‘But the exact opposite of what I want,’ considered Howard,
rocking in his chair, ‘is what always fucking happens.’
Kiki stopped what she was doing. ‘Right. Because you never get
what you want. Your life is just an orgy of deprivation.’
This nodded at the recent trouble. It was an offer
to kick open
a door in the mansion of their marriage leading on to an
antechamber
of misery. The offer
was declined. Kiki instead began that
familiar puzzle of getting her small knapsack to sit in the
middle of
her giant back.
Howard stood up and rearranged himself decently in his
bathrobe. ‘Do we have their address at least?’ he asked. ‘Home
address?’
Kiki pressed her fingers to each temple like a carnival
mindreader.
She spoke slowly, and, though the pose was sarcastic, her
eyes were wet.
‘I want to understand what it is you think we’ve done to you.
Your family. What is it we’ve done? Have we deprived you of
something?’
Howard sighed and looked away. ‘I’m giving a paper in Cambridge
on Tuesday anyway – I might as well fly to London a day
earlier, if only to – ’
Kiki slapped the table. ‘Oh,
God, this isn’t
hapening – Jerome can
marry who the hell he wants to marry – or are we going to start
making up visiting cards and asking him to meet only the
daughters
of academics that you
happen to – ’
‘Might the address be in the green moleskin?’
Now she blinked away the possibility of tears. ‘I don’t
know
where the address might be,’
she said, impersonating his accent.
‘Find it yourself. Maybe it’s hidden underneath the crap in that
damn hovel
of yours.’
‘Thanks so
much,’ said Howard and began his return journey up
the stairs to his study.
Fearless, gripping, at once darkly funny and tender, spanning three continents and numerous lives, Americanah is a richly told story set in today's globalized world.
The story of an American family, middle class in middle America, ordinary in every way but one. But that exception is the beating heart of this extraordinary novel.
First time novelist Vaddey Ratner captured my heart and senses in this novel based on her childhood in Cambodia. Her story transcends any news story...
read more
From the first page, I was drawn in by the lyrical writing of the author and mesmerized as the narrator, eight year old Raami, remembered the years...
read more
Trite but true, all good things must come to an end. I so wanted to keep reading the wonderful prose, the settings that let one think they are part...
read more
Amazon cuts off 5200 affiliates in Minnesota(Jun 19 2013) With Minnesota's online sales tax law due to take effect July 1, Amazon has played a familiar card by cutting ties with 5,200 members of its Associates...
Full Story
