Before i start please note that all i opine here are just random thoughts and i post them here not out of mischief or to insult Chimanda

The book Americanah is set in a plot of the military and early democracy era of Nigeria and this is a time that fortunately i am conversant with,
it follows the love story of Ifemelu and Obinze; how they met in secondary school, kicked of the relationship till university till ifemelu went to the united states and lost contact...i wont bore u with a full synopsis so i will go straight to my analysis and support it with passages and quotes

THE GLORIFICATION OF SUGAR DADDIES/ Reading this book you might begin to think that the writer (being adichie) either subtly encourages sugar daddysm or is indifferent to it.
Aunty Uju in the book is a well educated woman, a medical doctor but refuses to settle with any young man in Nigeria but chooses to sleep with a Military man (General) for FREE!!!...the writer presents a scenario that makes it look not to bad for young girls to sleep with old men old enough to be their fathers and not ask for material things.
The writer refused to take into cognizance that highly impressionable young girls could read this book and feel that dating already married men is not so bad. Through out the book there was no subtle condemnation of this act or even an effort to shine light on younger symbiotic relationships. the writer chose to paint young relationships in a very poor taste, in the case of Kimberly and her husband and even obinze and his wife; the writer presented a scenery that depicts women who marry young, successful and handsome men as insecure, paranoid and sad.
Even Ifemelu's friend Rayinudo is also into this sugar daddy runs and the writer goes so far as to show that she was bought a Jeep, if that is not an advertisement of the profitability of sugar daddys then i wonder what else it could be...Chimamnda being a brilliant writer does not pay attention to the social responsibility her work needs to have

Men Are Depicted As A Means To An End The writer made subtle effort to show throughout the book that a man in a relationship must be used to achieve any target and dumped whenever it suited the ladies. This is exactly what i interpreted in the relationship between Ifemelu and Curt, Aunt Uju and Bartholomew, Rayinudo and her sugar daddy, Ifemelu and Blaine ( this one was for her activist and academics side), and so many other instances in the book.
The writer does not see relationships between young couples as a journey, but as an enterprise. Subtly she encourages ladies to go for men who are very rich, and every relationship somebody has to be bringing more or it is balderdash. The book presented men in a light that made me sick to my stomach and i asked myself "so this is where these women place us? as a tool to be used, expired then thrown out" the manner which ifemelu cheated on curt, the way aunt uju divorced Bartholomew after she did not get the child she was looking for showed me a side which i never want to venture, now talking about venture

American Grass is not so Green As a young man with high hopes this book helped to kill any dreams i had about America. i had a friend who always said " After Heaven na US, even e get as u go waka for US u go see God direct"... But this book has put an end to that fantasy.
The writer constantly hammered on racism and black on black segregation that makes one wonder if the thought of greener pastures is worth the stress and strain involved. The English society which i personally thought were to conservative and rigid was painted in a liberal light, and American society painted 50 shades of black. The writer painted a simple solution to race issues in England which is class, your money is ur rank while in america with money u are still second class/ Nigger.

Morality and Lack of it For a book that is not a romance novel or a james hardely chase soft porn; this book has a very low standard in the setting of morals. premarital sex was not frowned on even underage sex was treated with kid gloves. Ifemelu and obinze's escapade in obinze's house was made to look cool as if young people like that could keep things under check; if i hear.
The writer saw nothing wrong with ladies having sex with married men, not once was the consequences of such folly exposed: even when aunt uju got pregnant for "The General" the writer created a scenario of All is well that ends well, the general owning up to the child and taking responsibility....this is bad and any girl reading this might be conned to thinking it is applicable (we all know how young girls are easily influenced by books they read)...HIV, Gonorrhea and other STD's were hardly mentioned, i began to wonder if in that world they didnt exist.
i dont know if it is Adichie's western upbringing that caused this but i have read the Soyinkas, the Achebes, the Elechi Amadis, the cyprain ekwensis, and there was a thin code of conduct observed by this great literary icons, sex was not "cool" to this men and they spelt it out in black and white. Obviously Adichie does not think in african lines little wonder the book was titled Americanah.

Now to the issue that vexed me the most

The Ridicule Of The Institution Of Marriage Adichie made sure she downplayed marriage to the best of her ability, only ifemelus parents were the couple she really wrote on and she presented them as poor, the father a sycophant and the mother a bordering fanatic. If she had anything against marriage she should have said so.... Obinze's wife Kosi is a God sent babe any man could pray for. A girl that started with him when he had nothing, was patient, dutiful, beautiful, well mannered, cultured etc; and how did Adichie treat this character? she made sure Kosi lost out to the rude, childish, condescending, ill mannered Ifemelu. Adichie threw out the notion that one can grow to love someone she replaced it with in her own words "Feeling of responsibility". Adichie made single motherhood look Hip,cases of Aunt uju, obinze's mum comes to mind and surely Adichie made sure she blocked out the longing, loneliness and insecurity these women pass through daily.
In all i can say i am just getting to know Adichie having read two of her works that is Half of a yellow sun and this Americanah....i will go for purple hibiscus and see what she penned there...i really need to know other new generation authors we have please mods if i made an error move it to the right section cc Obinnau copy lalasiclala

I will comment later

I dey go church jare

Chimamanda Adichie is an overated storyteller

Obinze a.k.a Ceiling.

