Americanah

Or American’t?

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I cannot deny this woman’s impact and expertise when it comes to storytelling and writing. The way she weaves her story and characters makes you feel like you can enter the book, feel the characters’ emotions and their grief. I remember smelling frangipani when I read Purple Hibiscus.

Americanah is an excellent read telling the story of a Nigerian Immigrant in America. Details were placed on the nature of African Americans and non-African Americans black people. The inclusion of the blog by Ifemelu explains deeply the constraints, feelings and thoughts of any black person in the United States of America.

For people who didn’t get the full grasp of the Obama/Clinton Presidential Election, Chimamanda seeks to close that divide. You get to feel people’s doubts as the election began, the hope and optimism that America gets its first black President.

Touching also on the natural hair community, Chimamanda, whose hair is also natural, makes people with natural hair feel comfortable and confident with their hair. She raises whole other issues- religious fanaticism, cherophobia (a feeling that good things have been happening for a long time and an impulse to sabotage it), racism, unemployment, suicide (or in this case, attempted suicide) and resignation.

I like the fact that Ifemelu didn’t lose her confidence and the way she always spoke her mind. Irrespective of who it was, she didn’t mind calling them out and saying whatever was on her mind.

MY RESERVATIONS…

Narrating their (Ifemelu and Obinze’s)story from Ifemelu’s time in the hairdressing salon seems a little dissatisfying. I understand her taking the story from Ifemelu’s mother’s hair but narrating her entire love story from there seems too complicated.

Also, Curt was done dirty. Man did nothing but love her. And he gave out complimentary orgasms too. He had money and he wanted to spend it on HER. Curt is perfect. I see it as people sabotaging things because they think they don’t deserve it or they think that bad things should happen because they’ve only had good things happen - cherophobia was a huge factor in Ifemelu’s actions and decisions.

WHY ON EARTH DID NOBODY CALL OUT SHAN??!!

I looked forward to the end of her relationship with Blaine. She was dating a man-child - a child that loves everyone but still seeks the approval of his sister to keep in her good graces. I get why he was mad that she didn’t show up to the protest but ignoring her for that long is a bit childish and dramatic for a grown man if you ask me.

Aunty Uju would have served( excuse my Gen Z wording but she would have ate and left no crumbs) as a femme fatale. What do you mean, “I like her because she’s not like other girls”? She is the mother of the other girls. A baddie with a blinding sheen for skin who should have held The General by his balls. That man should have been so smitten and obsessed with her that if she had asked for the Head of State’s head, he would have readily provided it on a platter, no questions asked. The Aunty Uju thing pissed me off. I understand her not being like other girls but the description given showed her as a beautiful woman who had men at her beck and call (or what I interpreted it to mean ). And you cannot tell me that those friends of hers who told her to relocate to America didn’t tell her to use The General’s money to get properties and acquire businesses before things went south. She was a “good” girl. That part reminds me of Cardi B where she said:

Aunty Uju was a broke and good side chick ( This might begin to feel like a GenZ review or stance on side chicks but this dates far back as Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood (1979). Ona held Agbadi by his balls. Ona is my definition of what a side chick should be ). The move to America made her already low self-esteem lower. She was settling for a man whom she fed peppered gizzards and still paid for his car. Girl, stand up!!!

It was very hard watching Aunty Uju's spark die. It hurts that she keeps settling for less every time she has the opportunity.

Similarly, I understand that people can’t easily get over their first love but Obinze should have exercised some control. This woman ignored you for years and you kept sending emails and messages but she didn’t reply. Still, one message from her had you disposing of everything. Have you no self-esteem? Sza would be so proud of you.

He was ready to throw out his marriage for her. Kosi kneeling and begging him to hold the marriage together reminds me of the patriarchal and hypocritical societal standards- where a marriage fails, the woman must have caused it. Why marry a woman you don’t see as your wife in the first place? He wanted a trophy wife and he got her. Why did he throw away her lavender pot and tell Ifemelu that his wife was not intelligent? That’s not just cheating; he belittled her to an old flame.

The ending seemed rushed though. A little bit on Kosi would have helped- like her asking for a huge sum of money or property or throwing his money in his face. For a beautiful woman, she wasn’t so smart. I’m not talking about knowing Obinze’s interests but at least, have your own life(girl be giving Teyana Taylor’s character in Coming to America 2). Ignoring the situation wasn’t so helpful : ma’am went as far as picking out matching outfits. Girl, milk him for all he’s worth. Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned is a saying for a reason.

Chimamanda made the whole story feel like it was centered on Ifemelu and Obinze’s love infatuation. Every other person could be damned.

Also, if Obinze had gone through with the divorce after giving Edusco the land for a cheap sum, I’d have understood that he was strained and stifled. The ending wasn’t what I had expected.

It had a good storyline, beginning but the ending was so predictable. A married man pining after his old flame??! So clichè

It was so obvious that the book was centered on Ifemelu. She should have suffered a bit, in my unsolicited opinion. She was selfish, manipulative and self-centered. She didn’t care about others unless she got what she wanted. My Maleficient side is happy she had self-identity issues; thinking she was fat. I understand her feeling low and feeling like she betrayed him after the masseuse job but cutting him off and expecting him not to have his own family while you have a man (men are more suitable) is obsessive and vicious even for Ifemelu.

I still think Chimamanda left some questions unanswered.

1. Ifemelu’s acts of pushing people who love her away make me feel like she’ll still push Obinze away.

2. ⁠What happened to Dike?

3. ⁠Did Aunty Uju marry Bartholomew?

4. How did Kosi let Obinze end their marriage?

5. ⁠Did Ifemelu just let Obinze back into her life having slept with multiple men?

6. ⁠The way she left Zoe seemed brash. Did she keep in contact with Doris and the other staff?

7. Nobody addressed the suicide attempt. What made Dike attempt suicide?

To sum up, all that has been stated so far ( ignore the dissertation phrase), the protagonist, Ifemelu was a selfish, opinionated, woman with a terrible narcissistic personality with self-identity issues. Obinze is a “spineless coward” who abandoned everything for a mere “Ceiling,kedu?” For an intelligent man, he’s not so sensible. He’s a bald pushover.

Americanah, in my books, is a solid 8/10.