Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

 Americanah has to be one of the best books I have read in years. This should never be mistaken as an everyday love story. If fact its not a love story at all, but a story about life, love, race and everything in between. Its a story filled with complex characters, vivid locations, and the struggles of life both in Niagara and for those who moved to America. The world of Africa that was represented is tangible, normal, and enticing. Its nothing like the “single story”, as Chimamanda would say, of African at most Americans have.

Chimamanda Adichie is a one in a billion author. She finds a way to make everything seem like a new experience.  As someone that lives in Philadelphia my whole life I can still find many similarities between myself and Ifemelu. Race is something we are both very well aware of. I have accounted to many Christian Thomis in my life. A white woman, or person, that has thought less of use because of our skin.

Ifemelu is not just a strong character but one that pulls you in with the unravelling of her soul. The intimate details of her life both present and past. The fluid movement between what's really happening to her and her memories. This is show between one of my favorite moments of the book was the way she describes her train ride in New York after her thirteen years in America and her telling the story of her nickname for Obinze.  

The story is told from three different perspectives  Ifemelu’s present, Ifemelu’s past, and Obinze present.  I could go on and on about how amazing the details are. How when she describes the heat wave in New York and how it made the salon feel. Or the putrid smell of uran of the old mans, whom she was going to work for, house. However I don't want to give away the much of the story line this is one book you will want to read for yourself.  You will be longing after these characters lives long after the end of the book. I can't wait to read another novel by Chimamanda Adichie. I know that I wont be disappointed.