- Hardcover: 142 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; First Edition edition (Nov 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 006079867X
- ISBN-13: 978-0060798673
- Product Dimensions: 18.5 x 13.4 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,577,107 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
' This is a work of visceral urgency and power: it heralds the arrival of a major talent' (Amitav Ghosh 20060610)
'So scorched by loss and anger that it’s hard to hold and so gripping in its sheer hopeless lifeforce that it's hard to put down.'
(Ali Smith, Guardian 20050910)'The power of his material and its hideous relevance rolls all before it ... This book about children that is in no sense a children’s book deserves to be read'
(Independent 20051029)‘This is an extraordinary book … horrifying expose … vivid … It casts a powerful, if gruesome spell’
(Sunday Telegraph 20051106)‘Iweala makes a compelling story from experience which in its nature defies articulation … Uzodinma Iweala’s is a confident and promising new voice’
(Times Literary Supplement 20051106)'Gives a name, a voice and a heart to one of Africa’s innumerable child soldiers … This is urgent writing, starkly unsentimental and convincing'
(Observer 20051106)‘His riveting revelations… make this a truly shocking and unforgettable book.’
(Waterstone’s Books Quarterly 20051006)‘First-time novelist Uzodinma Iweala has made a virtue of simplicity and, in beautifully unadorned language, has captured the universal tragedy of war and its victims.’
(Telegraph/Seven, Sally Cousins 20050901)‘Linguistically ingenious, Beasts of No Nation is a remarkable debut, a hugely resonant discourse on an uncomfortable subject.’
(Observer, Helen Zaltzman )‘This sad, unforgettable novel is a fitting testament to the countless Agus who continue to kill and be killed across that most tragic of continents.’
(Daily Telegraph, David Isaacson )‘A chilling work of fiction that has visceral impact.’
(Guardian/The Guide )'Compelling ... perturbing, painful and powerful'
(Irish Independent )'A stunningly mature debut'
(Big Issue )'Compelling, haunting and refreshing'
(The Review )'Stream-like sentences that convey irrestible, rushing activitiy ... Iweala’s powerful debut recalls Saro-Wiwa’s first-person masterpiece of a soldier-boy'
(The Times )'A searing first novel'
(Independent )'Beasts of No Nation is written with the authority of someone who knows what they're talking about'
(London Review of Books )‘A simple and brutal account of war … Beasts of No Nation is a raw, compelling first novel’
(Literary Review ) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.Kirkus Reviews
‘An astonishing debut’
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I found this book absolutely gripping. It’s the perfect length for even the most time-pushed, attention deficient of us – this vital tale of becoming set in war-torn West Africa had me so immersed that I devoured it in one reading.
Although the overall theme of the book is extremely harrowing, Iweala doesn’t overplay the horrific elements in his story. Instead, because the story is told from the perspective of a shell-shocked child in his naïve, unfamiliar, and awkward vernacular, such events are recounted with an emotional detachment similar in effect to the work of Primo Levi. There is more for our imagination to engage with, this serves only to make it more moving.
Momentum in the narrative is generated through the growing compassion felt for our young narrator, Agu, as he is wrenched from an idyllic and precocious childhood into complicity with a world of senseless violence and civil war that he is too young to understand. He faces an acute dilemma – to kill or be killed – and is in a permanent state of conflict as the morals he learned from the warm and peaceful community that nurtured him sit at odds with his instinct for survival, which lies in a tragic necessity to please the brutal guerilla group that pillaged his village and probably killed his father.
Detached descriptions of savage rape and murder are juxtaposed with touching recollections of his loving upbringing and the culture that he is now, unwillingly, helping to destroy. These pre-war accounts tell of a West African (we are never given a specific country) way of life and heighten a sense of loss and injustice, of innocents getting dragged into a conflict that they never wanted.
If you have read books like A Clockwork Orange (also a book about coming of age, but set in a fictional dystopia rather than in an historical anarchy) you will not have difficulty adjusting to the language Iweala deploys – it’s all in English, you just have to mind the tenses. You will probably also really enjoy and appreciate the vernacular style that takes you much deeper into the character and the rhythms of the world that he describes.
