“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.” [359]
The summer before beginning college, I received a package from my new school. It was a paperback copy of The English Patient (1992) by Michael Ondaatje. This was the summer reading for all incoming first year students, and the enclosed letter explained that we would have a book discussion during orientation. I was thrilled! I love books, and even though my tuition certainly covered the cost of one paperback novel, receiving one unexpectedly in the mail was fantastic.
Fast forward to present day when I was procrastinating by browsing my alma mater’s website, and I discovered that Americanah (2014) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was this year’s summer reading for incoming first year students. I’d already heard of Americanah from Cannonball, and it was on my list, but this second reminder moved it up to the top. And it was a great book, and a great selection for incoming freshman. Having grown up in a very white, very politically correct, and very liberal environment, I would have found this book challenging and enlightening as a rather naive teenager. Now that I’ve grown up a bit, seen more things, been exposed to more ideas, and read books similar in nature [books regarding the “Black experience” in America as well as books written by Africans], I was less surprised by the content but impressed by Adichie’s novel.
Ifemalu was a middle-class Nigerian, but when constant strikes and government corruption interrupt her University education, she obtains a student Visa and moves to the United States. With over six hundred pages, Adichie goes into detail about her adolescence in Nigeria, her struggles upon first coming to America, her relationships and experiences in the United States, and what finally brought her back to Nigeria.
Continued here.
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