THE REVIEW: AMERICANAH
Some weeks ago, i stumbled upon this book with my coz and decided that i must definitely read it while on an 11-day break from my pretty stressful exams. I actually had had an encounter with the book like a year ago with one of my English teachers, asked if I could borrow sit, though it was declined. I got another book by the same author which turned out interesting. This book “Americanah” revolves around the lives of two people; Ifemelu who was from a home with an extremely religious mother and a father who spoke fluently so as to hide his insecurities (as implied by the writer) even though he wished he had a post graduate education. And Obinze whose Father died when he was just 7 years of age and a mother who worked in a university in Nsukka, Nigeria. The book keeps a good touch with both the past and present of the main characters.
The book begins with the present where Ifemelu is in Princeton, America, owns a blog and plans on going back to Nigeria after her fellowship in Princeton. Ifemelu decides to get her hair done before coming back to Nigeria when she met Aisha a seemingly reticent Senegalese woman whose English was quite disjointed. Whilst braiding Ifemelu's hair she spoke about dating and wanting to marry two Igbo men who lived in America so that she could get a stay permit because she was an immigrant .
Meanwhile in Nigeria, Obinze ( who was ifemelu's university boyfriend) had gotten married to a beautiful Igbo woman - Kosi- and had daughter named Buchi who was yet to begin school. He also ran a real estate company which was doing awesomely well.
The book also talks about Ifemelu's experiences while in America including her relationship with the members of the African Students Association on campus in wellson Philadelphia such as Wambui, Kofi , Mwombeki and the others. Her relationship with Kimberley- in whose house she worked as a nanny-, and her cousin Curtis who seemed to have the world at his fingertips. It also talks about the life of Ifemelu’s confidant and her dad’s cousin- Aunty Uju- and her son Dike (Ifemelu’s second cousin), her relationship with Blaine ,her black American boyfriend who was also a lecturer at Yale his friends and sister, Shan.
It also talks about Obinze’s not so nice experience in England where he had to work with another person’s social security card while giving him a percentage of his wages before getting his papers, his deportation, his relationship with his cousin-Nicholas - and his family ,Nigel a co-worker who he later called to work for him as advised by one of his cousin, the story before he became well-known in the real estate industry and the death of his mother.
The above is just a general overview of the story even though it doesn’t cover everything that happened in the book. Now down to the things I liked and didn’t like about the book. For starters, I personally prefer a book whose words are written in the simplest possible form, not because I am lazy but just so that people can get hooked and don’t necessarily need to pause to get a dictionary. On the other hand it was nice getting to know the meaning of some words like; demeanour, nubile, recalcitrant. I also like the transition from present to past and vice versa and the awesome description of the characters that makes you imagine which actor would be suitable for some roles if it were to be adapted into a movie(like half of a yellow sun) . I also like the fact that the book portrayed Ifemelu’s fresh start when she arrived Nigeria by her going to live with Ranyinudo -her secondary school friend- and I’d have preferred if the ending came to a definite end instead of leaving the rest for us the readers to complete as we wish. Another aspect that also thrilled me was the way the writer broke down the hierarchy of race as considered in America and the highlighted posts on raceteenth by Ifemelu. All-in-all, I loved reading the book AMERICANAH. I’d strongly advise that you all get to read this book.
This is basically my idea of a review and I am open to corrections and suggestions. Thanks for reading.
It also talks about Obinze’s not so nice experience in England where he had to work with another person’s social security card while giving him a percentage of his wages before getting his papers, his deportation, his relationship with his cousin-Nicholas - and his family ,Nigel a co-worker who he later called to work for him as advised by one of his cousin, the story before he became well-known in the real estate industry and the death of his mother.
The above is just a general overview of the story even though it doesn’t cover everything that happened in the book. Now down to the things I liked and didn’t like about the book. For starters, I personally prefer a book whose words are written in the simplest possible form, not because I am lazy but just so that people can get hooked and don’t necessarily need to pause to get a dictionary. On the other hand it was nice getting to know the meaning of some words like; demeanour, nubile, recalcitrant. I also like the transition from present to past and vice versa and the awesome description of the characters that makes you imagine which actor would be suitable for some roles if it were to be adapted into a movie(like half of a yellow sun) . I also like the fact that the book portrayed Ifemelu’s fresh start when she arrived Nigeria by her going to live with Ranyinudo -her secondary school friend- and I’d have preferred if the ending came to a definite end instead of leaving the rest for us the readers to complete as we wish. Another aspect that also thrilled me was the way the writer broke down the hierarchy of race as considered in America and the highlighted posts on raceteenth by Ifemelu. All-in-all, I loved reading the book AMERICANAH. I’d strongly advise that you all get to read this book.
This is basically my idea of a review and I am open to corrections and suggestions. Thanks for reading.
Comments
Post a Comment