converses and we see her character, and she remembers, and in her memories we see a rich story that begins in Lagos, journeys through the cities of America, and gains a body that is beautiful to savour. It is through Ifemelu's observations, we experience what Americana is about.
Hair, specifically Black/African hair. Why do black women hide their hair? Would Beyonce ever allow the world to see her hair the way it really is, or would Michelle Obama? These are the questions Ifemelu asks In her blog, where after having lived in the United States for a long time, she broaches issues of race, hair and life in America from the eyes of a `Non-American Black'.
We experience race, Kimberley, the white woman who uses beautiful as a word to describe `black', because for whichever reason, black is a word that should be said as little as possible. Kurt, to whom Ifemelu's race means nothing, and Blaine, the Black American Yale professor, whose influence, in my opinion, would be the biggest in turning Ifemelu's observations from the disinterested and amused observation of a `Non-American Black' or `NAB', who calmly tells Kimberly, "You know, you can just say `black.' Not every black person is beautiful." to those of an `American Black' or `AB', who would say in her blog. "If the "slavery was so long ago" thing comes up, have your white friend say that lots of white folks are still inheriting money that their families made a hundred years ago. So if that legacy lives, why not the legacy of slavery?" The old Ifemelu would have told the descendants of the slaves to `get over it'.
We also experience love, Adichie herself describes Americanah as a love story, and this is true. There is love in almost every book, but in Americanah, it is not incidental, it is a central part of the story. Before America, and race and hair became issues, there was Obinze, the love of Ifemelu's teenage life. If Ifemelu, the daughter of a civil servant who lost his job because he would not bow to the excessive respect that Lagos Yoruba's employ and call his boss `Mummy', and uses English in such a way as to provide a hilarious sort of comic relief, is sharp and confident, then Obinze, the only son of a university professor, with his love for American books and his quiet belief in himself, is self assured and mature. They fall in love soon after they meet as secondary school students in Lagos, and when Ifemelu tells her aunt and friend, Uju, about him, saying she has met the love of her life, there is a hilarious moment when Aunt Uju advises her to "let him kiss and touch but not to let him put it inside."
While most of the story is seen though Ifemelu's eyes and memories, we also get to see some of Obinze, we follow him to London, where he lives as an illegal immigrant, after failing to find a job in Nigeria, or to fulfill his dream of going to America, (he later visits America, when he becomes rich, and isn't impressed, he lost interest when he realized that he could buy his way in.) He is arrested on the eve of his sham wedding, and repatriated. In all this Obinze never loses a certain `solidity', that he seems to effortlessly possess. In a democratic Nigeria, where a new middle class is rising, and the money that used to be the preserve of the top army generals starts to filter down, Obinze gets lucky in the way that only happens in Nigeria, where there really is too much money, and overnight he is a very rich man.
When Ifemelu starts to hunger for home, Obinze, with whom she has lost touch, is already a husband and father. "Meanwhile o, he has serious money now. See what you missed!" her friend, Ranyinudo tells her, on a call from Nigeria. (How Nigerian to say something like that!) The central question becomes, will they get back together? To some, this is a weakness of the story, the descent into the fantasy of a happily ever after for the heroine and hero, but it is not such a bad thing in itself, it makes enjoyable, and hopeful reading.
In summary, I loved the story. I loved the familiarity of it, Ifemelu's mother's ridiculous religiousness, her fathers ludicrous use of English, Aunty Uju, Ginika, Kayode, Emenike, who is perhaps one of the more interesting characters, as he strives to shed the life he was born with, to become what he wishes to be, and all the other different kinds of people that make up the rich tapestry that is Nigerian life.
Ifemelu is an interesting character, observant, watchful, sure of herself, even as a teenager, she is confident in a way I wouldn't have understood at that age. Obinze, knows himself in such a way that he doesn't need to follow any crowd, or have anybody validate him. However, I did feel that the ending was rather rushed, as if the author had other things to do, and was hastily putting the final scenes together.
The main grouse I had with the book was the fact that I saw some elements from Adichie's previous works. When Barrack Obama wins the election and her cousin Dike calls her to say that his president is black like him, I remember an interview long ago where Adichie says that her nephew had said the exact same thing after the elections. It make me feel cheated, this, the similarity of her relationship with Curt to the relationship of the characters in her short story, The Thing Around Your Neck; when Obinze describes his house in Enugu, and I see the house in Birdsong, the scene of another adulterous affair in another of her old short stories. How autobiographical is her work then? I ask myself. I begin to feel suspicious, perhaps all the characters are really her and the people she knows, perhaps Pat Peoples is really Matthew Quick, and Nick Hornby's characters are really just himself?
