书籍介绍
他们生来注定憧憬他乡 坚信真正的人生要在他乡展开
麦克阿瑟天才奖、英联邦作家奖、橘子奖得主
奇玛曼达•恩戈兹•阿迪契
写尽了我们时代的移民者的憧憬、激情、失落、勇气
——————
天真烂漫的伊菲麦露和奥宾仔在拉各斯的一所学校邂逅,对未来拥有相似的憧憬——和所有尼日利亚的年轻人一样,他们的故土似乎更像是他们追寻西方的中转站。美丽、自信的伊菲麦露追随着阿姨的足迹来到美国,却第一次体验身为“黑人”意味着什么,而日渐拮据、无力继续学业的她也必须背叛和奥宾仔的爱情,才能在这个国度继续生存下去。
“9 •11”之后,去美国求学的机会一再被阻断。没有得到命运垂青的奥宾仔,他利用母亲去英国访学的机会和她一起到了英国,却只能面对自己非法移民的身份。奥宾仔尝试用各种卑微的、没有保障的工作, 而英国社会的冷漠、同乡们的势利,都让他对原先幻想中的西方 吗,莫名失落。
辗转多年之后,奥宾仔已经用“尼日利亚式”的方式获得了成功,而伊菲麦露也凭借自己辛辣、尖锐、批判美国种族主义的博客获得了巨大的成功,我eye-opening 的bblog的 。 当她觉得回到尼日利亚,重新开启另一段真实的、和美国的生活充满反差的 兴奋的生活时,她和奥宾仔要面临人生中最艰难的选择。
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他们向往西方,并非为了逃避那种粉碎人的灵魂的贫穷,而是要跳出那种没有选择的压抑和颓废。
一部令人心驰神往的作品,亦是一本重要的著作。对种族主义细微透彻的观察是这本书的力量和独创性所在。
——《经济学人》
极度睿智又略显挑衅地探究了制度性不平等、形态各异的压迫以及性别和家庭观念。
——《卫报》
时而温柔,时而锋锐——对于这位毫无畏惧的作家来说,没有任何东西是过于卑微或者能令她却步的!
——《纽约时报》
AI导读
核心看点
- 犀利剖析美国种族主义与身份认同困境
- 双线叙事展现尼日利亚移民在英美遭遇
- 深刻揭示移民对西方虚幻憧憬与失落
适合谁读
- 对移民文学及跨文化体验感兴趣的读者
- 关注种族议题、社会不公与性别平等的读者
- 喜爱细腻心理描写与现实主义小说的读者
读前提醒
- 前半部美国经历精彩,后半部回归略显平淡
- 建议结合尼日利亚社会背景理解人物动机
- 注意作者对‘发色’等细节背后的政治隐喻
读者共识
- 美国部分洞察深刻,文笔幽默且极具共鸣
- 伊菲麦露是独立理智、诚实自我的女性典范
- 虽结尾稍弱,但仍是移民题材不可错过的佳作
本导读基于书籍简介、目录、原文摘录、短评和书评生成,不等同于全文精读。
精彩摘录
- "When I started in real estate, I considered renovating old houses instead of tearing them down, but it didn't make sense. Nigerians don't buy houses because they're old. A renovated two-hundred-year-old mill granary, you know, the kind of thing Europeans like. It doesn't work here at all. But of cou"
- "She began to think about killing the tennis coach. She would hit him on the head over and over with an axe. She would plunge a knife into his muscled chest."
- "They would not understand why people like him, who were raised well fed and watered but mired in dissatisfaction, conditioned from birth to look towards somewhere else, eternally convinced that real lives happened in that somewhere else, were now resolved to do dangerous things, illegal things, so a"
- "Many of us didn't marry the woman we truly loved.We married the woman that was around when we were ready to marry."
- "There were people thrice her size on the Trenton platform and she looked admiringly at one of them, a woman in a very short skirt. She thought nothing of slender legs shown off in miniskirts -- it was safe and easy, after all, to display legs of which the world approved -- but the fat woman's act wa"
- "Later Ginika said, "You could have just said Ngozi is your tribal name and Ifemelu is your jungle name and throw in one more as your spiritual name. They'll believe all kinds of shit about Africa.""
- "“You need a carpet cleaned?" he asked, as if he did not care, as if she could change her mind, as if he wanted her to change her mind. She looked at him, a taunt in her eyes, prolonging a moment loaded with assumptions: he thought she was a homeowner, and she was not what he had expected to see in t"
- "Alexa, and the other guests, and perhaps even Georgina, 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. They would not understand why people like him, who were rai"
作者简介
奇玛曼达•恩戈兹•阿迪契,1977年出生于尼日利亚南部城市埃努古,起初在尼日利亚大学学习医药学,后在美国东康涅狄格州立大学学习传媒学和政治学,之后又在约翰•霍普金斯大学获得创意写作的文学硕士学位。
2003年,她的首部长篇小说《紫木槿》获得2004年橘子小说奖的提名,该小说讲述了上世纪90年代尼日利亚的政治骚乱和一个被信仰裹挟的家庭的悲剧。她的第二部长篇小说《半轮黄日》窥探了尼日利亚的内战伤痛,获2007年橘子小说奖。2009年,她的小说《绕颈之物》获得弗兰克•奥康纳国际短篇小说奖提名。
2010年,阿迪契入选《纽约客》评出的“二十位四十岁以下的小说家”。2015年,《时代》杂志评选阿迪契为“世界最有影响力的一百人”。
2014年,她的TED演讲被集结成同名散文集《我们都应该是女权主义者》。她最近的一部长篇小说《美国佬》呈现了她对美国种族政治的深刻思考和感受,该书摘得2013年度全美书评人协会小说奖,也是《纽约时报》2013年度十大好书。