This was a wickedly good novel.
Sometimes you stumble upon a book, not so commonly known, and it hits all the right points, flexes the right muscles and overall gives you a sense of enriching yourself during and after you read it.
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was a present I got for one of my birthdays, I don't remember which, from my husband. I have no idea how he selects novels for me, since he is no great reader himself (unless it's non-fictional and has something to do with science) and I'm sure that when I ask him he couldn't answer this question himself.
Maybe he went for the colourful cover or the praise inside, but I'll never know.
I liked this though, getting books as presents. It's like opening a fortune cookie. You don't know what's inside. It might be what you were waiting for, or something bland and tasteless that will quickly find its way out of my house. I do have a wishlist, the books I know I will like, but getting one that's not on there and certainly one that hasn't earned its worldwide acclaim yet, is always a fun surprise, albeit tinged with a slight apprehension. Because, let's face it, books you get offered, where someone else did the actual paying, comes with a responsibility of reading it through even when it's not a very good book.
So that's why I don't remember which birthday I was celebrating, even though he has learned from past mistakes to present me with detective novels, even the Scandinavian ones that are so filled despair that the actual story is almost forgettable.
But my oh my.. this has been a feast to read. It's almost 500 pages long and my edition didn't have a very large print, so I could imagine myself taking ages to finish it if it wasn't so damned good.
The story itself centers itself around Ifemelu and Obinze (the fact that I can remember their names after I finished, is a good thing!).
They are high school sweethearts, back in Nigeria, and it looks promising that they might end up married. Of course, since the story begins with Ifemelu being in America and Obinze is not by her side, we know that certain obstacles are in their way.
When I read the back, I thought it was some kind a stylish romantic story about love across borders, but actually Americanah is a lively debate about race in the United States and Europe. It gives most attention to the United States and how people of different race are perceived their, the gradation of this never to be mentioned subject that Adichie is adequately describing through events in Ifemelu's life or through the blog Ifemelu is writing. The novel grants Ifemelu enough high's and low's to be seasoned enough for those opinions not to fall through, without resorting to cliches. She's actually living a life that for some might even resemble their own.
Obinze, on the other hand, who has a small voice in this novel, suffers the same as Ifemelu, but their different take, mostly due to their respective characters, seem to depict him like something floated on the ocean. He'll regret and resent certain events in his life, but it seems as if he just goes where life takes him, never once trying to get against the grain, as Ifemelu is doing more than once.
Their high school romance might have flourished from these different takes to life, one floating along, the other goading them, but as they eventually meet up again, it's clear that not everything can stay the way it was.
I liked the multilayered approach of this novel, I can only applaud its clever use of simple situations to give this novel its foundation. For instance the novel is largely Ifemelu, who is looking back on a life, while being in a hair salon getting her hair braided. We get to know her while sitting in that chair, even get to know the reason she doesn't use relaxers (No idea what that is, really, even though I can imagine) and while the story takes her to Nigeria, America and even stops shortly in the United Kingdom, as with decent stories we sometimes glimpse back to the present where even her stay in that salon has something precious about it. It's a slice of life in America, where she must travel to a community with more black before finding a salon that even does what she wants.
Not that I want to end my review on a sour note, I do have to say that the last 50 pages of the story were of a lesser quality. It was necessary, don't get me wrong, as the whole novel has been spiced with that romance between her and Obinze, i'd dwelled too long on their rekindled union.
The back cover, stating that they face the hardest decision of their live, was over dramatized and probably on there to lure those who are into hard core romantic stories (such as Nicholas Sparks), since I believe that they've faced more difficult decisions than that. Deciding to cheat or leave your wife is easily done, living with the consequences is the hard act.
Honestly, it's not a story about for those seeking a fluffy romcom, but for those who seek to get to know another's point of view, even when it's not relatable or even a shared opinion. I loved to live in Ifemelu's skin for a time being and I'd recommend this to anyone who is looking for more in a novel than a mere story.