I noticed that apart from Dike, her little cousin, and Obinze, and perhaps Obinze's mother, Ifemelu does not seem very emotionally involved with the people that shape her life, sometimes she seems like a watcher, an observer, and not a character in the story. Also, because this novel is really many observations and opinions, sometimes it does feel contrived, like a character or event has been introduced, solely because they are a means to present an issue Adichie wants to discuss. Lastly, I did not find the blog interesting, unlike the prose of the novel, the writing is not fluid, or vey descriptive, and seems to jump from one issue to another, trying to cram many thoughts into one jumbled package. This may be because I am not an NAB, and those issues mean little to me, perhaps the AB's would read it differently.
Regardless, Americanah is a wonderful read, sometimes laugh out loud funny, sometimes sad, but always interesting.
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Kitabi Keeda
4.0 out of 5 stars Writing within the writing was beautiful and that is what the book is about.
Reviewed in India on 22 February 2019
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Americanah is a love story of Ifemelu and Obinze. Americanah is also a discussion about race, kinky hair, immigration, society and its social relationships, and life in Africa.. well Nigeria.
The base story was good. Enough to keep you hooked. All the characters were real and interesting. But the writing within the writing was beautiful and that is what the book is about. I read that the story is based on the author’s own experiences when she encountered race in USA.
Ifemelu’s thoughts, as she encounters various situations in her homeland and in a foreign country; as she invents and re-invents herself via her blogs, as expressed by the writer are what make the book so much more than just a story. The same goes for the experiences described by Obinze.
The book talks about the difference between being black in Africa and being black elsewhere. The flow is quite seamless as the author takes us through different countries. It talks about very real situations of immigrant lifestyles and the changes that one goes through to try and fit in and the psychological upheavals it can cause. Everyone assumes that moving from a less developed country to a more developed one is a blessing and can only bring opportunities. But so many issues go unspoken. Adichie has not shied away from bringing them up.
A great read, fairly fast paced, thought provoking and well written. I would recommend this book for sure.
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Inna
3.0 out of 5 stars Curious story, but not really worth ca. 10 hours of your time
Reviewed in the Netherlands on 21 August 2016
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Americanah is a pretty readable story about immigration and racism in the USA and UK. However, it has a super far-fetched ending, predictable plot, and straightforward characters, and lacks style refinement. All in all, not bad, but way too longish.
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Martin Mikulas
4.0 out of 5 stars Big font
Reviewed in the United Arab Emirates on 9 January 2020
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The letters were in big font, so this was a negative surprise.
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Pedro Manuel Carrasco De La Cruz
5.0 out of 5 stars A tale of perseverance and resilience
Reviewed in Germany on 15 September 2023
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A great surprise to find this book. A story in which hope and resilience is transversal to every episode in the life of our protagonist. Sometimes tending to be over dramatic, it is a realistic portrait of the African experience in the African-American community of USA.
With a story which expands over more than 30 years, the timeline does never become heavy or difficult to understand. The number of characters might be a bit difficult but also enriching to the general plot, up to the taste of the reader.
Recommended for readers of contemporary literature.
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Flávia Vital
5.0 out of 5 stars Imperdível!!
Reviewed in Brazil on 27 June 2017
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Um romance empolgante e muito bem escrito, permeado pela visão crítica da autora sobre assuntos muito atuais. Recomendo a leitura em inglês, flui muito bem!
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Luisa
4.0 out of 5 stars Americanah
Reviewed in Mexico on 22 February 2017
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Te da una buena idea de la vida en Nigeria. Se centra en los problemas raciales en Estados Unidos: ser negro en América, pero negro de Africa, no americano. Le da otra perspectiva a la cuestión. La protagonista la amas o la odias. Yo la odié: siempre mirando el mundo desde su pedestal. El personaje masculino es más humano, más profundo. Sí lo recomiendo.
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ANN C. MATYAS
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully written, interesting and informative book
Reviewed in Canada on 21 April 2015
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I could not put Americanah down. Not only was it evocatively and beautifully written, but it gave me a whole new perspective about what it is like to be black in America. The relationships between the main character and the men in her life are, in the end, a bit weak and inconsistent, particularly the discrepancy (SPOILER ALERT) between one of the principle male character's choice of girlfriend and wife, one outspoken and frank, the other docile, but good looking. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this book.
