Americanah

By: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh

Shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2014.

From the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun, a powerful story of love, race and identity.

As teenagers in Lagos, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Their Nigeria is under military dictatorship, and people are fleeing the country if they can. The self-assured Ifemelu departs for America. There she suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Obinze had hoped to join her, but post-9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Thirteen years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria, while Ifemelu has achieved success as a blogger. But after so long apart and so many changes, will they find the courage to meet again, face to face?

Fearless, gripping, spanning three continents and numerous lives, the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Americanah is a richly told story of love and expectation set in today’s globalised world.

©2013 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (P)2013 W F Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

“Actress Adjoa Andoh brings to life Adichie’s complex, beautifully wrought novel – which is both a love story and a nuanced analysis of political topics including systemic racism in America; immigration in the UK; and the class system in Nigeria.” (Vogue)

"One of the previous decade’s landmark novels [...] Andoh is a skilled, exciting narrator." (The Times)

"Andoh's rich voice and distinct characters and rhythm keep the listener engrossed.... Andoh has fun adopting a mocking lilt for Ifemelu's snarky blog entries.... [and] a more serious tone brings authenticity to the heartbreak of Obinze's London experience." ( AudioFile)

Great Listen

What made the experience of listening to Americanah the most enjoyable?

Andichie's characters are well developed and believable. I found myself alternately identifying with Ifemelu and marveling at her bold sense of self that, while strong from the outset, develops further throughout the novel. I, too, fell in love with the Obinze's gentle, intelligent, upstanding character. Even minor characters are believable. Andichie is a master of using subtle description to give the reader a clear picture of the people in her story.

More importantly, I gained insights into the experiences of both Non-American and American Blacks that I would never have known. Through her characters Andichie made me experience the senseless pain of prejudice without being didactic. I learned things about America that I could never fully know as a white person, and I saw a version of Nigeria that is very different than what I had expected - my only knowledge of that country comes from the American media which portrays it as a dangerous, immoral, unstable place. I also enjoyed looking at American culture through the eyes of a non-American. I thought Andichie's "criticisms" of both American and African culture were well observed, valid in the case of the US, and occasionally funny.

I loved Andoh's voice when she spoke with a Nigerian accent. However, her imitations of Americans grated on me. I am irritated by verbal crutches such as the word "like", or the way many young people make statements into questions, which comes through in the writing, but Andoh voiced the American characters with a nasal twang that annoyed me. Additionally, there were some American place names, Maryland for example, that were mispronounced, and I found this disruptive to the narrative.

Before I end I want to add that I thought Adichie's use of language was beautiful. There were times during my listen where I was staggered by her lovely, yet subtle, use of metaphor. Her writing is gorgeous: clear and unselfconscious.

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favorite character was Obinze because I liked him so much. I would love to have him for a friend.

Which character – as performed by Adjoa Andoh – was your favorite?

Ifemelu. I love the way Nigerians say, Uh uh, with the first uh on a higher note than the second.

Beautifully written

Chimamanda never disappoints. This is a great piece,beautifully structured and relevant to the theme. Lovely!

Adichie is great!

This book is really good. There are times the book felt like several blog posts or essays on African migrant experiences. This was overshadowed, however, by the rich interactions between the characters. The narrator did an excellent job with the accents and it made me smile to hear the familiar rhythms of different African accents. Anyone who has ever migrated to another country can really relate to the experiences of the main characters. Excellent story!

Nigeria, America and all life in between

This is a beautiful, insightful and true book. It's a love story overall, but about all kinds of love. It's about self discovery and acceptance too. It's also very insightful about the issue of race in America, which the author talks about with a frank clarity I really appreciated. I loved this book.

The narrator adds a tremendous depth with her great understand of idiom and the powerful clarity of the African voices particularly. She is less confident with American accents, but all the other characters are conjured brilliantly.

Cultural insights

I found this a very interesting book, no subject left untouched. A frankness around racial dialogue that was refreshing. The American accents, however, nearly caused me to stop listening. The book however is worth overlooking that small issue. Narrator, keep practicing. Lovely spoken voice and accents as Brit or African.

loved it!

kept me engaged from the beginning to the last word. I was sad it ended.

Loved it.

A truly fantastic book. A must to read. Don't miss it. I can't wait to read another book by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Great narration. Thank you.

In Love

loved loved loved...Narrator brought out all I would have missed if I had read it.

Thee Best Ever

I couldn't stop listening, an exceptional novel by far, my new favorite- the narrator was amazing!!

Highly Descriptive and Interesting but Lengthy

Since reading Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun, this writer has become one of my favourites so I felt obligated to read Americannah. The author did not disappoint on her ability to make characters and places come alive with her creative and clear descriptions; however, I expected a more exciting end to this story. The end was predictable, there was no element of surprise for me. I truly felt let down on finishing this book especially as it was circa 17 hours long.

Being from the Caribbean, I was able to appreciate and relate very much to the author's rich insights on the treatment of race in the USA and Europe as well as life in Africa (Nigeria) and I was most touched by her reference to the Caribbean (beach wedding) as well as one of my island's nobel laureates (Sir Derek Walcott).

Like some reviewers indicated, too much time was spent on developing too many minor characters which probably contributed to the book becoming unnecessarily lengthier.

Unlike what I have come to expect from this writer, Americannah did not leave me wondering what happened next or wanting more - unlike her other 2 books mentioned above where I felt compelled to reread the last page over and over for hidden clues, nor did it play on my emotions.

One question though, did she ever close the story of Iesha, the 'bad skin' hairdresser whose boyfriend Ifemelu had promised to visit? Was that an oversight on the writer's part or was it deliberate given the distraction of the 'suicide'?

All in all, a thought-provoking, emotion-testing, real, honest and brave account of life outside of one's race and comfort zone.