Jan/Feb 2018 | The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born NO SPOILERS

[Anetq, Tour Operator & Guide]

This thread is for discussions of out Jan/Feb 2018 read of The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah - with NO SPOILERS (there is a thread with spoilers allowed too) - so feel free to discuss book editions, availability, expectations etc. - when you get into the book, please join us in the spoiler thread!

[Carol]

From a review published in Kirkus Review comes the following commentary:

"In the groping stretch between colonialism and a strong national identity one of the natural attitudes is a sour malaise. This young Ghanian author has caught the vanishing ends of two worlds in a bitter, acerbic novel of one man's spiritual trials in a new West African nation. The exploitative, crushing rule of the white colonists is ever a fresh memory--the house on the hill from which little African boys were routed by dogs and weapons. Just as oppressive, however, are the new rulers of the country--""black (men) trying at all points to be the dark ghost of Europeans,"" men whose flight away from blackness into whiteness can only mean that their power comes from ""white masters."" The anonymous narrator, a railroad clerk, sadly contemplates the materialistic yearnings of his wife and his termagant mother-in-law. Yet he will not accept bribes, be overpowered by a former friend, now a Westernized official--Koomson, of the glittering wife, the appliance-filled apartment. (view spoiler)[But the regime is overthrown, and the man helps Koomson escape. The bitter knowledge of his teacher (symbolically, truthfully, ""the naked man""), and his own awareness of a constricting future lead to the tired hope that the Beautyful Ones will come hereafter. (hide spoiler)] A strong, tight, efficient novel--urgent and relevant."

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...

My copy has not yet arrived, but I'm very much looking forward to reading this novel. I'll see if I can find any other pertinent online materials and post them here.

[Carol]

About the author, Ayi Kwei Armah.

He was born in 1939 to Fante-speaking parents in the port city of Sekondi Takoradi, Ghana. He attended Achimota College, but in 1959 left Ghana to attend the Groton School. He next attended Harvard and graduated with a sociology degree, and returned to Ghana in 1964.

At this link is a detailed biography.

http://www.africansuccess.org/visuFic...

[George P.]

My local public (city and county) libraries didn't have any copies but I was able to get a resident-guest card for the state university library (Utah) and get a copy there a couple days ago. They actually had 3, all fairly old, yellowed paperbacks, but quite readable.
Thanks Carol for nominating this. I've read about 10 pages and look forward to reading more and discussing the book.