Americanah

I've read Adichie twice before and both times I was drawn into her big-and-yet-small, exotic-and-yet-universal stories.

This book was different.

Maybe there are some readers who like diatribes mixed with their stories. Not this reader. I find myself, time and again, just starting to ease into the characters when up would pop a blog post from the main character or a dinner party conversation and I'd suddenly feel like my channel had been switched and some fellow was standing there, ranting about An Important Issue.

Had I been her editor (not that I'm worthy) I'd have cut all the rants and I'd have kept all the lovely pages where the characters experience the terrible cruelties of life.

Just the small frustrations of a small reader: Please don't lecture me. Please don't preach. Just tell your story and all the rest will follow.