Book of the Week

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Recommended by Ryan Ko

For those of you who know me, you will know that I love Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Having read all her novels, it's hard for me to pick out a favourite – but for today, I will focus on Americanah.

Americanah is a love story between two childhood sweethearts, Ifemulu and Obinze. Both from Nigeria, Ifemulu moves to Philadelphia whilst Obinze moves to the UK. The two are distant in geography, but are linked through the way in which they both are disconnected from the land they live in. This is particularly impressive on Adichie's part because both the UK and the USA have different histories and different social structures; so whilst she is able to intimately connect them through their isolation, she doesn't box both protagonists in a shared consciousness and is able to shed light on the individual position of race in both countries. 

Adichie expertly presents the idea of race and meaning. In Nigeria, Ifemulu and Obinze don't really experience being black – because Nigeria, although with a strong political focus on ethnicity, has much less focus on race. Whereas once they move overseas to countries where the present struggles to reconcile itself with its painful past, they suddenly are imposed with a whole load of meaning, quite heavily politicised, attached to their race. 

Ifemulu's posts from her blog are also scattered throughout the book, dissecting the world that is presented through another narrative form. For me, the blog posts were what made me really love the book: chatty and precise, breezy yet furious. 

Another theme that is peppered throughout – one which I haven't come across that often in novels (which is a fault on my part, for it's clearly indicative that I should be continuing to further diversify my reading) – is that of the politics of black hair. Most often mentioned in Ifemulu's blog, Adichie stresses that black hair isn't just hair. There is no better person to explain her ideas than Adichie herself, so watch this clip of her discussing black hair, all with her signature wit and precision.

On top of all of these ideas, the novel is at its core a love story. I, of course, won't spoil what happens between Obinze and Ifemulu (you shall have to find out yourself!). But for those of you who love the social critique of Baldwin to the writing style of Zadie Smith, this is a must-read!