Book Salon
Americanah

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells a tender story of race and identity that unfolds across three different continents. Ifemelu, an intelligent, strong-willed Nigerian woman who, after leaving Africa for America, endures several distressing years of near poverty before graduating from college, starting a blog entitled: “Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black” and winning a fellowship at Princeton. Ever hovering in Ifemelu’s thoughts is her high school boyfriend Obinze, an equally bright and unassuming Nigerian, who had hoped to join her but post 9/11 America would not let him in. Instead, he delves into an undocumented life in London where he overstays his visa, working illegal jobs.

Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and rekindle their passion—for each other and for their homeland. Follow Ifemelu as she suffers setbacks and triumphs, discovers and loses relationships and friendships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie embarks on her most ambitious work yet, telling a nuanced story of modern attitudes towards race and touching on issues of identity, loss and loneliness.