Reading Notes: Americanah

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

"They fascinated him, the unsubtle cowering cowering of the almost rich in the presence of the rich, and the rich in the presence of the very rich; to have money, it seemed, was to be consumed by money."

"...his mind had not changed at the same pace as his life, and he felt a hollow space between himself and the person he was supposed to be."

"Her mother ... was a person who denied that things were as they were. A person who had to spread the cloak of religion over her own petty desires."

"There was a certain luxury to charity that she could not identify with and did not have. To take 'charity' for granted, to revel in this charity towards people whom one did not know - perhaps it came from having had yesterday and having today and expecting to have tomorrow."

"It puzzled her, the ability of romantic love to mutate, how quickly a loved one could become a stranger."

"(the guests) all understood the fleeing from war, from the kind of poverty that crushed human souls, but they would not understand the need to escape from the oppressive lethargy of choicelessness."