The African Trilogy: Part 2; No Longer at Ease, 1960, by Chinua Achebe *****

This second part of the trilogy is focused on Obi, Okonkwo's grandson. Nwoye, his father, gave up the way of his people, abandoned heathendom and converted himself and his entire household to Christianity.

Obi grew up devoted to academia in so far as his village union awarded him a scholarship, granted that it must be paid back. He was sent to study law in England on the benefit of the union group, albeit, a self-willed Obi ended up reading English. On his return, as was expected, he secured a European post as a Civil Servant in an emasculated Nigeria, in the threshold of independence.

Henceforth, the novel subtly evolves into a voracious read. Obi found himself in the throes of making ends meet and a cultural lag. To start with, he earned outstandingly more than his compatriots, nevertheless, his salary was nothing to boast about after sending money home for his parents' welfare and brother's education, also after refunding his village union on account of his scholarship and of course, not to forget his personal expense such as car insurance, light bill, social life and so on and so forth. In fact, he hardly pulled through.

Moreover, he found it abstruse, preposterous and scandalous that he should be barred from marrying the love of his life; merely because one of her forefathers had been dedicated to serving a god, thus, setting himself apart and turning his descendant into a social pariah forever.

How did Obi solve his financial difficulty? If he solved it at all. Running up an overdraft? Or resorting to accepting bribes? As a matter of fact, the latter is an utmost corrupt practice the colonial government considers to be through and through in the African. 

Did the social stigma behind his betrothed deter him from marrying her? Unquestionably, you have to read the novel to find out.

Finally, this is a book I took much pleasure in reading. "No Longer At Ease" is a felicitous title for this novel; meaning "not free anymore from worry and awkwardness". But perhaps, "The Fall of An African Man" would not have been a bad title. Anyway, I am just thinking out loud and putting it into writings.

The following quotes I found very funny, and yet loaded with significance.

Many of his hearers whistled in unbelief when he told them that a man could not go to his neighbour's wedding unless he was given one of these papers on which they wrote R.S.V.P - Rice and Stew Very Plenty - which was invariably an overstatement.

*************** 

The sitting area was taken up with two armchairs, a settee (otherwise called "me and my girlfriend")

*************** 

"Why you look the man for face when we want give um him two shillings?" he asked Obi 

"Because he has no right to take two shillings from you," Obi responded

"Na him make I no de want carry you book people," he complained. "Too too know na him de worry una, Why you put your nose for matter way no concern you? Now that policeman go charge me like ten shillings."

Give the following quote your own meaning.

Obi said he wouldn't be worried if local leave was abolished. But that was for the Government to decide.
"It's people like you who ought to make the government decide. That is what I have always said. There is no single Nigerian who is prepared to forgo a little privilege in the interests of his country. From your ministers down to your most junior clerk. And you tell me you want to govern yourselves."

I utterly recommend this book to everyone. It is a must read.

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The African Trilogy: Part 1; Things Fall Apart, 1958, by Chinua Achebe *****

This is the third time I have read this book and it felt like the first time. Click here to read my previous review.

As I earlier told someone, I did not know that Things Fall Apart was part of a  trilogy until I met a friend who asked me if I had read the second and third part of the story, I looked at her jaw-dropping and eye-popping while I replied no. I could not imagine how this very well-known book written by a renowned author from my hometown could be part of a trilogy without my knowledge. I investigated a bit and voilà! It was true.

People who knew my love for Chinua Achebe, gave me the remaining part of the novel as gift and I will forever be grateful for it nevertheless, I can't start reading them without reading Things fall Apart again, hence I read it for the third time.

Almost everyone has read this very well acclaimed novel that narrates the famous story of the consequence of the British colony on the Igbo people (Eastern Nigeria), these people here represent thousands of other ethnic groups in Africa because this story could have been about any African tribe (or ethnic group) anyway.

This widely read novel today all over the world is a great insight into the life of the Igbos before  and at the beginning of the colonial rule. It narrates the story of Okonkwo who is determined to be everything his weak and "lazy" father was not which was fame, huge, wide, loud, hot tempered, successful  and more. Because in his culture then a man with all those qualities is considered to be a prestigious man. He puts his tradition first  

"The law of the land must be obeyed"  

and reproached anybody who would have doubt about the custom of his land, even though it included the throwing away of twins in the forest, killing human beings of other clans in the name of sacrifice, forbidding a man with an ozo title to climb a palm tree, etc.

This story was focused on (not only)  Okonkwo's every day life, the way he interacted with his family, his friends and other members of his clan. One day, during a funeral ceremony, he accidentally committed a crime, whereupon he had to spend seven years in exile, during which, the white man established a new practice in his village that, in most cases treated them as inferior. At the end of his banishment, Okonkwo wanted to regain his status among his clansmen  and most of all he wanted to get rid of  the white man and his new tradition. Did he succeed?

