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willowbiblio's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
"She was a very devout woman, but Obi used to wonder whether, left to herself, she would not have preferred telling her children the folk stories that her mother had told her. In fact, she used to tell her eldest daughters stories. But that was before Obi was born. She stopped because her husband forbade her to do so."
----------------------------
This was such a powerful and heartbreaking way to close a story that spanned three generations. We open with the understanding that Obi Okonkwo has gotten caught taking bribes, and the novel helps answer the question asked at the beginning and end: Why?
The celebrations in Umuofia were wholesome, community affairs. We see this juxtaposed against celebrations in Laos as sort of sad, rundown, with neon signs, and artifice. We know from the first two books that Nigerian culture prior to colonization was based on honesty, loyalty, family, community, and spirituality. The idea that Nigerians (and Africans in general) are corrupt is propaganda that even the 3rd post-colonial generation believes.
Telling and singing stories together was how the clan learned history, values, morals, identity, etc. Forbidding this is one of the best ways to further eradicate culture, bonds, and identity. The whites successfully convinced the Nigerians to censor themselves, as shown with Obi's mother and father. Additionally, the Nigerians began to mimic and adopt the ever-present racism.
Despite being paid so much more and being "better educated", Obi's financial struggles fulfilled the warning from the President of the Umuofia club. Really good use of foreshadowing with that.
I thought it was interesting that Achebe was sort of self-referential when he talked about the suicide ending as not true tragedy- regarding Okonkwo senior's end.
It was also clear throughout that for the Europeans/English any system of self-governance basically didn't exist prior to them. This intentional ignorance helped them to justify a continued presence and subjugation.
Excellent trilogy, so glad I read it in it's entirety!
----------------------------
This was such a powerful and heartbreaking way to close a story that spanned three generations. We open with the understanding that Obi Okonkwo has gotten caught taking bribes, and the novel helps answer the question asked at the beginning and end: Why?
The celebrations in Umuofia were wholesome, community affairs. We see this juxtaposed against celebrations in Laos as sort of sad, rundown, with neon signs, and artifice. We know from the first two books that Nigerian culture prior to colonization was based on honesty, loyalty, family, community, and spirituality. The idea that Nigerians (and Africans in general) are corrupt is propaganda that even the 3rd post-colonial generation believes.
Telling and singing stories together was how the clan learned history, values, morals, identity, etc. Forbidding this is one of the best ways to further eradicate culture, bonds, and identity. The whites successfully convinced the Nigerians to censor themselves, as shown with Obi's mother and father. Additionally, the Nigerians began to mimic and adopt the ever-present racism.
Despite being paid so much more and being "better educated", Obi's financial struggles fulfilled the warning from the President of the Umuofia club. Really good use of foreshadowing with that.
I thought it was interesting that Achebe was sort of self-referential when he talked about the suicide ending as not true tragedy- regarding Okonkwo senior's end.
It was also clear throughout that for the Europeans/English any system of self-governance basically didn't exist prior to them. This intentional ignorance helped them to justify a continued presence and subjugation.
Excellent trilogy, so glad I read it in it's entirety!
daladala's review against another edition
4.0
The African Trilogyn toisessa osassa ollaan hypätty yli 50 vuotta ajassa eteenpäin, aikaan jolloin Nigeriassa puhututti valtion mahdollinen itsenäisyys ja paikalliset alkoivat kivuta korkeampiin asemiin työelämän hierarkioissa. 50-luvun Lagoksen syke ei ole miljööltään yhtä vetävä kuin 1800-luvun lopun syrjäinen kyläyhteisö, mutta traagisen sankarin viittaa kantava Okonkwo säväyttää jälleen.
cmbohn's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Really a tragic story. It starts at the end, then jumps back to the beginning.
I was really rooting for Oko even though I knew how it ended.
I was really rooting for Oko even though I knew how it ended.
tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
5.0
This second novel in the trilogy is about Obi Okonkwo, grandson of the main character in the first novel. He has returned to Nigeria for a position in the public service after receiving a British education funded by his village. As the novel opens, he is in court, convicted of corruption. Flashbacks will tell us his story. And yes, the novel’s epigraph, the final four lines from ‘The Journey of the Magi’ set the scene.
‘We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.’
(T. S. Eliot, ‘The Journey of the Magi’)
This novel was published in 1960, the year Nigeria became independent from Britain. Obi Okonkwo returns to a country in transition, preparing for independence. Times are changing:
‘Mr Ikedi had come to Umuofia from a township, and was able to tell the gathering how wedding feasts had been steadily declining in the towns since the invention of invitation cards. Many of his hearers whistled in disbelief when he told them that a man could not go to his neighbour’s wedding unless he was given one of these papers on which they wrote R.S.V.P. – Rice and Stew Very plenty – which was invariably an overstatement.’
Obi is welcomed back by the committee who funded his four years of university education. The village has made many sacrifices to fund Obi’s education, and he is expected to pay the money back over a period.
‘He spoke of the great honour Obi had brought to the ancient town of Umuofia, which could now join the comity of other towns in their march towards political irredentism, social equality, and economic emancipation.’
‘The white man’s country must be very distant indeed,’ suggested one of the men. Everyone knew it was very distant, but they wanted to hear it again from the mouth of their young kinsman.
‘It is not something that can be told,’ said Obi. ‘It took the white man’s ship sixteen days – four market weeks – to do the journey.’
But Obi, surrounded by expectations, opportunity, and relative privilege, finds his debts mounting. And when he falls in love with an unsuitable woman, an outcast, his financial and emotional turmoil increases.
