''Americanah'' is a 2013 novel by the Nigerian author

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ( ; born 15 September 1977) is a Nigerian writer whose works include novels, short stories and nonfiction. She was described in ''The Times Literary Supplement'' as "the most prominent" of a "procession of criticall ...

, for which Adichie won the 2013 U.S.

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English". ''Americanah'' tells the story of a young Nigerian woman, Ifemelu, who immigrates to the United States to attend university. The novel traces Ifemelu's life in both countries, threaded by her love story with high school classmate Obinze. It was Adichie's third novel, published on May 14, 2013 by

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers i ...

. A television miniseries, starring and produced by

Lupita Nyong'o Lupita Amondi Nyong'o (, ; ; born 1 March 1983) is a Kenyan-Mexican actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, and nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award. The daughter of Kenyan politi ...

, was in development for

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, but then was later dropped.

Summary

Americanah is about Ifemelu and Obinze who, as teenagers in a

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...

secondary school, fall in love.

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

at the time is under

military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the ...

, and people are seeking to leave the country. Ifemelu moves to the United States to study, where she struggles for the first time with racism and the many varieties of racial distinctions: for the first time, Ifemelu discovers what it means to be a "Black Person". Obinze had hoped to join her in the U.S. but he is denied a visa after

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...

. He goes to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, eventually becoming an undocumented immigrant after his visa expires. Years later, Obinze returns to Nigeria and becomes a wealthy man as a property developer in the newly democratic country. Ifemelu gains success in the United States, where she becomes known for her blog about race in America, entitled "Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black". When Ifemelu returns to Nigeria, the two consider reviving a relationship in light of their diverging experiences and identities during their many years apart.

Characters

* Ifemelu – The protagonist. She is born in Lagos, Nigeria, and studies in America. * Obinze – Raised in Nsukka, Nigeria. His mother, a professor, taught him how to cook and fostered his love of books. * Obinze's Mother – Obinz professor at Nsukka University and a widow. She struggles with outdated Nigerian attitudes towards women. * Ifemelu's Mother and Father – Ifemelu's mother is a devout evangelical Christian who fasts dangerously in order to drive the devil out of her family's life. Ifemelu's father is powerless to stop her. He unexpectedly loses his job at a federal agency and is unable to support his family. * Aunty Uju – Ifemelu's father’s cousin. She acts as Ifemelu's older sister. She starts a relationship with the General, and gives birth to a son, Dike. After the General dies, Uju moves to America, where she struggles to continue the medical training she began in Nigeria. * Dike – The son of Aunty Uju and the General. Born in the United States, he is named after Uju's father, and given her surname. After his birth, Dike and Uju return to Nigeria where his first birthday is spent; soon after, his father dies in a plane crash. Dike and Uju flee Nigeria to escape the poverty that would result from his father's relatives confiscate their resources. He lives first in New York, then Massachusetts. His suicide attempt devastates his family and underlines the difficulty immigrant families face when trying to integrate into American society. * The General – Aunty Uju's lover and father of Dike. * Curt – Ifemelu's first American boyfriend,

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

. * Blaine – Ifemelu's second American boyfriend, a

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

assistant professor at Yale who writes a blog about race and popular culture. Ifemelu moves to

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

to live with him. * Shan – Blaine's sister, a writer who is often critical of others. * Kosi – Obinze's wife and the mother of his child. * Buchi – Obinze and Kosi's daughter. * Ginika – Ifemelu's friend, whom she knew when she met Obinze.

Themes

Americanization

Americanization is one of the biggest themes in ''Americanah''. In the context of the novel, America itself is a symbol of hope, wealth, social and economic mobility, and, ultimately, disappointment, as Ifemelu learns that the American Dream is a lie and that the advantages she enjoys there often come at a great price. Her Americanization is slow but distinct, and she gradually picks up the slang, adapts to her surroundings (for better or worse), and adopts American politics. Her views on gender and race change because of this, and her blog is devoted to exploring the issue of race as a non-American black in America. She's called ''Americanah'' when she returns to Nigeria, having picked up a blunt, American way of speaking and of addressing problems. She resists this label, but it's obvious to the reader that Ifemelu's years in America have changed her. According to Idowu Faith, “no valid statement can be made on ''Americanah'' without deconstructing the term “Americanah” which, more or less, reveals the thesis of the narrative as well as the preoccupation of Adichie in the text.” In Nigerian parlance, the term “Americanah” is an identity term that is premised on a person’s previous experience of living in America. In an interview, Adichie defines Americanah as describing those who have been to the US and return with American affectations, pretend not to understand their mother tongues any longer, and refuse to eat Nigerian food, making constant reference to their life in America. From this understanding, it is clear that Ifemelu’s decision to return home without worrying about being identified as an “Americanah”, establishes the fact that Adichie is proposing and charting a path for a new kind of migration story whose quintessence is return migration.

Gender

Adichie's explorations of sexual education and the perception of sex among youngsters in Nigeria plays a fundamental role in the journey of Ifemelu exploring her sexuality as an adolescent in a puritan post-colonial society.

