Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction 2014.
Shortlisted for the 2014 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.
On the surface this is a love story, a coming-of-age novel and a tale of friendship. But Adichie did not allow her work to be just that. Most of the book, related in seven parts, is from the girl Ifemelu’s point of view but we do get significant bits from the boy Obinze’s side too. So across three countries, Nigeria, the USA and the UK, we get a strong portrait of racism, gender stereotyping, corruption and exploitation. Well written with a fascinating insight into part of the new, vibrant Nigeria, we are given a picture which will both fascinate and annoy readers. As students the two flee Nigertia. Ifemelu to a tough time in America until she eventually finds fame as a writer and Obinze to London and the change of British citizenship curtailed by deportation. Back in Nigeria he becomes wealthy. At the end of this fine book the two have their lives to sort out.
March 2014 Book of the Month.
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| Primary Genre | Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
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WINNER 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award for FictionFINALIST 2014 Baileys Women's Prize for FictionFINALIST 2014 Andrew Carnegie Medal for FictionLONGLISTED 2015 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award A searing new novel, at once sweeping and intimate, by the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun: a story of love and race centered around a man and woman from Nigeria who seemed destined to be together--until the choices they are forced to make tear them apart. Ifemelu--beautiful, self-assured--left Nigeria 15 years ago, and now studies in Princeton as a Graduate Fellow. She seems to have fulfilled every immigrant's dream: Ivy League education; success as a writer of a wildly popular political blog; money for the things she needs. But what came before is more like a nightmare: wrenching departure from family; humiliating jobs under a false name. She feels for the first time the weight of something she didn't think about back home: race.Obinze--handsome and kind-hearted--was Ifemelu's teenage love; he'd hoped to join her in America, but post 9/11 America wouldn't let him in. Obinze's journey leads him to back alleys of illegal employment in London; to a fake marriage for the sake of a work card, and finally, to a set of handcuffs as he is exposed and deported. Years later, when they reunite in Nigeria, neither is the same person who left home. Obinze is the kind of successful "e;Big Man"e; he'd scorned in his youth, and Ifemelu has become an "e;Americanah"e;--a different version of her former self, one with a new accent and attitude. As they revisit their shared passion--for their homeland and for each other--they must face the largest challenges of their lives. Spanningthree continents, entering the lives of a richly drawn cast of characters across numerous divides, Americanah is a riveting story of love and expectation set in today's globalized world.From the Hardcover edition.
Americanah features in the following genres: Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Family Drama, eBooks of the Month, Books of the Month, Sharing Diverse Voices, General Fiction, Fiction, Recommendations
Americanah is available in Paperback, Ebook, Hardback
Americanah was written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and published by Knopf Canada
£25.20
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