More character driven than her last book (Half a Yellow Sun), Americanah started strong, but faded for me a bit at the end of the 477 pages. The book follows Ifemelu and Obinze, from their teenage love affair, to their separate lives in the US and UK, to their return to Nigeria years later. I liked everything, especially the race and immigration experience in the US, and the blog entries written by Ifemelu, up to when they both returned to Nigeria.
I guess I preferred the race aspect of the story to the love story, which isn't how I usually roll. It didn't help that I didn’t like Obinze that much, even though Ifemelu kept describing him in glowing terms. She was the only one who really liked him. There was a good line at the end about how Ifemelu’s friends didn’t see all his wonderful qualities as she did. Isn't that always the way with boyfriends and friends? I didn’t care if Ifemelu and Obinze got together at the end. I particularly liked the blog entries, and their experiences in US and UK more than the Nigeria part of their life.