Migration

While many of the migratory experiences in the novel work within migration theory, Adichie simultaneously transcends the borders of international migration theories by introducing a new factor that both influences migration and projects a new perspective on return migration. According to Dustmann and Weiss (2007:237), lack of economic opportunity and escape from natural disaster/persecution are two main reasons individuals migrate throughout history. While identifying the need to flee “choicelessness” as the main reason for much of the migration in the twenty-first century Nigerian setting of the novel, Adichie uses literary dimensions to shake up the foundations of theory. Consequently, the direction of this type of migration, how it affects the bonds of love, how it changes personalities and cultural views, and how it reinterprets identity become the novelist’s major theoretical engagements. In addition, Adichie is concerned with how migration debases and elevates, how it barters and fulfills and, most significantly, how it reinvents.

Reception

Reviews

Critics praised the novel, especially noting its range across different societies and reflection of global tensions. Writing for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Mike Peed said, "'Americanah' examines blackness in America, Nigeria and Britain, but it's also a steady-handed dissection of the universal human experience—a platitude made fresh by the accuracy of Adichie's observations." Peed concluded, "'Americanah' is witheringly trenchant and hugely empathetic, both worldly and geographically precise, a novel that holds the discomfiting realities of our times fearlessly before us. It never feels false." Reviewing the novel for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'',

Emily Raboteau Emily Raboteau is an American fiction writer, essayist, and Professor of Creative Writing at the City College of New York. Early life Raboteau grew up in New Jersey, the daughter of Princeton professor Albert Raboteau. She received an undergradu ...

called Adichie "a hawkeyed observer of manners and distinctions in class," and said Adichie brings a "ruthless honesty about the ugly and beautiful sides of both" the United States and Nigeria. In the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', Laura Pearson wrote, "Sprawling, ambitious and gorgeously written, 'Americanah' covers race,

identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), an ...

, relationships, community, politics, privilege, language, hair,

ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism in social science and anthropology—as well as in colloquial English discourse—means to apply one's own culture or ethnicity as a frame of reference to judge other cultures, practices, behaviors, beliefs, and people, instead o ...

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

, intimacy, estrangement,

blogging A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

, books and

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. It covers three continents, spans decades, leaps gracefully, from chapter to chapter, to different cities and other lives... dichieweaves them assuredly into a thoughtfully structured epic. The result is a timeless love story steeped in our times."

Tshilidzi Marwala Tshilidzi Marwala (born 28 July 1971) is a South African artificial intelligence engineer, a computer scientist, a mechanical engineer and a university administrator. Early life and education Marwala was born at Duthuni Village in the Lim ...

links the Americanah to the rise of nationalism. In this regard, he thinks the story of Americanah evokes the image that the 21st century will be defined by the dialectical tension between the globalization, which is brought by technology, and the "othering" which is brought by the alienating characteristic of globalization. Accordingly, Marwala on reviewing Americanah states that "it seems that in the 21st century, the strangeness of othering, of enhancing difference rather than embracing our commonalities and the wedging of deep fissures in society continues unabated."

Awards

The book was selected as one of the 10 Best Books of 2013 by the editors of the ''

New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

''. It won the 2013

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English". and was shortlisted for the 2014 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction of the United Kingdom. The ''

'' awarded Adichie its 2013 Heartland Award for Fiction, "recogniz ng ''Americanah'' asa novel that engages with important ideas about race, and does so with style, wit and insight." In March 2017, ''Americanah'' was picked as the winner for the "One Book, One New York" program, part of a community reading initiative encouraging all city residents to read the same book.

Sales

''Americanah'' spent 78 weeks on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

's Paperback Best-Seller list. Days after ''The New York Times'' named ''Americanah'' to its best books of 2013 list,

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

also signaled her admiration of Adichie, sampling Adichie's

TED Talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

"We should all be feminists" on the song " ***Flawless"; sales of ''Americanah'' soared and as of December 23, 2013, the book climbed to the number 179 spot on Amazon.com's list of its 10,000 best-selling books.

Adaptations

In 2014, it was announced that

David Oyelowo David Oyetokunbo Oyelowo ( ; born 1 April 1976) is a British actor, director and producer. His accolades include a Critics' Choice Award and two NAACP Image Awards as well as nominations for two Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, ...

and

would star in a film adaptation of the novel, to be produced by

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Awar ...

and his production company

Plan B Plan B typically refers to a contingency plan, a plan devised for an outcome other than in the expected plan. Plan B may also refer to: * Plan B, a brand name of levonorgestrel, an emergency contraception drug Film and television * Plan B Ent ...

. In 2018, Nyong'o told ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' that she was developing a television miniseries based on the book, which she would produce and star in. It was announced on September 13, 2019, that

would air the miniseries in ten episodes, with actor and playwright Danai Gurira as writer and

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...

. On October 15, 2020, it was reported that the miniseries would not move forward due to scheduling conflicts.

Scholarly works related to ''Americanah''

*Ojo, Akinleye Ayinuola. Discursive Construction of Sexuality and Sexual Orientations in Chimamanda Adichie's ''Americanah''. ''Ibadan Journal of English Studies'' 7 (2018): 543-560-224.

References

External links

{{Portal, Books
''Americanah'' at Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's site
2013 Nigerian novels Igbo-American history Nigerian English-language novels Alfred A. Knopf books Novels by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Novels set in the United States Novels set in Lagos Novels set in Baltimore Novels set in London Fiction about emigration Nigerian-American novels Bureaucracy in fiction Novels about racism National Book Critics Circle Award-winning works