hakkun1's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
zapmirelle's review against another edition
dark
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Despite not knowing much about African history, I found it impressive to see how Achebe weaves so many extraliterary elements, intertextual references, and images of African mythology together to create a strong fictional story about power and its corruptive potential.
I also enjoyed how the novel retakes the oral tradition and places a strong highlight on storytelling, focusing on the perspective of different characters while contrasting African and Western aspects such as religion, language, and identity.
Although the novel can be observed as a catalogue of African history, it is a commentary on colonization in general. While the notion of the uwa t'uwa "a world inside a world without end" (addressed in the text) can work as a reference to the Chinese box narrative structure and the concept of the infinite loop, I see it as a synonym for the phrase "history repeats itself" which in my opinion adds even more depth to the author's political critique.
Reading this book made me learn a lot and now I look forward to educating myself on this subject more in the near future.
I also enjoyed how the novel retakes the oral tradition and places a strong highlight on storytelling, focusing on the perspective of different characters while contrasting African and Western aspects such as religion, language, and identity.
Although the novel can be observed as a catalogue of African history, it is a commentary on colonization in general. While the notion of the uwa t'uwa "a world inside a world without end" (addressed in the text) can work as a reference to the Chinese box narrative structure and the concept of the infinite loop, I see it as a synonym for the phrase "history repeats itself" which in my opinion adds even more depth to the author's political critique.
Reading this book made me learn a lot and now I look forward to educating myself on this subject more in the near future.
kherty_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
4.0
hollasan's review against another edition
4.0
How this marvellous book went unread and just sat on my shelf for over 6 years is beyond me.
liekesmits's review against another edition
3.0
Ik koos een slecht moment om in een boek over een dictator te beginnen.
sar_p's review against another edition
4.0
A great book looking at the "postcolonial" condition. Achebe uses a fictional country, but, really, it could be any nation who finds itself free for the first time in a century or two and is trying to figure out how to rule itself. Human nature is bound to get in the way: greed, the thirst for power, and the obligation to rebel against tyranny. At times it seems that the Western reader is pushed out through the use of pidgin, but I do think that this book, more than the story of Africa, is a story of human nature. I say this knowing that Achebe would likely shake his head and tell me I have it all wrong.
archytas's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
‘To be big man no hard but to be poor man no be small thing’.
'People and Ideas, then. We shall drink to both of them'
Achebe's fifth novel is definitely a book about people and about ideas. More winking than the preceding four, Achebe at times wrestles explicitly with the impossibility of telling the story of a nation through three people. "But that is the only one I know", our protagonist replies, "and you are such a sweet listener".
Two of the three lives at the centre of the book are at the heart of the political intrigue, boyhood friends of our would be revolutionary leader, probable dictator. Their stories in many ways are as old as the hills, or at least as old as Orwell, trying to see the ideal and the friend, sfailing to see events are bigger than any person. The interest here came mainly, for me, from the third main character, Beatrice, who struggles to balance her ambition, her love and her clear-eyed view of the situation around them. Most of all, Beatrice sees the people around her, not just the ideas, giving her much needed capacity to steer a course.
The book also tackles sexism directly, commenting on how sidelined Beatrice is, and how little any of the characters pay attention to Ikem's lover Elewa, a character who often symbolises the 'people' the politicians are busy abstracting. It is the end, Beatrice and Elewa who are able to build something in the chaos.
On the whole, the book lacked some of the unity of Achebe's earlier work, and I'm not sure I found it as successful, but the characters live vividly.
bstephens's review against another edition
4.0
Group of politically active friends in a fictitious African country after the end of colonial rule get caught up in the dictatorship that arises from the victorious liberation movement. Reads like a memoire of true events - very powerful. The character of Beatrice was most compelling.
tylerclarkmclendon's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0