I found Americanah to be similar to many of the other immigrant novels I've read, but unlike those, which described coming to "America" from China or India, this was the first I've read about immigrants coming from Africa. I confess that I knew very little about Nigeria before reading it, but after finishing the novel, I now have a richer understanding of some of the tensions in that country as well as the some of the tensions that complicate race relations between Africans, African Americans and white Americans, as experienced by her two Nigerian protagonists.
‘When I started in real estate, I considered renovating old houses instead of tearing them down, but it didn't make sense. Nigerians don’t buy houses because they’re old. A renovated two-hundred-year-old mill granary, you know, the kind of thing Europeans like. It doesn't work here at all. But of course it makes sense because we are Third Worlders and Thirds Worlders are forward-looking, we like things to be new, because our best is still ahead, while in the West their best is already past and so they have to make a fetish of that past.’” (Obinze speaking to Ifemelu, 538-9)
About Me
- Lisa Frieden
- My literary taste runs the gamut from Shakespeare, Poe, and Austen, to Elizabeth Lowell, Toni Morrison, and Jo Nesbo. Though I often read tales that plumb the inner demons of tortured souls, I prefer to write lighter books that my readers can have fun with.
Growing up, my sister and I lived next door to three French girls, who were like sisters to us. It was our friendship that gave me the idea of writing a book series about a group of five girls, plus the wonderful time I spent in Santa Barbara in my 20s.
Set in Santa Barbara, the Cota Club books tell the stories of each of the five friends and reflect the genres that fit each of the characters. That’s why Kristi’s story in Love and Money is a mystery, whereas Carla’s story in The Offering is romantic suspense. Tate’s story in Love and Hate is a thriller. I don’t know yet about Izzy’s, but Gwen’s will turn to the world of the supernatural.