Americanah Study Guide

Americanah is the third novel of author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, published in 2013 after the success of her novels Purple Hibiscus (2003) and Half of a Yellow Sun (2006). Like her two prior novels, Americanah focuses on the lives of Nigerians, primarily the character Ifemelu who is born and raised in Nigeria and moves to the United States in her twenties. The novel intensely scrutinizes race in the United States as well as life, love, and wealth in both the US and Nigeria. Americanah met immediate critical acclaim and won multiple awards in 2013 including the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction and selection as one of the 10 Best Books of 2013 by the editors of the New York Times Book Review. It was announced in 2014 that a movie adaptation of the novel will be produced featuring Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo as the romantic leads Ifemelu and Obinze.