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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book takes a lot of energy to get into with language that isn't easily approachable. Once you get about seven chapters in the wording is more fluid and tries less to stretch out metaphors. I appreciate the protagonist's view of questioning the insidiousness of white supremacy in a majority African country. I definitely left this book with ideas to pursue later.
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this book in school and truth be told it was one of the best books that I found my self using again and again.
moreover the symbolism in the book, and setting and plot defines what a great author Ayi Kwei Armah really is.
Fantastic read and a great imagery....
moreover the symbolism in the book, and setting and plot defines what a great author Ayi Kwei Armah really is.
Fantastic read and a great imagery....
challenging
slow-paced
An excellent novel highlighting powerlessness, moral decay and relentless status-seeking in post-independence Ghana. Taking place over the course of about a week, the book follows a nameless man battling chronic feelings of inadequacy and dissatisfaction as he both fails to have meaningful relationships and to fit into the culture of corruption seemingly endemic to Ghanaian society. And all of this takes places through the extended metaphor of excrement, filth and rot. Don't read while snacking!
The more things change..the more they remain the same.
Africa.
Brilliant book!
Africa.
Brilliant book!
The stink of corruption. Ayi Kwei Armah uses shit as a metaphor cleverly and completely.
I'm on an African lit binge and TBANYB is sure to be one of the most memorable I'll read. It's one of the major post-independence books, set in Ghana in the 1960s. Since I read it after [b:Things Fall Apart|37781|Things Fall Apart|Chinua Achebe|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1352082529s/37781.jpg|825843], I couldn't resist but comparing the two, though about the only thing they have in common is an African setting and an omniscient narrator. I prefer Armah's prose to Achebe's. Part of this owes to the more modern setting of TBANYB, but it is mostly to Armah's decision to symbolize corruption with shit. Yes, it smells, but once it gets on you, it doesn't come off. And it's everywhere. The nameless protagonist would blanch at the notion that we all must play the corruption game, but perhaps by the end of the book, he's changed his mind.
TBANYB sags a bit in the middle, rudderless before the unforgettable climax. Corruption, like most things that happen every day, eventually becomes mundane and Armah is wise to not belabor that point.
My other critique is in regards to the narrator and point of view. There were times when the narrator seemed to take the main character's point of view and in a couple of key scenes--which I won't reveal--that matters, but perhaps that was Armah's intention.
A final point as to the book's relevance to the present. I've not been to Ghana (note: I visited in December 2018) so I can't speak to whether it still rings true nearly fifty years after publication, but it's the theme of corruption will never be far from the headlines.
I'm on an African lit binge and TBANYB is sure to be one of the most memorable I'll read. It's one of the major post-independence books, set in Ghana in the 1960s. Since I read it after [b:Things Fall Apart|37781|Things Fall Apart|Chinua Achebe|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1352082529s/37781.jpg|825843], I couldn't resist but comparing the two, though about the only thing they have in common is an African setting and an omniscient narrator. I prefer Armah's prose to Achebe's. Part of this owes to the more modern setting of TBANYB, but it is mostly to Armah's decision to symbolize corruption with shit. Yes, it smells, but once it gets on you, it doesn't come off. And it's everywhere. The nameless protagonist would blanch at the notion that we all must play the corruption game, but perhaps by the end of the book, he's changed his mind.
TBANYB sags a bit in the middle, rudderless before the unforgettable climax. Corruption, like most things that happen every day, eventually becomes mundane and Armah is wise to not belabor that point.
My other critique is in regards to the narrator and point of view. There were times when the narrator seemed to take the main character's point of view and in a couple of key scenes--which I won't reveal--that matters, but perhaps that was Armah's intention.
A final point as to the book's relevance to the present. I've not been to Ghana (note: I visited in December 2018) so I can't speak to whether it still rings true nearly fifty years after publication, but it's the theme of corruption will never be far from the headlines.
The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born is a novel set during the last days of the Nkrumah government in Ghana. It’s about a man resisting corruption, quixotically in the view of most of those around him. The scathing portrayal of a corrupt society is all the sharper because of the contrast with the optimism that came with independence; it’s a novel, among other things, about the loss of hope. A kind of Animal Farm of post-colonialism.
It’s a slim book, less than 200 pages, but it took me quite a long time to read because it required focussed attention: eventually I took it on a long train journey where there were no distractions. It’s just densely written, with detailed, closely observed descriptive passages that are very effective; but also with some convoluted sentences that simply do not allow for skimming. This is the kind of thing:
I know it’s hardly Finnegans Wake, but it’s a bit of a speed bump when you’re reading.
Incidentally, the cover of the Heinemann edition really seems like a terrible choice for a novel which is dark and spiky and intricate. I should know by now: don’t read too much into the cover design. But I think it’s unavoidable that it affects your expectations, and I was really startled by the mismatch between the cover and the content.
The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born is my book from Ghana for the Read The World challenge. I tried to find a short passage to quote to give you a flavour, but it doesn’t really lend itself to quoting. So I’ll just say it’s sharp, bitter, evocative, sometimes for my taste slightly overwritten, but often beautiful.
It’s a slim book, less than 200 pages, but it took me quite a long time to read because it required focussed attention: eventually I took it on a long train journey where there were no distractions. It’s just densely written, with detailed, closely observed descriptive passages that are very effective; but also with some convoluted sentences that simply do not allow for skimming. This is the kind of thing:
But along the streets, those who can soon learn to recognize in ordinary faces beings whom the spirit has moved, but who cannot follow where it beckons, so heavy are the small ordinary days of the time.
I know it’s hardly Finnegans Wake, but it’s a bit of a speed bump when you’re reading.
Incidentally, the cover of the Heinemann edition really seems like a terrible choice for a novel which is dark and spiky and intricate. I should know by now: don’t read too much into the cover design. But I think it’s unavoidable that it affects your expectations, and I was really startled by the mismatch between the cover and the content.
The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born is my book from Ghana for the Read The World challenge. I tried to find a short passage to quote to give you a flavour, but it doesn’t really lend itself to quoting. So I’ll just say it’s sharp, bitter, evocative, sometimes for my taste slightly overwritten, but often beautiful.
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A Ghanaian classic, quite depressing at times, spectacular writing + great metaphors found throughout the novel!