I love lists, but I've never been too enthused about those ubiquitous "Summer Reading Lists" that pop up every year. (What is the point of those? To whom are they pertinent? Are there really people who loll around on beaches/yachts/international flights/vineyard terraces and read curated stacks of books from June straight through to Labor Day? Am I just hanging out with the wrong echelon of folks? So many questions! Damn you, "Summer Reading Lists," for filling me with such uncertainty!)
If, like me, you read what you can during whatever scrap of time you can scrounge, let this be the book: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
I just finished it and my mind is abuzz. The book follows Ifemelu, a young Nigerian woman who travels to America in search of education and something more elusive — not anything as trite as the "American dream," because she's too complex for that. I'd call it a "coming-of-age story," but angsty young white writers have long-since claimed that category. But then, there I go, sounding like Ifemelu, for whom the subjects of race, culture and identity become all-consuming.
When I was half-way through, I read a blurb that described it as a love story and I wish I hadn't. That seemed like a lazy label and I didn't want to box the story in like that. To tell the truth, romance is not what I initially focused on at all. I was more wrapped up in Adichie's enviable powers of description — the way she captures the nuances of everything from a run-down braiding salon to an overwhelmingly bougie dinner party. So sharp, so relatable (especially in contrast to the last hazy, crazy book I read). I lapped up Adichie's words and read some passages several times in a row, feeling not a little bit envious. I kept thinking, 'I want to write like her. I want her to write like this about me. I don't want this to end. I definitely don't want this to be made into a movie.'
Though I'd ultimately give the book a B+ (For reasons I won't clarify, for fear of ruining it for future readers...which should include you), it was the kind of book that had me dog-earing pages, talking out loud to the author and wishing I was part of a book club.
Have you read it? What did you think? Sound off in the comments section…
