Americanah, a novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie-or how to survive as an immigrant!!

"Princeton, in the summer, smelled of nothing, and although Ifemelu liked the tranquil greenness of the many trees, the clean streets and stately homes, the delicately overpriced shops, and the quiet, abiding air of earned grace, it was this, the lack of a smell, that most appealed to her, perhaps because the other American cities she knew well had all smelled distinctly."

This is the first sentence of the above book and I am hooked. How delicious from one who always gets carried away with long sentences and the grammar correct tell me how wrong I am. I found the book in my son's house and he commented that I may like to read it. It is a book I should have written years ago about how an immigrant adjusts to life in this country, which on the surface speaks the same language as the English people, but is actually quite different, particularly the expressions.  The author is from Nigeria, well educated and was brought up with the King's English.

They say that to write a novel one should write about what you know and the author certainly has done so using her experiences and those of her friends.

Our main character, Ifemelu, comes to the States to further her education, struggles to find work to support herself and try to fit in to the society. As she signs up for classes the administrator says to her, "You are all set."  She wonders what this means. I felt the same way when some new friends we had met in California, said upon leaving, "See you later."  Did I miss something? I remember thinking. I didn't remember us making arrangements to see a movie or anything specific.  When they continued to say this upon I realized it meant, "So Long," or "Cheerio," as the Brits say. My worse experience was reply to a question about the time and responding that the time was "half past four." The men who had asked this question nearly fell over laughing. I suppose they enjoyed teasing me and hoping to hear something strange from my mouth. Finally my boss, Joe Delaney, a Canadian (I wonder what happened to him?) told me, "You mustn't let them do this to you-give them back as good as they give you!" "But how can I?" I asked. "I am the foreigner here."  I did learn though and became stronger. Another phrase Ifemelu comments on is instead of saying, "ask somebody upstairs," Americans say, "you might want to see somebody upstairs." Another observation; in answer to the question, "How are you?" Americans reply in a sing-song voice, "Good, how are you?"  At one point Ifemelu, who has been faking an American accent to fit in decides to revert to formal English and says. "I'm well, thank you." She had made an effort to blur the "t" and roll the "r."  I never was able to do this and still say, "can't" with my strong "a."  Upon observation I noticed as the earlier you come to the States the easier one acquires an American accent. Upon returning to the States after living in England for three years I listened as my six and eight year old children changed their vowel  sounds in one month.

Our main character, Ifemelu, is an African and struggles with controlling her hair. We learn of the problems of braiding (and how long it takes) or relaxing or straightening the hair.  So different from my problems of having my straight hair permed.   All this was fascinating to me.

But the most important aspect of this book are Ifemelu's experiences and comments on race in America. Until she came to the States, she didn't know or use the word "black." In Africa you were Nigerian, or South African. She writes blogs with the titles of "To My Fellow Non-American Blacks, In America you are black, Baby!" to explain to fellow immigrants from other parts of the world how it is here. As a social commentary this book is magnificent and well worth reading.