Reviewed by Şirin Tugbay

I first came across Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie through her TED talk on the “single story”, in which she talks about the cultural misunderstanding that arises if we hear only a single story about another person of country. Her talk was intelligent, but also funny in that clever way that not everyone can muster. I savoured the TED talk but did not explore her any further. Months later, I spotted Americanah on a list of most anticipated books of 2013 and read the short synopsis – yet I failed to make the connection with Adichie. But I liked the idea: here is a book about Nigerian youth going abroad for a better education and a better life, and returning to Nigeria for whatever their reason may be. I didn’t know that much about Nigeria, so the single story communicated to me by the media would be challenged. I liked that. I also liked the fact that as an expat in the Netherlands, I might understand some of the struggles the characters might have as expats. Thus I got my hands on Americanah, and started my journey.

Americanah is the story of Ifemelu and Obinze, two Nigerian high school sweethearts. In Nigeria, with its corrupt politics peeking from around every corner of life, where going abroad to England and America is the biggest dream students have, Ifemelu and Obinze have dreams of their own. Obinze, the son of a university professor, is obsessed with American literature, devours books and dreams of moving to America. Ifemelu, well-read, strong minded and honest to a fault, connects with Obinze from the moment they set eyes on each other. Yet life takes them to different places: Ifemelu to America (with Obinze’s plan to join her later) and Obinze eventually to England. Both discover quickly that these dream destinations for a better life are far from perfect, and experience hardship on a completely different scale than in Nigeria.

It would be too simplistic to call Americanah a book about Obinze and Ifemelu. Through Obinze and Ifemelu, their parents and their friends, Adichie takes us through Nigeria with its chaotic beauty and its own way of life, through race and racism, through immigration and identity. Not only does Americanah challenge the reader’s single story of Nigeria, but it does so to the single stories of America and England. I was pleasantly surprised, nodded furiously at times, and read about experiences that I will probably never fully grasp, and I highly recommend it to all.

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