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14th out of 233 books
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43 voters
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No Longer at Ease
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 repugnant. More than thirty years after it was first written, this novel remains a brilliant statement on the challenges still facing African society.
Paperback, 194 pages
Published
September 16th 1994
by Anchor
(first published 1960)
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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
The book is set in Nigeria during the 1950’s. Obi returns to Nigeria from England, where he had studied for his degree, to take up a good paying job in the civil service in Lagos. On his journey home he meets Clara, a Nigerian who trained to be a Nurse in England, and he wants to marry her. But Clara is an osu, and Obi’s parents and his kinsmen from Umofomia do not want him to marry her. Obi must also negotiate the corrupt world of the civil service where citizens wanting their children to gain ...more
This is the book that completes the story of the man Okonkwo and the eventual fortunes of his son Nwoye who left his father following the advent of Christianity and a very nasty occurence in the village that brought down his father. It is imperative that after reading "Things Fall Apart" one also goes ahead to read "No Longer at Ease." The one must also follow the other or one would appear like reading abook backwards.
The story is about a generation of African graduate...more
The story is about a generation of African graduate...more
When is a man corrupt - When he takes his first token of bribe or when he is caught taking his Nth bribe?
When does a man break – when he runs low on means to eke out a decent life; or when he runs out of reasons to live?
What is religion – a code of life or an artificial teat to be sucked on during hours of discomfort and otherwise quickly abandoned to comply with social norms?
What is more difficult to repay – an enormous loan or the burden of perceived gratitude?
Ask...more
When does a man break – when he runs low on means to eke out a decent life; or when he runs out of reasons to live?
What is religion – a code of life or an artificial teat to be sucked on during hours of discomfort and otherwise quickly abandoned to comply with social norms?
What is more difficult to repay – an enormous loan or the burden of perceived gratitude?
Ask...more
This 1960 sequel to Achebe's Things Fall Apart is the story of Obi Okonkwo, the grandson of the protagonist in Things Fall Apart. Obi has the opportunity and fortune to study in Britain, and in the process is more removed from his African roots. At times it reminded me of American novels of the turn-of-the-century in which the main character, usually a young woman, leaves her home for a bigger city and is confronted by opposition - like Dreiser's Sister Carrie. Obi is the one who needs to mak...more
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.
Chinua Achebe's reputation earns too much exposure for his jaded and pessimistic stories about how the traditions, cultures and institutions of Africa inevitably destroy its most promising individuals.
"No Longer At Ease" frames the gradual undoing of a young man saddled with being the collective investment of his rural Nigerian community. Their fraternal society pay for his school fees and sponsor his European education so that he can return to Nigeria and use his credenti...more
"No Longer At Ease" frames the gradual undoing of a young man saddled with being the collective investment of his rural Nigerian community. Their fraternal society pay for his school fees and sponsor his European education so that he can return to Nigeria and use his credenti...more
Another great one by Chinua Achebe. In the early 1950s, a village collects money to send Obi, a bright young student, to get a university degree in England. Obi returns with his degree, determined to be part of a young generation who will build a strong independent Nigeria. He is determined to cast off the corrupt ways of the old guard, who used their government positions for self-enrichment rather than public service.
Once he returnes, however, he is torn between the old ways - both ...more
Once he returnes, however, he is torn between the old ways - both ...more
Obi Okonkwo, the grandson of Okonkwo, returns to Nigeria after acquiring his prestigious, "white" education from England. As he returns, he becomes conflicted with the old traditional values and his modernized/westernized ideas. He becomes part of the ruling elite, in this case a step down from being a "superior" white. I appreciate this novel because it presents the conflicting ideas in a clear way. For those who are from or know about Nigeria and West Africa, the story seem...more
Chinua Achebe efficaciously tackles questions of morality in the complex novel No Longer at Ease. Centered on the Umuofia native, Obi Okonkwo, Achebe develops a character who struggles with governmental corruption in the form of bribery, amongst other issues.
