What I’ve Been Reading Lately…

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“Aisha,” Adhaf Soueif

   “Aisha” is a book composed of a series of vignettes following the life of a Aisha and other characters from her life. Written in a disconcerting style that makes it hard to know where we are in time or who we are reading about, the stories end haltingly with Aisha’s supposed death, although at the finish I was unsure if it was a metaphorical or physical one, and I think the author wants her readers to have exactly that thought. The book makes one question the finality of death and combines the absolute beauty of life with its ugly side that most of the time, we choose to ignore. Those two intricately crafted elements are placed side by side for the reader to absorb–or not absorb.

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“Americanah,” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

   People who read my blog or talk to me on occasion about books will already know that I rarely dislike a book that I read. But this feeling also goes in the other direction, meaning that I am also rarely so enchanted with a book that I would read it again. “Americanah” is one of these books. I reread the last page a few times (something I never do), and was so content with the full-circle-yet-unexpected ending that I regretted finishing it. Ngozi’s writing style is seamless and the words seem to fall into your understanding instead of being ‘read’ in the typical manner, and making it even more impressive is the knowledge that she is writing in her second language. It follows the story of Ifemelu, a Nigerian woman who moves to the U.S. to finish university and ends up living there for almost 15 years, after which she returns to Nigeria and rediscovers her teenage love. Some of the elements of her story are definitely reminiscent of Ngozi’s own life path. You also may remember Ngozi from a recent post I made about her TedTalk “We Should All Be Feminists”–if you still haven’t listened to it, go now!

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