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KGBeast
4.0 out of 5 stars Tiefgründige Lebensdarstellung für die USA und Nigeria - mit ein paar erzählerischen Längen
Reviewed in Germany on 15 December 2019
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Dies ist der dritte und wohl bisher bekannteste Roman von Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie und er erzählt die Geschichte zweier Nigerianer, die gemeinsam aufgewachsen sind und bei denen es zunächst als sicher erschien, dass sie eines Tages einmal heiraten würden. Ifemelu ist die Hauptprotagonistin dieses Romans, die in Lagos während der Militärherrschaft aufwächst und in dieser Zeit – zusammen mit ihrer Familie – allerlei Härten durchleben muss, wie zum Beispiel den häufigen Wechsel zwischen sehr gegensätzlichen christlichen Kirchen, die ihre Mutter die Familie für einige Zeit aufdrückt. Als sie dann in eine weiterführende Schule geht lernt sie dort den sehr ruhigen und belesenen Obinze kennen, der eigentlich ursprünglich von seinen Freunden an eine Klassenkameradin Ifemelus verkuppelt werden sollte. Doch Obinze – später auch scherzhaft Zimmerdecke genannt – interessiert sich mehr für die eher etwas untypische Ifemelu.
Als Ifemelus vielgeliebte Tante, die einen illegitimen Sohn des militärischen Machthabers hat, nach dem Ende der Militärherrschaft Lagos relativ schnell verlassen muss, beschließt Ifemelu ein Visum in die USA zu bekommen um dort zu studieren, wie das in dieser Zeit ziemlich viele Nigerianer getan haben. Dabei lässt sie einen eher unglücklichen Obinze zurück.
In der Folge lernen wir eine Menge darüber, wie Afrikaner – und insbesondere Nigerianerinnen – das Ankommen in den USA erleben, wie sie sich erstmals wirklich bewusst werden müssen, dass sie selbst schwarz sind und dass das in den USA immer wieder Probleme mit sich bringt, mit denen sie nicht gerechnet haben. Dabei wir eine sehr vielschichtige Betrachtungsweise aufgetan, denn neben dem Studium muss Ifemelu auch noch über die sprachlichen und sozialen Tabus Amerikas lernen, die in dieser Form in Nigeria nicht existieren, weil dort zum Beispiel eine Person gemischten Blutes relativ hohes Ansehen besitzt. Und auch wenn sie die rassistischen Anwürfe der politischen Rechten und der Republikaner stören, so kann sie mit dem Umgang mit dem Begriff ‚Rasse‘ durch die Liberalen und auch durch die meisten Afro-Amerikaner nicht sonderlich viel anfangen. Und da sie all diese Dinge überraschen beginnt sie darüber zu schreiben – und zwar in diesem ganz neuen Medium eines Internet-Blogs, der sehr bald sehr sehr erfolgreich ist.
Doch irgendwann kann sie Amerika nicht mehr ertragen und es zieht sie zurück nach Lagos – ein Lagos, das sich in den dazwischenliegenden Jahren sehr verändert hat – und auch Ifemelu ist nicht mehr die Person, die Lagos vor so vielen Jahren verlassen hat. Und so lernt sie ihr Heimatland noch einmal ganz neu kennen.
Obinze hat sich mittlerweile für einige Zeit nach Großbritannien begeben, wo er auch so seine eige-nen Erfahrungen mit dem Leben in einer anderen Kultur gemacht hat – insbesondere einer Kultur, die einen Teil ihres Reichtums aus der Ausbeutung seines Herkunftslandes gewonnen hat. Und auch wenn seine Erfahrungen in vielerlei Hinsicht ganz anders sind als die, die Ifemelu in den USA macht, kommt auch er verändert nach Lagos zurück, wo er sehr schnell auf seine ruhige und zurückhaltende Art und Weise erfolgreich wird. Und dann trifft er die aus Amerika zurückgekehrte Ifemelu wieder.
Ein sehr, sehr vielschichtiger Roman, in dem insbesondere auch Ifemelus Blogbeiträge immer wieder tiefgehende und überraschende Einblicke erst in das Leben in den USA und dann in auch nach ihrer Rückkehr in das in Lagos und in Nigeria im Ganzen.
Die Darstellung von Beziehungsmomenten – ganz speziell mit Bezug auf Ifemelu – gibt diesem Roman stellenweise einige erzählerische Längen, die ich zumindest als störend empfunden habe, aber insgesamt ist „Americanah“ überaus lesenswert.
