Yvonne Nu: 2014

Thoughts about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Americanah"

14:09

I feel so very connected. To these moments and experiences and thoughts as well as anecdotes and jokes Ifemelu experiences. Especially during her time in America. When she returns to Nigeria, I start longing for those experiences, wish to be a part of an expat community, wish to be living and experiencing the vibrancy and freshness of returning home and easing myself into a life that I was never thought to life but longed for all my life. I start wishing to be part of e new middle class generation, that is special somewhere, that get's jobs thrown at simply because I carry foreignness on my hips, skin, hair and lips. Although, I know it is not proper and right and or fair to think of myself being better and deserving to get jobs thrown at me simply because I am a returnee, and I must apologize, I find this idea, this fantasy rather charming and enticing. It swells on me like a newfound life energy; it grows on me like a single reason to keep moving. Very fatalistic and dramatic these thoughts but yet so honest and pure.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's books always touch me. They touch me on the right side of my heart. Always speaking to my tenderness and compassion but this very book truly spoke to ME. To the me that I am, the me that I want to be, the me that I long to be, the me that I fear to become, the me that blocks me to become who I want to become, the me waiting for something to happen to open my valve to let my life juices flow and become me. Americanah is so much more than just a novel. It addresses so many matters of this new generation of Afropolitans; I’d like to say. Young Africans being a product of globalisation and Americanisation of their cultures and lifestyles. Too many facets and anecdotes in this book recall all these things that I myself have gotten to know oh so very well but haven't been able to put into words, let alone into actual concepts. Just to name a few: The un-connectivity to American-Blacks and their history as well as challenges, the becoming a race, while never actually feeling to have to be a race (black), the feeling of being stuck/torn between two cultures, the inexplicability of certain things to your parents, the longing for more in your life, the seeking of home, the love for home¹and all the tastes, colours, smells, noises, power cuts, water cuts, crowdedness, traffic jams, lateness, etc. etc. the list goes on and on.This is a book so very significant for it’s time. And I am hoping for many more like me and not like me to read this book, to get inspired and feel understood. What it will actually do for me I my real life? I can't say just own but I am still hoping for that push.

06:09

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Thoughts about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Americanah"

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