Sam Strives For 55 - Week Seventeen

Here is week 17 of Sam's reading journey, the metrics and first week can be found here

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jashar Awan (Illustrator)

1. Intrigue 
   1. An absolutely amazing commentary on life in America as an immigrant, an immigrant from Nigeria, and being a black woman, Adichie wrote a prolific piece of fiction. Americanah is ultimately an exceptional love story for life. Following the consternation and exhilaration of Ifemelu, readers will dive deeply into the intricacies of living in the States while being from somewhere else - a journey a lot of us folks could use. 
2. Writing style
   1. Not much to say here. It’s brilliant. Adichie at a sentence level is pure joy. 
   2. Juicy quote: 
      1. “The only reason you say that race was not an issue is because you wish it was not. We all wish it was not. But it’s a lie. I came from a country where race was not an issue; I did not think of myself as black and I only became black when I came to America. When you are black in America and you fall in love with a white person, race doesn’t matter when you’re alone together because it’s just you and your love. But the minute you step outside, race matters. But we don’t talk about it. We don’t even tell our white partners the small things that piss us off and the things we wish they understood better, because we’re worried they will say we’re overreacting, or we’re being too sensitive. And we don’t want them to say, Look how far we’ve come, just forty years ago it would have been illegal for us to even be a couple blah blah blah, because you know what we’re thinking when they say that? We’re thinking why the fuck should it ever have been illegal anyway? But we don’t say any of this stuff. We let it pile up inside our heads and when we come to nice liberal dinners like this, we say that race doesn’t matter because that’s what we’re supposed to say, to keep our nice liberal friends comfortable. It’s true. I speak from experience.”
3. Flow of storytelling
   1. The flow between the telling of Ifemelu’s story and her counterpart, Obinze, is smooth. Unlike Ayn Rand, Adichie doesn’t get caught up in the “point” of the story. Therefore the story doesn’t lull because it touches on such and such a topic. Every commentary Adichie gives swims with the story. She never manufactures something just so she can say her part. 
   2. The issue I had with the book, came about 60% through the book. The story started to drag and a great deal of “come on, get on with it” energy overtook me for about thirty-ish pages. 
4. Re-readability 
   1. This is such a well written book at a sentence level, and has amazing insights into life, that I genuinely think I’ll re-read it next year. It’s a powerful story. 
5. TESS
   1. Does not qualify. 

Final rating: Final Rating: ★★★★

​J. Sam Williams is an illustrious black-tailed hawk, longing to eat as many vegan mice as possible. In his human form, he is a High School English Teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he lives with his wife, one dog and two cats. A somewhat retired breakdancing teacher, he is now a co-host on the Alohomora Podcast! He has been published on Lunch Ticket, immix: a journal for justice, Mugglenet, and a slew of small sports journalism publications. You can find him on twitter @Jabbernator.