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Ximena.Hegu
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read book
Reviewed in Mexico on 13 May 2021
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I'm not a freqent reader. But I can say that this book will make you a frequent reader. It's got an amazing plot plus the content of the book is filled with culture from Nigeria inside and outside of its country. Really give it a try.
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Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Affascinante viaggio fra Nigeria e Stati Uniti
Reviewed in Italy on 20 November 2020
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Bellissimo romanzo, mai scontato, che aiuta un po' ad approfondire la questione razziale negli Stati Uniti. Un viaggio affascinante dalla Nigeria agli USA e ritorno, con tutte le contraddizioni e le differenze di questi due paesi, viste con gli occhi di una giovane donna africana che, arrivata negli Stati Uniti, si rende conto di essere nera, con tutte le conseguenze e le problematiche che ciò comporta in quel paese.
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Payton Malloy
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book
Reviewed in the United States on 27 April 2016
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Adichie has really flourished in a book like Americanah. Many of the characters don't go into much depth, they appear and disappear without saying much or having a big impact on the story. However in ways this could be praised. Adichie gets the reader to really focus on the main characters (Ifemelu and Obinze), which puts them on a pedestal and highlights their defining characteristics. Given the fact that the book is mostly about them and their affairs this was most likely the best way to go.
This book has a hint of the common “rags to riches” vibe, which is a very known theme, but to be also accompanied by a fallen love interest that is to later be revitalized, this is the hook of this story. This proves the complexity that the world actually possesses. It is not just another story of an immigrant coming to America, it is so much more than that; Love, racism, culture, realism, and even confusion about one's identity, these are virtues that Americanah shares with the real world. The world we live in in many cases is not what we want it to seem. The “American dream” is almost non existent, without a tremendous amount of work that many people are not willing to commit to, it is unachievable. Even those who are, are still not guaranteed satisfaction. Ifemelu sees the truth when her life is not as she would have hoped. With the difficulty of finding a job and the shameful deeds that occurred with her tennis coach, the American dream surely faded. This being said, Ifemelu was on her own.
Mistakes aren’t corrected, and as they begin to pile up Ifemelu and Obinze begin to feel the pressure. As a reader of this book, these mistakes began to anger me. Like in common “stop what you're doing” situations, these characters preceded in doing things that would negatively affect them in the long run. Ifemelu avoidance of Obinze after her tennis coach encounter really shifted her as a character, this prideful, strong woman has become ashamed of herself. This book has a way of presenting you with a feminist view of life, how the women draw yours sympathy and the men are more or less viewed as villains. This is more so seen when Obinze becomes a wealthy man and finds a new family. It is also demonstrated when a character known as Aunty Uju breaks up and scars her man Olujimi. He is brought up, but is quickly forgotten to emphasize that it is a heavily woman oriented.
Adichie as an author really made a piece that obviously touched her. How her words flowed, it seemed as though she wanted to talk about everything in life, all the endeavors and twist that came along with it. With this in plan, her writing made it seem as though Ifemelu and Obinze were just paradigmatic characters, but somehow kept their narrative interest while reaching out to the reader. Americanah seemed as though it was a story that could be approached by anyone with the ability to read, and they would feel some sort of connection to the main characters. Whether the misfortune be like that of Ifemelu and Obinze or not, just about everyone has had hard times in their life, and that is exactly what Adichie was trying to share. I honestly had a hard time setting this book aside, as it is one of the best books of this time and definitely deserves its popularity. The vast amount that was shared in this book that has real world value was tremendous. Honestly the only way someone couldn’t love this book was if they didn’t like hair.
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Theo Moraes de Oliveira
4.0 out of 5 stars Não é o melhor trabalho da autora
Reviewed in Brazil on 14 February 2021
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Bom livro, com boas reflexões sobre raça privilégio em diferentes sociedades. O início e o final são super cativantes e eu consegui ler bem rapido essas partes.
Acho que a Chimamanda se perdeu um pouco na metade, com várias descrições de cenas e personagens que nem eram tão importantes assim. Não é o melhor livro que já li dela, mas acho que vale a leitura.
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Partick Potter
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 August 2026
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A stunning piece of writing. Great plot, settings, characters. A wonderful read.
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PlantBirdWoman
5.0 out of 5 stars Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: A review
Reviewed in the United States on 12 July 2014
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Why did people ask "What is it about?" as if a novel had to be about only one thing.
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in Americanah
Americanah does in fact seem to be about several things. On one level, it is simply a love story, but, more significantly, it is about the immigrant experience.
