Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Summer Reading Spectacular #9

Having just finished reading Uzodinma Iweala's debut novel, Beasts of No Nation, I find myself at a loss for words which can adequately capture even a hint of its impact. Saying it's a powerful narrative seems trite.

It is the story of a boy, Agu, recruited into child soldiership in some unnamed African country and flung into the horrific, mangled world of war. The voice, first person and in a relentless and haunting present tense, is frank and graphic, always teetering on the edge where the naivety of childhood meets the brutality of Agu's experiences, what he sees and what he does, and how he tries to justify and make sense of the world in which he finds himself.

But they are only screaming like Devil is coming for them. I am not Devil. I am not bad boy. I am not bad boy. Devil is not blessing me and I am not going to hell. But still I am thinking maybe Devil born me and that is why I am doing all of this.

Read this book.

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