Each year, the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC), honors the best literature published in the United States in six categories—autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The 2013 award winners were announced this past week (to read full announcement click here.) Today we'll focus on the fiction category.
Winner: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for Americanah.
Summary: Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion—for each other and for their homeland.
Americanah, a powerful, tender story of race and identity, was also named One of The New York Times's "Ten Best Books of the Year," an NPR "Great Reads" book, a Chicago Tribune "Best Book," a Washington Post "Notable Book," a Seattle Times "Best Book," an Entertainment Weekly "Top Fiction Book,' a Newsday "Top 10 Book," and a Goodreads "Best of the Year" pick.
The other finalists also considered for the NBCC 2013 award for fiction were:
Someone by Alice McDermott chronicles the ordinary life of a woman named Marie, from her childhood to old age, as she experiences the changing world of her Irish-American enclave in Brooklyn, in this novel that speaks of life as it is daily lived.
The Infatuations by Javier Marias: Breakfasting daily at a Madrid café where she fantasizes about her fellow patrons' idyllic marriage, María Dolz offers condolences to a widow whose husband has been shockingly murdered, an act that leads to a new relationship and disturbing insights into the crime.
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki: A novelist on a remote island in the Pacific is linked to a bullied and depressed Tokyo teenager after discovering a Hello Kitty lunchbox that washed ashore.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt: Taken in by a wealthy family friend after surviving an accident that killed his mother, thirteen-year-old Theo Decker tries to adjust to life on Park Avenue
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