NOV - Americanah

November review for Eclectic Reader's Challenge 2016: Americanah by Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie, 2013. [Immigrant Experience fiction category] 

Americanah by Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie is one of those books in recent years that everyone tells you to read. It has been on my mental "to buy" list for ages. Picking it up this Thanksgiving, I was not disappointed. It's one of those books that every sentence I felt compelled to underline, asterisk, highlight. It is resonating, even though I am neither an immigrant nor am I black. It is certainly one of those "check your privilege" kind of books. I'm not sure how exactly to write about this powerful social commentary, but I am going to try my best.

First, the category for which I chose this novel: immigrant experience fiction. Adichie is adept at telling the tale of the immigrant, as she too has split her life between two countries. Ifemelu and Obinze are two Nigerian young people who fall in love but end up separated, immigrating to the U.S. and the U.K., respectively, and through these two, Adichie sheds light on two kinds of immigration, as well. The kind that goes well, plays by the rules, and ends in citizenship (Ifemelu); and then the kind that exists under the table, undocumented until it is caught, and ends in deportation (Obinze). This is primarily Ifemelu's story, however, and Obinze's chapters seem to add a slight corollary to her story, rather than make him an equal in perspective. Both characters examine what it means to leave home, but by the end of the book, they both try to understand what it means to return home, and who their experiences away have made them. 

I recognize that I read this book with a certain distance, as there are parts of the narrative I cannot understand, no matter how eloquent Adichie is. Americanah takes on race and race politics from the perspective of an outsider to America, examines blackness in terms of the community in which it is found. Ifemelu begins a blog when is studying in America, titled "Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black," and in it, she chronicles her attempt to move through this new space while black, something about herself she had never considered before. Ifemelu is a good voicebox for Adichie's incredibly nuanced observations, and a book like this is very important in a year like this one, where people are still being murdered and silenced and shamed simply because of their melanin level. A review I read mentions Adichie's point that there needs to be more novels (like this one) about how people feel and observe race today, out in the world, rather than feel-good retrospectives about slavery and civil rights and "how far we've come" instead of how fucking far we still have to go. These are conversations that need to be had, and although I feel wildly underprepared (again, I recognize my privilege in this underpreparation), I know that I need to contribute and hone my voice and my position and do the work, especially in the coming political shitstorm that will most likely be the next four years. 

Ultimately, Ifemelu has inspired me to write more again, to observe more, and also to speak out about what is happening, what I see. Her blog about her world reminded me how out of touch I am with my writing at the moment. For 2017, I would like to engage a bit more with my world, and I hope reading things like Americanah and attempting to parse out my thoughts will help me to survive and to help my community fight back. It's going to be very important in 2017 and beyond.