It is also about the black experience - the experience of American-Africans as opposed to that of African-Americans or of Africans. More deeply still, it delineates the complexities of national identities and ways of thinking. Much of this is accomplished through an exploration of the everyday issue of hair care.
Kinky African hair is fragile, the author tells us, and it requires special handling. Products made for white people's hair simply won't do the trick. Much of Americanah is taken up with detailing the Nigerian-born heroine, Ifemelu's, quest for hair care. We see her spending long hours getting her hair braided, and even when she decides to let her hair go natural and sport an "Afro," that style, too, takes a lot of care and is the focus of her grooming regime.
Ifemelu began life in a Nigeria which existed under military dictatorship. She attended a Lagos secondary school where she fell in love with Obinze. He would be the great love of her life.
It was the dream of Ifemelu and Obinze to get out of Nigeria. It was a common dream as people were emigrating from the country whenever possible. Eventually, with the help of family, Ifemelu was able to go to America to study.
Her early experiences in America were harrowing. She had little money, only what her family could send, and since she was on a student visa, she was unable to work, legally.
A friend found a way for her to use someone else's Social Security number to look for a job. That, too, turned out to be a bit of a disaster. Desperate for work, she suffered a humiliating experience which continued to haunt her years later.
Finally, her friend helped her connect with a white liberal couple who hired her as a babysitter for their two children. As well as being her employer, they become her friends and the remainder of Ifemelu's experience in America seems to be smooth sailing. Except for that hair thing.
Finishing her undergraduate career, Ifemelu decides to start a blog about her observations on race. She calls it "Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Know as Negroes) by a Non-American Black." In her blog, she takes on many of what some would consider taboo subjects. She writes, for example, about the relationship of styles of hair to employability. (There's that hair again!) She writes about what she regards as the misguided reverence that some African-Americans hold for Africa. She writes of her relationships with white and black lovers and her observations about how she is regarded by those men's friends.
Meantime, Obinze is having his own immigrant experience in Britain. He overstays his visa and he, too, tries working on another person's national service number. Then, in order to legitimize his presence in the country, he plans a sham marriage to a British citizen, but he is found out and deported back to Nigeria where he begins to prosper. Years later, he is a wealthy businessman with a beautiful wife and daughter when Ifemelu returns to Nigeria.
This book seems to me not so much plot-driven or even character-driven as observation-driven. The plot that exists is a structure for presenting Ifemelu's (i.e., Adichie's) opinions and social criticisms. These often appear in the guise of her blog entries. Such as this one:
Understanding America for the Non-American Black: American Tribalism
In America, tribalism is alive and well. There are four kinds - class, ideology, region, and race. First, class. Pretty easy. Rich folk and poor folk.
Second, ideology. Liberals and conservatives. They don't merely disagree on political issues, each side believes the other is evil. Intermarriage is discouraged and on the rare occasion that it happens, is considered remarkable. Third, region. The North and the South. The two sides fought a civil war and tough stains from that war remain. The North looks down on the South while the South resents the North. Finally, race. There's a ladder of racial hierarchy in America. White is always on top, specifically White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, otherwise known as WASP, and American Black is always on the bottom, and what's in the middle depends on time and place.
That seems a very cogent summation of American society to me. And there are many such observations sprinkled throughout the book. They were among my favorite parts of the book.
As a blogger myself, I was amused by Ifemelu's statement at one point that she never knew what her readers wanted or what they would like - what would generate a lot of clicks. She wrote posts which she was sure would be popular and would get a lot of response and there was nothing but silence. On the other hand, she might dash off a quick entry with no expectation of it striking a chord with readers and she would be overwhelmed by clicks and comments. I suppose this uncertainty is the bain of all bloggers. Maybe all writers.
I enjoyed this book tremendously, although there were some things that bothered me. The character of Ifemelu, for example. She just seemed to glide effortlessly through life. Even the big emotional upsets of her life didn't really seem to upset her very much. For someone who was described as very passionate, she seemed substantially lacking in passion.
In fact, all of the characters in the book seemed curiously flat and one-dimensional to me. I couldn't really care a lot about the fate of any of them. It appeared that Adichie couldn't either. They were simply vehicles for moving forward the story she wanted to tell.
Moreover, I found the ending somewhat disappointing. It just didn't seem to me that this would have been the logical conclusion for these characters. But then, I am a white American woman of a certain age who has never lived outside of this country. What do I know about how these cosmopolitan world travelers would feel and behave?