No Longer at Ease opens with Obi on trial for a rather unfortunate misdeed. Achebe briefly exposes a defenseless and hopeless Obi before retracing the reader to the starting point of Obi’s story. Hence, readers are provided with...more
No Longer at Ease opens with Obi on trial for a rather unfortunate misdeed. Achebe briefly exposes a defenseless and hopeless Obi before retracing the reader to the starting point of Obi’s story. Hence, readers are provided with...more
This is the story of the grandson of Okonkwo from "Things Fall Apart", and while it was a totally different kind of tragedy, it is equally wonderful. The setting is Nigeria in the 1950s, shortly before independence, and lines are blurred in every sector of public and private life. No one knows which rules to follow anymore because it's difficult to discern what is a choice and what is being forced on you from the outside. There are so many interesting moments of conscience, and I th...more
This is my first book by this author. Found it an interesting read - with lots of quaint proverbs which made me ruminate upon each, totally different beliefs and customs, in fact a totally different way of life, though the superstitious elders who interfere in youngsters' lives made me remember our Indian customs. THis is about the rise and downfall of an ordinary though intelligent man who got education from England, chose badly in love, and finally came down from his position in life due to es...more
Though I love Achebe's writing, having done A man of the people as a set book in high school, No Longer at ease is not particularly my best pick from his shelf. Obi returns from England to re-integrate himself into the Nigerian society where corruption is the in thing, but a turn of events, including the sad fact that he can't marry his Clara, leads him to succumb to this rot. My favorite part of this book is when Achebe talks of Conrad's Heart of Darkness... I thought that was pretty well handl...more
After finishing another read, I was wandering around a bookstore looking for something interesting. As I walked by, the sign marked 'Literature' peaked an interest in me far beyond that which should have come about by looking at such a plain green sign. I thought back to a critical reading class I had my sophomore year in college, and only one stood out in my memory as anything less than dreary. Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart had struck me as a genuine piece of art. I had to look around fo...more
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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 ...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 ...more
The plot appeared to be far removed from the events of the previous saga, "Things Fall Apart." The plot was well conceived, but slow moving. The tone came off very near to existentialist. Existentialism causes an emotional reaction in this reader, perhaps it clouded my perspective. It was definitely a fine showcase of how people fall to temptation.
The author is from Nairobi and so is the setting. It is about a young Nigerian sent to England to be educated, paid for by his tribe. He is afrom a Christian family although Nigeria is mainly Muslim. It is about the trials he faces financially and romantically when he gets his job with the Nigerian government. It is sad but could easily be true.
Obi Okonkwo returns to Nigeria after attending school in England and goes to work in the public service. At first he is contemptuous of the rampant government corruption, but constant money troubles and debt gradually erode his convictions. An interesting look both at life in colonial Africa and at how corruption happens gradually in slow steps and often accompanied by high moral intentions.
In the introduction to this edition (AWS Classics) Simon Gikandi argues that this book is a classic of the stature of Achebe's previous work 'Things Fall Apart'. That is a slight exaggeration but I still think this is one of the founding texts of African literature and it would have been recognised as such immediately were it not for the long shadow of TFA.
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 solace (roughly inst...more
It was interesting to discover that some 'Nigerian' thought patterns and values that I consider corruptive and always assumed were distinct to my generation already existed way before my time.
We instinctively look back on the distant past with some idealistic nostalgia, but the truth is there has never been an innocent age.
We instinctively look back on the distant past with some idealistic nostalgia, but the truth is there has never been an innocent age.
Lamski Kikita
rated it
Recommends it for:
political science freaks, those interested in African lit
Recommended to Lamski Kikita by:
Professor
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...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...more
I really enjoyed this. It's a wonderful continuation of the story Achebe began in Things Fall Apart. Here, we watch Okonkwo's grandson try to cope with the expectations of his people and the cultural divide that wealth can bring. Surprisingly, I found this to be very similar, thematically, to An American Tragedy. Obviously, this book is much shorter, but it's interesting to see that the difficulties of income disparity can be viewed similarly by two writers on different continents 40 years apart...more
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
I read this book long time back...This books talks about how Christianity has got infiltrated into a new culture and how they could manage to make a place...I need to read this again and his other books more.. Thankyou Anna and Micheal san for introducing this author...
Achebe's narrative voice is still solid and his characterizations are insightful and skilled at illustrating the conflicts inherent in the post-colonial mind. Its only shortcoming is rooted in the fact that, by modernizing the setting and characters, it loses some of the breathtaking brilliance of "Things Fall Apart", by replacing the utterly alien with the considerably more familiar.
Kathryn
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
those who read Things Fall Apart
Recommended to Kathryn by:
Shep Trott
Shelves:
african-lit
I found this book even more moving than Things Fall Apart which it is a sequel to. It is the story of Okinowo's (the main character of Things Fall Apart) grandson Obi and how his time in England seperates him from his Ibo, Nigerian roots, and yet how he does not fit in to English culture because of his Ibo, Nigerian roots. I think the tragedy of his and Clara's love story as well as his relationship with his family is especially tragic.
Obi becomes a person without a place he truly belongs,...more
Obi becomes a person without a place he truly belongs,...more
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I have the same complaints about this story as I did about the first one. Choppy writing style was the main detractor. However, the explanations about African culture were a little bit better in this book, so that helped.
Left me "no longer at ease." Achebe's sparse, elegant language is a perfect foil for the intensity of the story - Obi's experiences being caught at the "crossroads of cultures" (indeed, civilisations) perfectly encompass what it means to be a "post-colonial" Nigerian.
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Chinua Achebe is a novelist, poet, professor at Brown University and critic. He is best known for his first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), which is the most widely read book in modern African literature.
Raised by Christian parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria, Achebe excelled at school and won a scholarship for undergraduate studies. He became fascinated with wo...more
More about Chinua Achebe...
Raised by Christian parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria, Achebe excelled at school and won a scholarship for undergraduate studies. He became fascinated with wo...more
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