This book is nearest my heart because, it tells the story of my culture (my people) in an eye opening way. It thoroughly explained our way of life then and, it was a helpful insight into the early influence of the British Colony on the Igbos.

Many quotes and conversation in this book  drew my attention but, I can't quote them all, the following conversation made me burst into laughter.

'The world is larg',said Okonkwo. 'I have even heard that in some tribes a man's children belong to his wives and her family'

That cannot be true said Machi. 'You might as well say that the woman lies on top of the man when they are making the children'.

There is no need to say that, this is a highly recommended book to everyone.

Click here to read part two of the Trilogy.

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This novel has been reviewed in Spanish in Literafrica by Sonia Fernandez, please click here to read.

 

Blunted On Reality, 2012, by Chinedu Achebe ***

The first time I saw this book I thought that the legendary Chinua Achebe has written a new book but when I went through the name again I realised it was not him. After a little research I found out that the author of this book Chinedu Achebe is actually a new writer of Nigerian origin based in the USA.

His first  novel Blunted On Reality is mainly about the story of a young man called Obi who emigrated to USA at the age of 8 years old with his family because his father who is an engineer was transferred to work  in Houston.

Growing up as an African-American Obi was taught that he had to make a positive impact in his community. Naturally, he dwelt on this idea that when he was approaching the age of 30 years old he was afraid of  not being able to accomplish his goals, because he felt he hasn't met his soul mate yet and he needed some inspiration from somewhere or someone. In short he had that fear most young adults have when they are getting close to the age of 30 years for example doubts;  ...whether they are really living up to their expectations or up to society ideals, if so, then what is the next step?

All in all, I liked this storyline although; hence, I strictly recommend it to adults because the writer used a lot of profane words to describe Obi and his friends' sexual lives. Some of which, I think were unnecessary. Moreover, quite a few grammatical errors are found in this book and one could consider it a pet hate. Blunted on Reality is a book if was thoroughly edited and work shopped before publishing would have turned out to be great indeed, so from my point of view, it is a diamond in the rough. At the same time we should not forget that this is Chinedu's first book.

The New Tribe, 2000, by Buchi Emecheta ***

I finished reading this book last night since it was too late to publish my review I decided to leave it for today. It was a gift that I was so excited to receive because as you may know I am Buchi Emecheta's fan. Actually, one of my purpose in reading is to read all of her books. The drawings of this book cover reminds me of the three wise men that visited Jesus Christ after his birth although this author does not write about religion  I decided to give it a try anyway. In the first few pages I was so disappointed that I convinced myself that someone else wrote this book and decided to publish it with Buchi Emecheta's name since she is such an acclaimed writer. The story started with a British family called the Arlingtons, that due to some circumstances were forced to adopt a son called Chester allegedly to be of a Nigerian nationality, this boy turned out to be the main character of the novel. I thought Emecheta always writes about the Nigerian people mainly from the village of Ibuza, her main characters always Nigerian women who struggle against all odds to have a voice of their own in their society. Is she now writing about an adopted child by a British family? not that it is not an interesting topic to write about.

Chester grew up so confused and so willing to find out who his real parents were and why they gave him for adoption. His investigations led him to Nigeria from there on the story started becoming very interesting that I was glad I continued. There was so much drama that I thought it was impossible to end the book in the few pages remaining, but it ended in a very funny way that made me think that Emecheta was really the author of this book even though she was not writing about the Nigerian women from the village of Ibuza. She sent out that message of hers; Who are really your people? Those who gave birth to you or those who brought you up with so much love, accepted you as who you are and most of all instilled in you those concepts and values of what life is worth?

Some quotes I found very interesting:

Forgiveness is one of the greatest gift God has given us. If you know how to forgive and forget past hurts, life itself can be paradise

This next quote sent me out laughing: It is actually a very short conversation and it is not a spoiler.

How can a security officer loose you, Jimoh?
Jimoh: Because I am a black man and you know white people can't see black people. I piled my clothes on the back seat of his vehicle, and when he got out to show his papers, so did I. He came back, got in and just drove off
So he thought you were still in the back seat?
Jimoh nodded and laugh uproariously.

Despite the fact that some parts of the story seem to be all forced that the novel ended with loose ends, on the whole it was a good read. I recommend it to very young adults and adolescents. On my blog it is categorised as a three star novel because I have to acknowledge that Buchi Emecheta has written better novels I have really enjoyed more than this one. Click here to read reviews of her other books I have read.