Throughout the last half of this book, which was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction in 2013, I debated with myself about what rating I would give it - four stars or five stars. In the end, I decided that my quibbles were not sufficient to give it the lower rating. It was an amazing read, so I gave it five stars. But with the silent understanding that it really should have been four-and-a-half.
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VALERIA ROSITO
5.0 out of 5 stars What is blackness
Reviewed in Brazil on 14 December 2025
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Sophisticated character construction and captivating plot.
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Book Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful story - recommended reading
Reviewed in India on 25 July 2021
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Very beautifully written book!
The story starts from Lagos, Nigeria and moves to US and UK and finally closes back in Lagos. It's about a young Nigerian couple who fall in love only to be separated by their aspirations to move abroad - one moves to US and the other to UK. Their journeys through their early years in a new country and the struggles of securing citizenship are hard and very beautifully depicted. The book delves on various aspects of racism - both the protagonists of the story are blacks. The book covers at some length many aspects and issues about racism and these are so revealing. The story ends with the rediscovery of love and the reunion of the couple is handled so well in the writing.
This is my first book by this writer and already looking forward to reading some of her other popular titles.
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E. K.
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book
Reviewed in Germany on 12 July 2015
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I would absolutely encourage everyone to read this book. It is sensitive, original, accessible and funny sometimes also sad to read. It is a mind opener for how different one can feel among different people but also in ones own home after a period of being abroad. It is also a love story but not only between the characters but also between the two countries portrayed (Nigeria and the USA).
The characters really live in todays world, they struggle with immigration regulations, have Facebook and blogs, discuss current politics and social developments.
In addition the story is picked with a lot of little anecdotes that will make you smile having experienced similar things, no matter where in the world, even without ever being to the US or Nigeria.
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frog
5.0 out of 5 stars This will never be deleted from my KIndle - that's how good it is
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 December 2025
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I am a little late in joining the party for this author’s books, but oh boy am I glad I finally started reading them. I began with a sample of this on my kindle and was so enthralled I bought the full book.
The story centre around Ifemelu and Obinze, young Nigerian students who meet at uni and fall in love. Eager to see what is outside Nigeria, they head west, Ifemelu for America and Obinze to the UK. Never having considered herself Black – because why would you in a country inhabited almost exclusively by Blacks, Ifemelu experiences racism for the first time. She finds it impossible to secure employment, eventually taking on a once-only assignment which leaves her distressed to the point where she drops contact with Obinze. She eventually finds success by writing her own blog on her experiences as a non-American Black in America. She also develops a close bond with Dike, the young sone of her aunt, also living in America. Obinze in the meantime, encounters the same difficulty in the UK, where he does find work.
Later both Ifemelu and Obinze find themselves, separately, back in Nigeria where he is now a successful and wealthy man. Ifemelu has to try to settle back in to a different Nigeria from the one she left.
I don’t want to give any spoilers away to will leave the fates of these two for future readers.
This novel is multi-layered with themes of love, racism, family ties, Nigerian, American and UK culture. The writing is keen and intelligent with believable characters I liked very much. I found the raucous, vivid life of Nigeria in these pages contrast so well with that of the realities of life for two young Black people in the USA and UK.
These two – Ifemelu and Obinze - are often in my mind, even now, a week after reading the last line.
I have friends in Nigeria from whom I have learned quite a lot about the culture, customs and family bonds. They suggested I read this author – a big thank you to them.
This is one of the best books I have red this year – 2025, and I’m now nose-deep into Half of a Yellow Sun.
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Kinky Kid
5.0 out of 5 stars Chimamanda Ngozi Achie's best book to date
Reviewed in Mexico on 13 July 2019
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The best book I've read by Chimamanda, the way she dissects the racism inherent in first-world countries, especially the United States, but at the same time talks about classism in Nigeria is surprising and the most surprising is the subtle way in which she does it, without being boring or pamphleted. With this book, Chimamanda has established herself as one of the best contemporary storytellers.
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Michelle Michiels
5.0 out of 5 stars great book
Reviewed in Canada on 1 August 2015
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I so thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters are interesting, full human beings, the plot line is good, commentary on interpersonal and social relationships is present and thoughtful, and the overall atmosphere and writing style is entertaining. I look forward to reading more of her work.
Also, I usually have to force myself to read the first 40pages or so of a new book before I connect with it, but this book is immediately engaging.
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Lucia Vitali
5.0 out of 5 stars Bellissimo
Reviewed in Italy on 9 October 2021
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Super recommended I can't wait to read we should all be feminists too
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Eleonora Becchi
5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful
Reviewed in Italy on 5 August 2015
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One of the best books I have read this year. It has it all: a great love story, a subtle and poignant analysis on race and culture in the US, a vivid description of modern and old days Nigeria. Definitely a must read for all Africa lovers, but also for all literature lovers.