People who read the book will know what I'm talking about.

boring boring boring... post som'in berra

Later

Great opinion.
I must confess that I have not bothered to read the book as I was discouraged by the title and the different reviews that I had read. This OP simply confirms that I missed nothing by not wasting my money and time to buy and read the book.

That woman has issues,she is taking this feminism matter too far

I am coming back

Adichie did not set to write the book to teach morals. I think that is looking at it wholly from an African perspective. The book is intended, instead, to depict reality. However I agree with the OP as to the issue of Adichie demeaning the institution of marriage, men being seen as a means to an end and the subtle glorification of sugar daddies.

Thanks for summarizing the book.. I just finish reading Americanna in 3mins..God bless you OP..I never finish NL political session threads..Na one book I go get time for!!

Okay!

Deeboiy:
That woman has issues,she is taking this feminism matter too far

She is writing to make money so she can also give her testimony aka taste the money.

Nice work from You
Sometime chimanmada doesn't use to portray African tradition in her work, the settings of the story was not in line with African way her best work so far is the Purple hibiscus

all you have written are subjective to people's perspective of the issues portrayed in her book, feminists for instance may not tow your line of thinking, and every work has an audience, I believe the book isn't for everyone. I for one prefer seeing movies or reading books that have a touch of 'evil', like deadpool, KANU: the journal of a rogue and Black Maria, 'hero' movies and books seem quite superficial and unreal to me. That she appeals to an audience other than you with ONE book does not make her irresponsible and morally lackadaisical. And I personally think her painting the US as a racially segregative country, and that trying tooth and nail to go to such a country may not be worth all the trouble, for me, is a welcome idea. Much of what you wrote are idealistic and not what obtains in real life, and Chimamanda trying to be a little more real shouldn't be much of a problem for people whose moral compass still points North. Just my 2 cents though.

TwentySeven:
Obinze a.k.a Ceiling.

People who read the book will know what I'm talking about.

of course... I like the OP's criticism of the book

What do you mean she is subtly encouraging pre-marital sex, dating sugar daddies and all those bullshiit.

Have you ever written a book? Incase you don't know, adichie was simply expressing the society literally, these things are what happen so often in the society, Nigeria and abroad so I don't see how she is promoting them, she just creates a story to depict the kind of society we have found ourselves in. Her Novel is not an article or Presentation that reflects these event in bad light but rather a story of our society.

I believe when she wants to portray these events in bad light she will write essays, articles and publish them for it.

You keep talking about AMERICAN like this yea...not good and the rest ...i tell you ..COME BACK HOME.. and see how boys dey do yahoo...young girls dey do olosho ...not minding d fact am real hustler...i do properties,run a gas business and a mini poultry...and looking for more business..so dont tell me shit about Yankee..the rest of her story...she is what she is ..shes into business of writing to make money!

Oga,

This your honest review sef.

And if you look at it critically, she no lie for the book. Those are the harsh realities we live in.

Sha I appreciate that it's your opinion and you have a right to it, so I respect it.

But if e too pain you, go write your own moral book.

Please appreciate that that is my opinion, I have a right to it so respect it.

Thank you.

I see.

I read one of her writeups on a letter she penned down to her daughter, according to her she said she won't stop her daughter from involving in premarital sex, neither will she create an impression that her father was the only man she had slept with, but she will only advice her to be responsible for her actions, as the notion of "waiting for the wedding night is not realistic". She also painted a picture of fun in premarital as long as you can take care of yourself.

Sincerely speaking , OP you are dangerously on point. She writes well shaa, but I don't understand how she mixes up the slutty American lifestyles when telling a typical Nigerian story. In Half of a Yellow Sun, I am still trying to understand 1. Onyeka onwenu's smoking. 2. The random sex in the movie. 3. The woman clubbing as far back as 1960 when our women still had a sense of "womanhood". So many questions to ask her but how we go take see her now?

seguno2:


She is writing to make money so she can also give her testimony aka taste the money.

Lol,dis guy

yes what u said is correct.
Sky hd apk

Whatever happens, Chimamanda Adichie is our own, we should support her.





Our great writers have gone to the far beyond and only few left, She is fast rising. Let us accept her.

nkemdi89:
I read one of her writeups on a letter she penned down to her daughter, according to her she said she won't stop her daughter from involving in premarital sex, neither will she create an impression that her father was the only man she had slept with, but she will only advice her to be responsible for her actions, as the notion of "waiting for the wedding night is not realistic". She also painted a picture of fun in premarital as long as you can take care of yourself.

But,

is she not stating the reality?