Americanah's Ifemelu returns to life on her blog

September 8, 2014 10:34 AM

Last year, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie created Ifemelu, the protagonist and blogger in her novel “Americanah,” one of the smartest and sharpest chronicles of contemporary life on three continents. Now, readers can catch up with Ifemelu through “The Small Redemptions of Lagos,” at AmericanahBlog.com. This new blog focuses on Ifemelu’s life in Nigeria, a kind of younger sibling to the novel’s incendiary and anonymous blog, “Raceteenth or Various Observations about American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negros) by a Non-American Black.” The new installment is no less expressive. Ifemelu’s observations are piercing, even on such subjects as a leaky roof at a Lagos airport or a friend who needs to take better care of herself: “Don’t expect water to taste like Coke. It is not Coke. It is water. And it is better for you.” VIA
posted by infini (8 comments total)

This is great. Half of a Yellow Sun was a hard but lovely read, and I hadn't read any of Adichie's other works yet.

I've added Americanah to my reading list, and Small Redemptions of Lagos to my feedly.
posted by sparklemotion at 11:29 AM on September 8, 2014

Oh, this is cool. Thanks for posting. I rant enjoyed Americanah but after finishing I was left feeling like "I guess that was a happy ending but I'm not so sure this is going to work out well." And now instead of having to be satisfied with ambiguous ending, we get more details! (possibly leading more ambiguity.) Plus some good Imefelu snark.
posted by carolr at 12:09 PM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

I just finished Americanah last week and I am so happy this exists now.
posted by cvp at 12:11 PM on September 8, 2014

I was blown away by Half of a Yellow Sun and have been sitting on Americanah for a long while. I'm glad she's achieving some real success; she's a tremendous writer.
posted by mykescipark at 1:01 PM on September 8, 2014

Just finished reading Americanah for a book club, and loved it. This is perfect.
posted by PussKillian at 1:06 PM on September 8, 2014

I was told to read Adichie before I moved to Nigeria last year. So I read Half of a Yellow Sun and thought it was useful as a historical account of the Biafran War but a pretty boring novel and then I didn't read Americanah, the end.
posted by eugenen at 2:32 PM on September 8, 2014

I'm a quarter of the way through Americanah and already expect to be all over this when I'm done. Thanks, infini!
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 6:41 PM on September 8, 2014

Americanah was easily my favorite read of the past year, and I've been planning on slowly spacing out Adichie's other books over time so I always have something to look forward to. This is exactly what I didn't know what I wanted, thanks!
posted by bettafish at 10:17 AM on September 9, 2014