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Kayla (The Bookish Owl)
5.0 out of 5 stars Sublime
Reviewed in the United States on 7 August 2015
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As seen on The Bookish Owl (http://www.thebookishowl.net/?p=7015)
It was a long time before I mustered up the courage to pick up Americanah as I was still reeling from the sheer beauty and power of Purple Hibiscus, the first Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie book that I read. When I finally finished devouring Americanah last night, I was struck by how speechless and awestruck it left me. It wasn’t merely up to par with Purple Hibiscus – it exceeded it, going far and beyond. The last book that made me feel this way – this abstract feeling which I can never ever verbalize – was Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief.
The magic of Americanah stems from its various themes, all equally provocative and colorful. To ask, “what exactly is Americanah about?” is to do the book injustice for it encompasses so many things. It is about race, racial identity, cultural identity, a country’s identity, and yes, love, among others. To be honest, I couldn’t relate with some of these ideas: specifically, those that pertain to being black, whether being “black” refers to being African-American or a Non-American Black. This theme was lost on me, obviously because of my race, inexperience, and isolation from the issue. Nevertheless, I thought that this theme and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s execution of it resonates and continues to apply to the issues that we face today. Or, to be more accurate, the issues that I hear and read about on the news.
Concepts that I did appreciate, however, were those that spoke of Westernization, national and cultural identity and how these two relate to our own sense of self. The two principal characters of Americanah, Ifemelu and Obinze, both move abroad from Nigeria to work and in Ifemelu’s case, to study. She moves to America and he to England, two different people in two vastly different countries but with roughly the same experiences. Poverty, exploitation, homesickness, and their status as illegal aliens hanging over their heads. It wasn’t hard to imagine that these too were felt by the thousands of Filipinos working overseas.
Then there was the matter of cultural identity; the clash between Nigerian culture and Western culture, most profoundly felt by Ifemelu herself. This conflict was reminiscent of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (mentioned in Americanah, by the way) which tackles the same thing albeit under different circumstances and in a whole other century. Ifemelu’s struggles to remain true to her roots despite the pressures and the need to be Westernized as well as her difficulties in reverting and adapting on her return home was excellently written and translated on the page. Ifemelu wasn’t just a character – she felt like a real, breathing, existing person and it was easy to empathize with her.
Obinze’s chapters in the present as well as Ifemelu’s perspective on her return home from the USA gave a glimpse on how Westernized their country had become. Thanks to Ifemelu, the “old” Nigeria and the “new” Nigeria were blatantly juxtaposed. It was interesting to see this contrast but to see Ifemelu struggle to adapt in the new Nigeria and to witness the change in her friends, all who were introduced early on, was even more fascinating.
One thing that bothered me about Americanah, however, was the ending. It felt too abrupt and too rushed. Nonetheless, I felt it an apt and fitting conclusion to Ifemelu and Obinze’s story.
In A Nutshell:
There’s a lot more that I want to say about Americanah but I’m struggling to find the right words to express my thoughts. One thing’s for sure; Americanah was sublime. It’s one of the best books that I’ve ever read and along with The Book Thief, one of the only books that I will enthusiastically, ceaselessly, and highly recommend to everyone.
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Wordsandvoice
5.0 out of 5 stars J'adore, j'adore, j'adore!!!!
Reviewed in France on 11 June 2013
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Le résumé du livre se suffit en lui-même et pour vous laisser découvrir l'histoire, je vais me contenter de vous dire ce que j'ai ressenti en lisant ce livre.
Elle nous parle de « race » en décomplexant complètement le sujet, elle le ramène à la compréhension de monsieur tout le monde. Elle dit des vérités de façon subtile sans pointer du doigt le moindre coupable. Elle dit des choses qu'on ressent tous les jours et cela fait plaisir de savoir qu'à l'autre bout du monde quelqu'un d'autre éprouve, ressent les mêmes choses que vous et surtout sait les retranscrire avec autant de brio.
C'est bien écrit, c'est émouvant, parfois c'est drôle, souvent triste lorsqu'on se rend compte de l'importance encore accordée à la race dans nos sociétés actuelles. Nous faisons toujours face aux mêmes barrières raciales, religieuses (que ce soit aux USA où se situe l'histoire ou ailleurs) alors que les nouvelles technologies sont censés nous rapprocher. Le monde n'a pas encore changé, pour le moment on se cache c'est tout....
