Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an amazing book that is many different things in one package - a coming of age story, an immigrant story, a commentary on race and at its vibrant, beating heart - a love story. As you may be able to tell from my description, I absolutely loved it. It was both thought provoking and emotionally satisfying on multiple levels. The book tells the story of Ifemelu, a Nigerian woman who moves to the United States and then decides to return home to Nigeria. The story starts in Princeton, where Ifemelu is doing a fellowship. When we first meet her she has already decided that she is going to move back to Lagos, leaving her American boyfriend behind. Before she leaves she needs to get her hair braided, and the only place for her to do that is an African hair salon in Newark - as she sits in the salon chair (with an uneasy relationship with the woman braiding her hair) for the long braiding process, Ifemelu thinks back on everything that has led up to this moment. Adichie moves back and forth in time for most of the novel, moving back in time and returning every so often to this salon chair. The hair braiding process and Ifemelu's choice of what to do with her hair (chemically straighten in, chop it all off, braid it) serves throughout as a touch point for her identify both in Nigeria and as an African woman in America. Ifemelu (and Adichie) is a sharp, keen eyed observer of the world around her, particularly as an "outsider" in America. Her experiences and commentary are both funny and painfully on point. I could have read 300 more pages of her story.
