My Review of Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This book, like I said, is my favorite novel of the 21st century that I have read so far. The novels I read tend to be before 2000, so I can't say I am an expert. But for me this is the best that I have read. One of the most interesting, complex and controversial Byronic heroes in literature with Ifemelu. The reaction to her character by different people, especially by black readers and very especially by African women readers has fascinated me greatly. In any case, this has been one of the books that I have constantly thought of since I finished reading.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Way I Feel by ASA


This has been an amazing journey for me. This is the first fully African novel I have read and the third novel I've read that was published in the 21st century. The interesting thing is that as much as I have enjoyed reading this book, if not for happening to learn of a visit to my town of the author--I would not have read it any time soon. To think that I read a copy of this book that was quite literally given the author's seal of approval will always be awesome to me and made this experience that much greater. I should probably read more contemporary fiction despite my preference for classic literature. I'll certainly read them if they are written this well.

Yere Faga ft. Tony Allen by Oumou Sangaré - Between paragraphs I'm just going to list songs I was listening to while reading or that show-up in the novel.

General Thoughts: I was struck at this book being a very bold tribute to black bibliophiles. I don't think I've read a novel who's characters refer to and discuss novels so in-depth. Even Dostoevsky & James Joyce don't do it to such a high level. It was one of the things I really enjoyed about the book. The idea of learning about a character through their taste in books was something I never thought of in fiction. We see the growth and understanding of the main protagonist in her reading choices over the years. Also, the key narrative innovation of this book in 2014 was its use of blogging to tell the narrative though this is probably a more standard practice in modern novels.

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood by Nina Simone

Story: The plot is simply following two characters, Ifemelu & Obinze, through their messy romance that spans around 3 decades and 3 countries. I'll leave it there as I'm not gonna put any more detail that would spoil. Instead, I'll give my impression on one part of the story and of the main character specificaly.

Beasts of No Nation (Edit) by Fela Kuti

Part 3 of this novel takes place in the United Kingdom and deals with the attempt by Obinze (probably my favorite/most likeable character in this novel) to establish himself outside of Nigeria. Beside the fact of it being a fascinating look at how Black British communities relate (I'll speak more on that at the end of the review), it was amazing at how much the foreshadowing of Brexit was on the page. You were in fear for Obinze with the turn of every page and I had to keep checking that the book was published in 2014. It was a short, but very powerful part of the book and it really gave me some insight on the whole European immigration situation that I was not privy to.

Roucky (feat. Taj Mahal) (Remastered) by Ali Farka Touré

Ifemelu. Ifemelu is a character you don't forget easily. It is hard to compare her to contemporary characters because I don't read enough, but going off classic literature I would say she is a combination of Childe Harold, Meursalt, and Reba & Hagar Dead with Adichie's on biography as foundation. She is not a likeable character--in fact, she intentionally goes out her way to not be likeable. She does what she wants, she changes mood on a time and is as unpredictable and self-destructive as any character in the whole of literature. Ifemelu is our heroine for this book, and she don't care if we don't like it. This is an interestingly flawed character that the author gives us to see the world of the novel through. Even when we are with Obinze, the book really wants to get back to Ifemelu. Her journey through the worlds of Nigeria and America saw her awareness grow, but it is still an open-question if her own stubbornness won't still derail her, but we at least know she has the tools to help herself if she chooses to use them.

Yori Yori by Brackets

I think the main message--the thesis of this novel, is the difficulty of communication. The two main characters don't communicate well. Different ethnic groups and nationalities don't communicate well. The roughness in understanding between different parts of the African Diaspora is portrayed very thoroughly. The fact that even people of different African nationalities like Ifemelu and the Senegalese hairdressers in New Jersey are essentially "lost in translation" with each other is something we meditate on over and over. Ifemelu is the one character to try and reach-out across this divide and we are not sure she even succeeded. Adichie seems to be telling us that we need this pan-Africanist unity, but she's not sure if it can be achieved. I, for what it's worth, hope that it is possible. We just have to not be afraid to hit some ceilings.

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