No Longer at Ease
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4.4 • 14 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
“A magical writer—one of the greatest of the twentieth century.” —Margaret Atwood
“African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe.” —Toni Morrison
A classic story of moral struggle in an age of turbulent social change and the final book in Chinua Achebe’s The African Trilogy
When Obi Okonkwo, grandson of Okonkwo, the main character in Things Fall Apart returns to Nigeria from England in the 1950s, his foreign education separates him from his African roots. No Longer at Ease, the third and concluding novel in Chinua Achebe’s The African Trilogy, depicts the uncertainties that beset the nation of Nigeria, as independence from colonial rule loomed near. In Obi Okonkwo’s experiences, the ambiguities, pitfalls, and temptations of a rapidly evolving society are revealed. He is part of a ruling Nigerian elite whose corruption he finds repugnant. His fate, however, overtakes him as he finds himself trapped between the expectation of his family, his village—both representations of the traditional world of his ancestors—and the colonial world. A story of a man lost in cultural limbo, and a nation entering a new age of disillusionment, No Longer at Ease is a powerful metaphor for his generation of young Nigerians.
Customer Reviews
Life Comes Undone
Layered with Irony and circular reflections, No Longer At Ease, ties out the African Trilogy with equal doses of melancholy and wisdom. The lives of Okwonko and his namesake grandfather mirror each other in some ways and diverge in others. The most noticeable common thread being how their moral uprightness is washed away by the wave of progress and the crushing solitude of pride.
You can’t help but grimace at Okonkwo’s references to phrases and ideas from the first book that were once foreboding, transformed into ghostlike echos from the past. I particularly found it impressive how Achebe addresses the white colonialist narrative with a subtle story arch going from grand aspirations to begrudgingly accepting the reality of the African situation. In the end, everyone exits, hat in hand, with the balloons of their big ideas popped by the bitter realities of life.
The entire book is a denouement of the journey of a tragedy; a real one as Okonkwo mentions, without happy endings. The entire trilogy is a moving embodiment of the intersection between progress, culture, and a struggle of wills in Africa. I am so glad I have taken the opportunity to read it. I am left feeling closer to the Nigeria of my mother and father and better understanding of who they are and their feelings towards their home.
Best book
I really love this book it actually one of my favorite books
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