Americanah

After finishing this book I gave 2 stars, because the last 200 sites felt so weak. After overthinking it, I decided that this rating does not represent the book as a whole and that overall I still liked it.
What I appreciate the most about this book, it gives an insight of peoples everyday facing with racism. As a white priviliged cis man, I profit from our racist system and don't face these glass ceilings. And that part, when Ifemelu went to the USA, I liked the most because of all these observations she makes: For example that you can, as a black person, use the working ID card of another black person because no one will recognise the difference. Or people connecting your behavior with your heritage (you don't like dogs, is this a cultural thing?)
Another interesting aspect of this book is the living life of the Nigarian
upper class. While wealthy men with a certain loyalty to the regime, often keep several mistresses and each of them knows about and hopes to be chosen, the academic elite is frustrated and leaves the country.

After 'Half of yellow sun' I was really looking forward to this book and tried to really like it and it has its strengths, but many characters were often only introduced and after ten sites you never heard of them until 300 sites later and you think, ugh shall I remember this person? The love story I didn't like at all and it was just to long for no reason. The last think I missed was context. She never explains really why there is a strike now in Nigeria. Or which regime has changed. Or simply 9/11 and its influence on immigrants. Everything is very vague and I think that's on purpose, but a design decision I didn't like at all.
But still, it's a good book and I think my expectations where just to high after the other one.

This book is several things interleaved.

There's a love story with fairly traditional elements of circumstances coming between the lovers.

There's clearly some autobiography, from an author whose own life gives her plenty of material.

There's a lot of exploration of the dislocation of being an immigrant and the ways in which the assumed community of people from the same place easily falls flat. I identified strongly with a surprising amount of that, given that my circumstances are very different from the characters'.

There's a mourning for Nigeria. Just as with Teju Cole's writing, I see so much of my Turkey in the author's Nigeria.

There's an extended essay about race, racism, and especially how those play out in the USA. This is mostly done very well--if the protagonist's blog were real I'd be a subscriber--but towards the end of the US section it starts to feel like a lecture is intruding on the story.

There's an interesting format experiment in which Adichie basically implements Brecht's ideas about giving away the story before telling it so that suspense doesn't interfere with the other things you're supposed to feel. Only Adichie does this far more deftly than Brecht, so it never detracted from the enjoyment of the story.

It does a surprisingly good job of carrying all these elements, albeit at times feeling a little overloaded. I enjoyed reading it and felt at times like it was really hitting hard.