Bref j'adore, j'adore, j'adore et le conseille à tous ceux qui s'intéressent à de tels sujets traités avec réalisme, compréhension et une profonde compassion.
Cet auteur est génial. Elle prend le temps d'écrire et à chaque fois l'attente valait largement la peine.
Vous pouvez la découvrir en commençant par son ouvrage « Half of a yellow sun » quelque chose de tout aussi fabuleux.
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Maximilian B.
5.0 out of 5 stars Interessantes Buch - Guter Roman und noch besserer EInblick in die "Rassenfrage"
Reviewed in Germany on 15 February 2017
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Empfohlen wurde mir das Buch von einer Genderbeauftragten und Hardcore Feministin. Dieses Buch sollte mir einen guten EInblick geben in die alltäglichen Diskriminierungen, die man anhand Rasse, Geschlecht und Herkunft erfährt.
Bezüglich darauf hat mir das Buch wirklich sehr viel gebracht; subtil und nie im Vordergrund wurde eher beiläufig das alltägliche diskriminierende Verhalten in den USA gegenüber einer aus Afrika stammende Bloggerin gezeigt.
Was aber viel wichtiger ist: Das Buch ist auch noch ein sehr feinsinnig geschriebener Roman, der sich dem klassischen Folgen der Liebe des Lebens dreht!
Quasi der alltägliche Kampf des Alltags und äußerer Umstände gegen das Streben nach Liebe. Kein bisschen kitischig, sehr realistisch und nachvollziehbar.
Wirklich ein gutes Buch.
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Gabs
5.0 out of 5 stars La mejor novela que he leído este año
Reviewed in Mexico on 25 July 2020
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Me parece que es una novela súper inteligente y muy relevante en los tiempos actuales, pues toca muchos problemas sociales contemporáneos. Me gustó muchísimo, se lo he recomendado a todos mis amigos. Lo mejor que he leído este año.
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montse vallejo
5.0 out of 5 stars Americanas
Reviewed in Spain on 8 November 2017
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Me fascina la simple forma de expresarse de esta autora. Me han gustado los personajes, me ha enganchado la historia y como la autora enlaza la vida de los protagonistas. Muy real y muy entretenido.
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Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars About Race, and little else
Reviewed in India on 21 March 2025
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Reviews are misleading. Hardly a love story, except at the beginning of the book, where there is tenderness, fragility, tradegy. And suddenly everything becomes easy breezy, and the pathos ends. Too many conversations that make the book seem pretentious, which it isn't.
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Steph Ose
4.0 out of 5 stars I LIKKKEEEEEEEE IT!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 June 2013
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My attention was grabbed as if I were in the scenes being described. You could touch, smell and hear the ongoings in each paragraph. Absolutely well, well written! ‘Americanah’ is a novel that sets the scenes in it across 3 continents, two cultures and one love story. It truly delivered.
Although there are always room for improvement, mine would be that it is heavy book, i.e. many, many pages but it means she left nothing out and I was always happy whilst reading it, because at the back of my mind, whenever I put it down to do something else, I cherished when I would pick it up the next time and carry on. Needless to say I was SADDENED when I came to the last page! I struggled to let go! It is also an amazing eye-opening read to the issues of life. ;)
The value of this author is so unique that an attempt to give it full credit will still fall short. All I can also say is “she is right, Chimamanda -- my God will not fall/fail me” truly indeed, this lady’s talent will not falter. She writes brilliantly, she weaves in extra content in such a way, you cannot help but get interested in it as with a tantalizing side dish! I like one particular thing that came across in this novel, Chimamanda shows her gift for writing, by doing one of the things she is best known for, via a character in this novel. I had an expectation before I ordered this book on amazon. I WAS DISAPPOINTED….MY EXPECTATION WAS SMASHED and replaced with a far greater and higher value! BUY IT, BUY IT! BUY IT!!!
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cristovam de freitas
5.0 out of 5 stars Required reading
Reviewed in Brazil on 30 August 2018
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The character of Americanah is a foreigner in her own land and a foreigner in someone else's land. Restlessness is your strong suit. I enjoyed the novel very much and I have only one objection to the ending: it ends like a romantic comedy.
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Cliente Kindle
5.0 out of 5 stars It involves, thrills and makes you reflect.
Reviewed in Brazil on 8 August 2024
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It's an engaging story, with well-constructed characters, while at the same time making us see cultural and racial issues from different angles.
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