These days it’s all too easy to become absorbed with the war our government started in Iraq, and to forget all the other, often more atrocious wars taking place elsewhere. This book raises awareness of just how intolerable life is for so many people in West Africa, and inspires one to read more about this situation. If our governments were as committed as they say they are to creating world peace, they would address issues of poverty and dictatorship in Africa, rather than creating more death and disorder by channeling their resources on the oil-rich Arab states.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is not a book I normally would have read. Under strong recommendation I picked it up and was amazed. I was very impressed with the character development and the strength of the narrative voice in a relatively short book. Irrelevant factors were ignored and unimportant issues not even mentioned. The important thing was only Agu, a boy who asked only to live. I usually turn against protagonists who turn on virtue--I empathized with Agu in his darkest deeds. My only complaint concerns the use of a modern deus ex machina, but even so, it does not serve to undo the past, but rather to grant perspective--and in that goal it succeeds. All in all, a powerful read and a necessary read for anyone who is internationally-minded.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A harsh, brutal novel describing the harsh, brutal life of a child solider in an unnamed African conflict. Agu, the narrator, sees his father killed and village burned before being 'recruited' by a gang of ill equipped rebels and forced to fight.
It's an utterly unlovely novel. The writing is hard and angular, often graphically nasty and packs no punches. As such, it is hard to like but probably a truer and better book for it all the same. The narrator's pidgin English is rather annoying - I always dislike this style in a novel - but nevertheless it retains its power.
The brutal, factual style makes it rather unemotionally involving, which is a shame. But it is compelling and readable, and a topic that needs to be written about. The writing is clear and believable and makes you feel as though you are there. I'm giving three stars because it wasn't that enjoyable, but it really depends on what style of writing you like. At the risk of over-generalising, I feel it's more of a man's book, but of course taste varies greatly. Overall a good, if uncomfortable, read.
It's an utterly unlovely novel. The writing is hard and angular, often graphically nasty and packs no punches. As such, it is hard to like but probably a truer and better book for it all the same. The narrator's pidgin English is rather annoying - I always dislike this style in a novel - but nevertheless it retains its power.
The brutal, factual style makes it rather unemotionally involving, which is a shame. But it is compelling and readable, and a topic that needs to be written about. The writing is clear and believable and makes you feel as though you are there. I'm giving three stars because it wasn't that enjoyable, but it really depends on what style of writing you like. At the risk of over-generalising, I feel it's more of a man's book, but of course taste varies greatly. Overall a good, if uncomfortable, read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Hard work
I find it really hard to write about this book. Yes, it is brutal reading. Yes, it portrays a child soldier in an unnamed African war. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Sofia
Should be read but perhaps not one to keep
I feel bad not giving this novel five stars, the brief furore it created when it was published helped, if only for a fleeting moment put the issue of child soldiers at the... Read more
Published on 31 July 2007 by Ibrahim Ali
Beasts of No Nation
The BEASTS OF NO NATION story reigns true in the countless civil wars that have ravaged Africa from the East (Somalia, Congo, Rwanda) to the South (Mozambique and Angola) the West... Read more
Published on 19 Dec 2006 by Mikhail
Powerful
I'm glad that the subject of child soldiers in Africa is finally beginning to show it's face in literature other than UN pamphlets and NGO booklets. Read more
Published on 31 Mar 2006 by Marisa
Beasts of No Nation
The BEASTS OF NO NATION story reigns true in the countless civil wars that have ravaged Africa from the East (Somalia, Congo, Rwanda) to the South (Mozambique and Angola) the West... Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2006 by Mikhail
Harrowing but not Brilliant
Titled after the classic Fela Kuti album, this debut novella from the son of Nigerian immigrants tackles the horror of child soldiers with mixed results. Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2006 by A. Ross
Great book!! :-)
Beasts of No Nation is a great book!! It tells the story of a little boy, Agu who becomes a child soldier after an unfortunate turn of events in his village. Read more
Published on 31 Oct 2005
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