‘Lagos is a bad place for a young man. If you follow its sweetness, you will perish.’
At first Obi resists the bribes offered to him, but when he succumbs, he learns that there are consequences.
Throughout the novel, Mr Achebe illustrates the tensions between tradition and modern expectations. Obi has let down his village more than once, but he is their kinsman, and they support him.
‘This is what the world had come to. Children left their old parents at home and scattered in all directions in search of money. It was hard on an old woman. It was like having a river and yet washing one’s hands with spittle.’
Do I feel sorry for Obi? Yes, a little. He may be foolish but is caught between two worlds, unable to rest easy in either.
I am now preparing to read the final book in this trilogy: ‘Arrow of God’.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
drollgorg's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Arrow of God remains the best of the trilogy, but I thought this was a good entry, if not a good conclusion. It feels less than the previous two like it comes to a head or has a moment it's moving towards, and instead relays a narrative of events, taken as they come to the main character rather than in chronological order, that explain how he reached his breaking point and how his ideals and sense of elevation come to be discarded. Feels very distinct from the previous books thanks to its setting in Lagos and to protagonist Obi Okonkwo's intentionally setting himself apart from the traditions of his community and from the corrupt political culture in the capital.
The book sped by quicker than the other two, due to the reduction of the Igbo storytelling that dominated those others and its replacement with the more professionalized, or at least status-concerned thoughts that Obi is constantly occupied by. It also didn't leave me with as strong of an impression, and the characters felt less novel and distinctive. Not to impugn it, it just kind of wasn't as strong a finish to this loose trilogy as I might have hoped- its greatest contribution as such is showing the future fates of the Okonkwo family, and the Umuofia region.
The book sped by quicker than the other two, due to the reduction of the Igbo storytelling that dominated those others and its replacement with the more professionalized, or at least status-concerned thoughts that Obi is constantly occupied by. It also didn't leave me with as strong of an impression, and the characters felt less novel and distinctive. Not to impugn it, it just kind of wasn't as strong a finish to this loose trilogy as I might have hoped- its greatest contribution as such is showing the future fates of the Okonkwo family, and the Umuofia region.
steve_urick's review against another edition
4.0
This was apparently published second (after Things Fall Apart and before Arrow of God), but it it the third book chronologically Chinua Achebe's trilogy. Colonialism is a theme in all three books, but I enjoyed learning about the culture of Nigeria also. We do not get enough information through dialog or narration to really get to know the characters well. Nevertheless, the story is paced well and it is easy to read.
eehancock's review against another edition
4.0
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 back and tells Obi Okonkwo's story from when he is a high-achieving student in his small, community-oriented village who is chosen to receive a scholarship to study in England. It follows him as he decides to study English rather than Law and when he falls in love with a beautiful, young woman who turns out to be an osu--historically, an outcast by descent. He is the first person from his village to have a senior management position with the Nigerian government. Because of poor financial management, he begins spending more money than he earns even though he makes more in one month than most Nigerians earn in a year. Between this and some of the personal/ recreational choices he makes isolates him from those from his past life.
He eventually, again, due to poor financial decisions begins taking bribes to pay off his debts and to support his lifestyle. One day, he takes a bet from a man that turns out to be a set-up. He is arrested, tried, and found guilty. Nonetheless, through the trial, his "kins people" support him.
It was a quick read and interesting to see how Christianity was still being reconciled with traditional Nigerian values. And, as always, it was reaffirming to see that money and power do not actually translate into happiness and simplicity.
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 back and tells Obi Okonkwo's story from when he is a high-achieving student in his small, community-oriented village who is chosen to receive a scholarship to study in England. It follows him as he decides to study English rather than Law and when he falls in love with a beautiful, young woman who turns out to be an osu--historically, an outcast by descent. He is the first person from his village to have a senior management position with the Nigerian government. Because of poor financial management, he begins spending more money than he earns even though he makes more in one month than most Nigerians earn in a year. Between this and some of the personal/ recreational choices he makes isolates him from those from his past life.
He eventually, again, due to poor financial decisions begins taking bribes to pay off his debts and to support his lifestyle. One day, he takes a bet from a man that turns out to be a set-up. He is arrested, tried, and found guilty. Nonetheless, through the trial, his "kins people" support him.
It was a quick read and interesting to see how Christianity was still being reconciled with traditional Nigerian values. And, as always, it was reaffirming to see that money and power do not actually translate into happiness and simplicity.
diaspora_reader's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Colonisation, and Racism
Moderate: Abortion and Xenophobia
Minor: Pregnancy, Death, and Death of parent
dude_watchin_with_the_brontes's review against another edition
3.0
I think I was expecting a second Things Fall Apart, which is hard to live up to.
It reminds me of an anecdote I once heard about Joseph Heller:
An interviewer asked him why none of his other books are as good as Catch 22, and Heller replied that it because no book could ever be as good as Catch 22.
It reminds me of an anecdote I once heard about Joseph Heller:
An interviewer asked him why none of his other books are as good as Catch 22, and Heller replied that it because no book could ever be as good as Catch 22.
steveurick's review against another edition
4.0
This was apparently published second (after Things Fall Apart and before Arrow of God), but it it the third book chronologically Chinua Achebe's trilogy. Colonialism is a theme in all three books, but I enjoyed learning about the culture of Nigeria also. We do not get enough information through dialog or narration to really get to know the characters well. Nevertheless, the story is paced well and it is easy to read.