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| The Written Chakra: Book Review |
What’s an Americanah? In Nigerian
parlance, it’s a person who’s returned from America, someone who’s taken on
American mannerisms, has an American accent, and is somehow held in high esteem
as well as being an object of derision, a misfit back in their own country.
This sounds
familiar to many of us from “Third World” countries. I’m using quotes for
“Third World” because the term itself is not only a bit insulting (imo) but
also smacks of an earlier world order, coined during the “Cold War.” So,
perhaps I should just say former colonies. If you are of a certain vintage,
you’ll understand what I mean when I say that anything “phoren” was considered
superior, and our own poor countries lagged far behind in all aspects- social,
educational, cultural, political.
The story, set
during Nigeria’s military dictatorship, and then post 9/11, is simple enough. It’s
the story of two sweethearts, Ifemelu and Obinze, from middle-class backgrounds,
who dream of leaving for America, the land where only the sky’s the limit for
your ambitions. Ifemelu leaves, and confronts hard facts about race, culture and
identity in the land of her dreams. Obinze is not so lucky. He is denied a
visa, goes to the UK, confronts the ugliest forms of racism, and then returns
to Nigeria where he makes his fortune in real estate. Circumstances force them
to drift apart and not even communicate by email with each other. They meet
fifteen years later, when Ifemelu returns to the land of her birth. Obinze is
married with a child. Their feelings for each other are just as strong. Will
they leave everything, go against the norms of society, and get back together?
I don’t want to spoil the ending for you; read the book and find out for
yourselves.
Now, this sounds
like a typical wishy-washy kind of story, but no- it’s much much more. It was
shortlisted for the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, which may just put off
male readers. But it’s so much deeper than mere chick-lit in its bold and
honest examination of race and identity. Here’s one of her observations, taken
from the first chapter:
During her first year in America when she
took the New Jersey Transit to Penn Station and then the subway….., she was
struck by how mostly slim white people got off at the stops in Manhattan and as
the train went further into Brooklyn the people left were mostly black and fat.
Ifemelu learns
what it is like to be black in America. She becomes famous for writing an
anonymous blog about racism, especially for the non-American black. (Title of
one of her blog-posts: To my fellow
non-American Blacks: In America You Are Black, Baby) And when she goes to
an African saloon to get her hair braided, the owner says that their air
conditioner had broken down yesterday. Ifemelu
knew the air conditioner hadn’t broken yesterday; it had been broken for much
longer…
Obinze, while
living in the UK as an illegal immigrant, is invited to a party by Eminike, a
Nigerian friend who had married a white woman and where they were the only two
blacks. He’s struck by how Eminike had changed to pretend to be white. ”He had taken on a careful and calibrated
charm. He said “Oh dear” often. When Phillip complained about the French couple
building a house next to his in Cornwall, Eminike asked, “Are they between you
and the sunset?”
Are they between you and the sunset? It would never occur to Obinze, or to anyone
he had grown up with, to ask a question like that.
What really held me was how many of her views
and experiences are so typical of people from any developing country, not just
Nigeria. The author describes how Ifemelu tries to conform (by changing the
style of her hair, the kind of food she eats, the way she speaks, and so on)
just to “fit in.” She confronts so many people who have a stereotypical image
of “black people”, but perhaps her biggest enemies are her own people. Ifemelu
finally decides to be herself, with her Afros and her accent, and although she
acquires the prized American passport, decides to return to her own country.
The questions
this novel asks about race and identity are bold and honest, and are worked
seamlessly into the love story. I would unhesitatingly give this novel 5 stars.
