One thing
has to be clear from the very beginning: Yes, this book is about race. And
about racism. No ifs, no buts. And yet without dividing the world into good and
evil based on race and without a wagging finger. It’s evaluating the situation
and it’s honest.
“Americanah”
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (a name you’ll have to learn merely because you’ll be
delighted by her work) is about two young Nigerian lovers. Ifemelu and Obinze
meet in school and quickly become a couple. They are intelligent, determined
and plan to leave Africa already while still at university. Ifemelu seems to be
successful with that plan, but she has to learn that in the USA, her skin
colour suddenly becomes a huge factor and that it’s not easy to establish
herself, let alone earn money when you’re a black foreigner. After one
especially bad incident the contact to her boyfriend Obinze breaks off
completely. Later, she starts writing a blog about her observations about the
topic race in America.
However,
Obinze doesn’t get visa for the USA because he is a young man of colour and
those are viewed with even more suspicion by the American authorities. Instead
he manages to overrun a visa in London for a few years without being
discovered. Shortly before he can get married for convenience he gets caught
and deported.
Years
later, Ifemelu decides to go back to Nigeria and she and Obinze meet again.
With
“Americanah”, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie managed to write a classic right from
the start. The young Nigerian writer tells her story in a style very comparable
to literature Nobel prize winners. Her sober portrayal of an existence as a
black person opens the readers’ eyes quickly for things you usually don’t
realize as a person not affected by racism – and those are not even necessarily
negative things.
I truly
think everyone should read Adichie, literally anything she has written – but take
care, she can get you addicted pretty quickly.
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