No Longer at Ease
by Chinua Achebe
published
September 16th 1994
(first published 1981)
by Anchor
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binding
Paperback, 208 pages
isbn
0385474555
(isbn13: 9780385474559)
description
The story of a man whose foreign education has separated him from his African roots and made him parts of a ruling elite whose corruption he finds rep...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 491)
Read in May, 2008
So apparently I've been reading books I should have read in high school. This is the sequel to Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart which I read in high school. I have to admit, I had to skim through online reviews of Things Fall Apart because I couldn't remember how it ends.
You don't actually need to have read Things Fall Apart to understand what's going on in No Longer at Ease. It begins with a trial of a young Nigerian man, Obi Okonkwo, who has been accused of taking a bribe. Then it goes ...more
You don't actually need to have read Things Fall Apart to understand what's going on in No Longer at Ease. It begins with a trial of a young Nigerian man, Obi Okonkwo, who has been accused of taking a bribe. Then it goes ...more
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Read in July, 2008
This doesn't have the emotional punch of Things Fall Apart, but I don't know that that makes this story of a young Obi Okonkwo--the grandson of TFA's protagonist--trapped between his Igbo heritage and English education any less tragic. It feels far more inevitable than its predecessor as we know how Obi will fall from the opening pages, and as such it feels tidier, less open to interpretation, perhaps even more didactic. Chaucer said a tale should deliver both sentence and...more
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Read in September, 2008
recommended to Spamiola by:
Professorrecommends it for: political science freaks, those interested in African lit
Written with perfect British English and yet so simple in narration and meaning.
Achebe tells the story of the constant quarrel between one's moral code and the pressures of life. Obi is a young and educated Nigerian who has always condemned and was disgusted at all forms of corruption and bribery practiced by government officials. After he loses his mother, gets stuck with so many bills that he cannot pay, and faces the scrutiny of his community which condemns his plans to marry a woman of &qu...more
Achebe tells the story of the constant quarrel between one's moral code and the pressures of life. Obi is a young and educated Nigerian who has always condemned and was disgusted at all forms of corruption and bribery practiced by government officials. After he loses his mother, gets stuck with so many bills that he cannot pay, and faces the scrutiny of his community which condemns his plans to marry a woman of &qu...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
people who are stuck
I read this during jury duty. It was good. The main character asked for a loan from his village council to attend European university. When he comes back to his country he gets a job. But then he is expected to fulfill a certain status role. He has to live in the city and drive a car and eat meat in his soup, etc. But all the time he is becoming more and more in debt, and he can't marry his love because she is from an undesirable social class. Also once he has an education and a job, his ...more
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Read in January, 2003
So this is a book that anybody who has had to split two cultures or mesh them should read. It is about a young man who gets an English education and returns to his native Nigeria. Inevitably tribal obligations come into conflict with his new idealism related to corruption and progress. The title is a phrase from a T S Eliot poem, "The Journey of the Magi" and the lines are about how when the magi return after seeing the infant king to their own land they are "No longer at ease ...more
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Read in January, 1997
I loved Things Fall Apart so much that I read this sequel. I like Achebe's style of writing and his stories really capture my imagination. This was one of the required books in my Humanities of Africa book too. How delighted I was when it came up because I had already read it four years before. No Longer at Ease really shows that although he had great personal accomplishments coming from a rural African village, he was also set up to fail in a [white man's:] society in which a black man cannot s...more
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This was clearly written, culturally fascinating, and had a strong sense of truth. However, it also had a strong sense of foreboding which I found frightening and didn't really like. In fact, I am not sure what books like this are trying to do. Explain how good people fall into corruption? Explain why Nigeria is how it is? Place blame? Achebe's allegory is universal, and is as insightful as anything, but it is frustrating that it doesn't manage to fully answer the awful questions it raises.
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I thought this was actually a better book than "Things Fall Apart." This is the story of a man's descent when he should have been rising like a star. Unfortunate that some many things combined to make this such a sad novel.
But I loved it -- the story of a British educated African who has the expectations of the world on his shoulders and is unable to square himself and plant his feet firmly enough to succeed.
But I loved it -- the story of a British educated African who has the expectations of the world on his shoulders and is unable to square himself and plant his feet firmly enough to succeed.
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Read in August, 1990
This work is part of a Trilogy of fictional books that explores real life contradictions in West African culture that are brought about by conflicts between tribal social structures and the realities of post-colonial living.
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Read in June, 2008
Interesting, it's funny to see the parallel between African American lives now are too similar to African lives 30 years ago when it comes to education, love and class.
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hard 2 read i feel like iam reading a history bk sum1 please tell me it gets better iam only on the second chapter but my mom really wants me 2 read it! ugh!!!!!! HELP!
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Read in March, 2008
Another excellent book of Achebe's. It doesn't flow quite as well as some of his other books but the language and message is equally poignant. Please read this book!
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Read in May, 2007
I liked it. But I liked "Things Fall Apart" better. "Anthills of the Savannah" and "No longer at ease" probably similar in terms of how much I liked it.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in January, 2000
This book was pretty interesting. I didn't think it was nearly as good as "Things Fall Apart". Probably worth reading once, but I won't read it again.
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recommends it for:
Those interested in contemporary African culture
Interesting analysis of how Nigerian culture has been permanently and negatively changed by colonization. It was an easy read, but life-changing.
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If you were ever wondering about Ibo culture, the meeting between white and black in backwater Africa or anything related, read this book!
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read this while unemployed and at a low point. Didnt help. LOL. But, I loved the story of the rise and fall of a good person.
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Read in March, 2003
Had to read it for a class - didn't really like it. Lots of people enjoy Chinua Achebe though, so you might.
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Not as good as "Things Fall Apart", a bit weaker in the follow up, but still enjoyable.
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Read in January, 2004
Not as good as Man of the People or Things Fall Apart, but a decent read.
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