Americanah... The Broda Gani Connection

This one is for Broda Gani (also known as Mr Anifowose) at bookshop street CMS Lagos for his incessant hookups.
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Broda Gani is what you would call a novel enthusiast /aficionado/hustler who loves his craft/hustle and takes it seriously... a little too seriously.
His love for books (money?) is clearly evident in his impeccable marketing skills that starts before and continues even after the actual sales.
It is really refreshing to see Broda Gani who read only up to form two always give a summary that is adequately animated and entertaining on whatever novel he thinks you should buy. His narration skills are on steroids as he has the supernatural ability to turn a basic and mundane paperback to an enthralling blockbuster. Now these summaries might not be err.....exactly accurate as most of his tales are heavily embellished, well...the right amount of embellishments to arouse your interest.
Customer profiling is second nature to him, his ability to always "prescribe" the right books to suit your mental acquisitiveness is highly commendable.

Broda Gani is such a congenial and charismatic individual, little wonder his salesmanship and PR skills are top notch.Mr Anifowose will have you fill out your birthday date and always ensures to drop a call or message if you haven't visited his stall in at least a month.
His prices??? Let's just say you will have to pay a little more for his showmanship /elaborate narration which in all honesty is a fair price to pay considering all the razzmatazz that accompanies buying "the right books "in Broda Gani's shed.

 On  Broda Gani's prescription insistence  I bought the book Americanah, especially when he insisted "ninu gbogbo iwe ti shiamanda ko, eleyi ni awon feeminizee n ra ju"(out of all chiamanda books, this is the one the feminists are buying more).
Really?? With that I became beyond curious to read the book and because I was pressed for time when Broda Gani began his launch into the review... I hastily paid my money and scurried  along.... not today Broda Gani.... not today...🏃 🏃 🏃

The book Americanah was set in the late 90's during the military regime, It follows a bright opinionated girl Ifemelu from her early years in Nigeria to her diasporic experience in America and back to Nigeria.
Americanah is an hmm..... interesting read, sometimes funny, sometimes sad. It raised some salient issues like social inequality, race, immigration, cultural shock, identity and alienation amidst other prominent social issues.
 There has been a lot of brilliant reviews of this book that was written in 2013, so I'm not even going to attempt an erudite review. Majorly because I'm an unrepentant romantic I would rather focus on the beautiful love story in the book.
Although I must admit I'm a late "adopter" of Adichie, Purple hibiscus was her first book I read and it left me somewhat hanging.... stranded at the end as I was consumed by the need for closure for kambili and perhaps Father Amadi. So it wasn't out of place when l approached Americanah with some caution.

Americanah has a large memorable and relatable characters, it's narrative is loosely woven around the the dawn of love between highschool sweethearts Ifemelu and obinize: their love progression and its fairytale ending.
The seamlessly yet formidable manner Adichie navigated their complex love story that stretched for over 2 decades made its reading compulsive as I literally sprinted through the pages.
It's really remarkable how Adichie was very detailed yet vague... almost mysterious about their "delicious" entanglements particularly intimate moments between lfemelu and Obinize (my poor heart was just doing gbim-gbim throughout.)

The way she mirrored their openness, fluidity, strength, pains and how like pieces of magnet they kept attracting each other, inspite of their far flung love that unfolded for over 2 decades and across 3 continents, made their love story more profound.Their love was tested, stretched, they endured and at end they got stronger just like a true fairytale that celebrates transformation and triumphs.

Well... not a classic happily thereafter but Adichie gave enough... just enough to work with. Notwithstanding I still came up with plenty plenty alternate endings in my head and regardless of how self absorbing their decisions were at the end, l honestly think it was a pretty decent fairytale ending.
This book is a winner and I think Broda Gani was right about this one.