Books like

Books like Americanah

12 books with a reading profile close to Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Deep and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

1

The Nickel Boys

by Colson Whitehead

Also thought-provoking · history, narrative

Set in Jim Crow Florida, the story follows Elwood Curtis, a studious teenager who adheres to Dr.
2

In the Time of the Butterflies

by Julia Alvarez

Also thought-provoking · history, narrative

In 1960, three of the four Mirabal sisters were beaten to death on a road in the Dominican Republic because they had opposed the dictator Rafael Trujillo.
3

The Buddha in the Attic

by Julie Otsuka

Also thought-provoking · history, narrative

Julie Otsuka tells the collective history of "picture brides" who traveled from Japan to San Francisco in the early 1900s.
4

Pachinko

by Min Jin Lee

Also deep and thought-provoking · history, narrative

Sunja, the daughter of a crippled fisherman in colonial Korea, becomes pregnant by a married yakuza member.
5

Cutting for Stone

by Abraham Verghese

Also deep and thought-provoking · history, narrative

The story follows twin brothers Marion and Shiva Stone, born from a clandestine union between an Indian nun and a British surgeon in an Addis Ababa mission hospital.
6

Wandering Stars

by Tommy Orange

Also thought-provoking · history, narrative

Wandering Stars traces a lineage of a Cheyenne family from the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre and the forced assimilation at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School to the present day.
7

The Cellist of Sarajevo

by Steven Galloway

Also thought-provoking · history, narrative

Set in the besieged city of Sarajevo, the narrative follows three civilians navigating a landscape of sniper fire and shellings.
8

Five Little Indians

by Michelle Good

Also thought-provoking · history, narrative

Five children, Kenny, Clara, Maisie, Lucy and Howie, are taken from their families as small children and sent to a residential school in British Columbia.
9

How Much of These Hills Is Gold

by C Pam Zhang

Also deep and thought-provoking · history, narrative

Set against the declining years of the American Gold Rush, the novel follows Lucy and Sam, two orphaned siblings of Chinese descent, as they carry their father’s decomposing body across a harsh western landscape.
10

There Are Rivers in the Sky

by Elif Shafak

Also thought-provoking · history, narrative

The narrative follows a single drop of water across centuries, linking three distinct lives shaped by the Tigris and Thames rivers.
11

The Storm We Made

by Vanessa Chan

Also thought-provoking · history, narrative

In 1930s British Malaya, Cecily Alcantara works as a low-level clerk while feeling the sting of colonial hierarchy.
12

Homegoing

by Yaa Gyasi

Also deep and thought-provoking · history, narrative

Beginning in eighteenth-century Ghana, the narrative follows the diverging lineages of two half-sisters, Effia and Esi.

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