Americanah
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Get 3 months for £0.99/mo
Americanah
Buy Now for £16.99
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Narrated by:
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Adjoa Andoh
About this listen
Shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2014.
From the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun, a powerful story of love, race and identity.
As teenagers in Lagos, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Their Nigeria is under military dictatorship, and people are fleeing the country if they can. The self-assured Ifemelu departs for America. There she suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Obinze had hoped to join her, but post-9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Thirteen years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria, while Ifemelu has achieved success as a blogger. But after so long apart and so many changes, will they find the courage to meet again, face to face?
Fearless, gripping, spanning three continents and numerous lives, the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Americanah is a richly told story of love and expectation set in today’s globalised world.
©2013 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (P)2013 W F Howes LtdListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
“Actress Adjoa Andoh brings to life Adichie’s complex, beautifully wrought novel – which is both a love story and a nuanced analysis of political topics including systemic racism in America; immigration in the UK; and the class system in Nigeria.” (Vogue)
"One of the previous decade’s landmark novels [...] Andoh is a skilled, exciting narrator." (The Times)
"Andoh's rich voice and distinct characters and rhythm keep the listener engrossed.... Andoh has fun adopting a mocking lilt for Ifemelu's snarky blog entries.... [and] a more serious tone brings authenticity to the heartbreak of Obinze's London experience." ( AudioFile)
What made the experience of listening to Americanah the most enjoyable?
this book had me from the first chapter right to the end. It was such an engrossing story and I was so sad when I realised I was reaching the end.What does Adjoa Andoh bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
Adjoa Andoh is s brilliant narrator, she navigates all the accents and even the mixed accents and really does a great job bringing it to life.Simply Wonderful
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Americanah is the story of Ifemelu, a girl who leaves Nigeria for America to study. She isn't hugely academic but follows a fairly academic life course, exploring issues of race from within America from an outsiders perspective. Alongside this, her relationships past and present are explored, up to the point when she returns to Nigeria (an 'Americanah') and confronts her past.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is in my opinion one of today's most talented writers. Alongside Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun it is an incredible story which is captivating, wonderfully written, and truly takes the reader (or in my case, Listener) on a journey.
I will probably buy this book in print despite having listened to it as an audiobook first, because I do want to read bits again and have a physical copy - it's that enjoyable.
Another great story from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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I enjoyed Ifemelus and Obinzes journey through life, and their return to Nigeria for different reasons. I do feel that it could have been edited down by a few hours though. I was a bit put off at first by her lectures on racism, however she made very good points with them.
Had I bought this first in a book version I know I would have given up, but Adjoa Andoh's narration gave colour and vibrancy to all the charcters and her ability to swap accents was incredible.
I have never been that keen on that hard ivory coast accent but I found myself wanting to mimic her Nigerian prose.
Can't say I will try another by this author but a good listen all the same.
Love,Life and reflection
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Where does Americanah rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
This is a really easy-going story - a fairly predictable, but satisfying, narrative arc. Some really engaging characters. The 'blog' sections were mildly irritating and I don't think the writer needed to include these - her discussion of the finer nuances of skin colour and ethnicity was played out well enough by the different characters and their conversations.What does Adjoa Andoh bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
Adjoa Andoh really is the reason I'm writing this review. Her voice acting is superb - really, a pleasure to listen to. I'm not quite sure how she managed to retain all those different shades of accent and bring them out so convincingly - it really did sound like a wide cast of characters.Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
I wouldn't have listened to this all in one sitting. I found some of the discussions amongst Blaine's circle of friends and the blog sections slowed the pace a little. But it really was a delight to listen to.Wonderful narrator!
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As an American...
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