The Issue With Race

I have been sitting on this post for a while. Two weeks to be exact. And not because I haven't had the time. But because I had no idea how to begin reviewing this next book. To me, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a 'wordsmith' if ever there is such a word. She does not seek to impress you but however manages to awe you instead. Her candid writing style is a breath of fresh air. I have read just one other of her books and even then, I couldn't help but wonder who she was. This woman with her ingenuity really caught me.So you can see dear readers why this has taken a while. Nevertheless, here goes my attempt at capturing in very few words the essence of her novel, 'Americanah'.

'Americanah' is a novel based on the theme of race but with so many other aspects to it...love,
struggles, kinsmanship. I love the sheer honesty of her views on the topic. Having experienced first-hand what it meant to be an African in America, she said not what we wanted to hear but what everyone else is afraid to say. The center of her book speaks of a love-tragedy between a young Nigerian couple; Ifemelu and Obinze. Ifemelu decides to pursue her undergraduate degree in the US and leaves Obinze behind oblivious that he too goes to pursue his in England. I say oblivious because somewhere in between, due to an unfortunate experience, she ends her relationship with Obinze. Now this is the part where my relationship antennae kicks in. Am a hopeless romantic. Yap. I completely hate the part where a love so deep and strong is torn apart. Am always curious to know whether a happily-ever-after eventually happens in the end. With Chimamanda on this wheel, I wasn't too sure. But she kept me glued. I was fascinated as to how quickly Ifemelu became 'Americanised' and it got me thinking if that's how it has to be for migrants...adapt or adopt. Having recovered from a first love gone wrong, she dated first a white then a black American man. These men form the backbone of Ifemelu's story. A story of triumph in a world she grew to know as home. I was utterly impressed to read that she began to write a blog speaking on race in America. And even more impressed when she decided to go back to her real home, Nigeria. This is where the book begins with Ifemelu at a hair dressers musing over her decision to leave a land she had known for 13 years to go back to her home, a place she was not sure was home enough. Interestingly, hair is a relevant part of the race story.

The characters in this book are as real as they can get and this I guess helps to tell this story in a way that doesn't point fingers. I especially liked how Adichie chose to use the cast in her story to explain the issue on race. In this way, we can easily identify. We see for example, Ifemelu's aunt, Aunty Uju who hosts Ifemelu once she arrives in the US. Hers is a depiction of the struggles of a single mother raising a child in a 'harsh' environment with all its influences. Her cousin, Dike who in this book is depicted as your regular African-American child later on attempts suicide. An incident that would probably have been avoided if the race issue wasn't such an issue in America. This opened up to me the reality of race and being different. It doesn't become an issue until one sets out of their own country to a foreign land. And I guess that's why we can never really know the depths of it. And as Chimamanda says in the book, 'we all wish race was not an issue'. But it is, isn't it? Maybe it takes a bold person like Adichie to show it to us. So I think 'Americanah' isn't really about the perks of living as an African in America but generally about being aware that living in a society where race is most evident should make it okay to talk about rather than make it the 'elephant in the room'. I highly recommend you read 'Americanah' mostly because I merely attempted to explain a 477 page book in a few lines and because its probably the most interesting book I've read this year! :)