Synopses & Reviews
The story of a man whose foreign education has separated him from his African roots and made him parts of a ruling elite whose corruption he finds repugnant. More than thirty years after it was first written, this novel remains a brilliant statement on the challenges still facing African society.
Synopsis
The second book in Achebe s African trilogy: A classic story of personal and moral struggle as well as turbulent social conflict.
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. He s becoming a part of a ruling elite whose corruption he finds repugnant. Forced to choose between traditional values and the demands of a changing world, he finds himself trapped between the expectations of his family, his village, and the larger society around him. With unequaled clarity and poignancy, Chinua Achebe s No Longer at Ease remains a brilliant statement of the challenges facing Nigeria today."
Synopsis
A classic story of moral struggle in an age of turbulent social change and the final book in Achebe's The African Trillogy
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. He has become a part of a ruling elite whose corruption he finds repugnant. Forced to choose between traditional values and the demands of a changing world, he finds himself trapped between the expectations of his family, his village, and the colonial world.
Showing a man lost in cultural limbo, and a nation entering a new age of disillusionment, No Longer at Ease concludes Achebe's remarkable trilogy charting three generations of an African community under the impact of colonialism, the first two volumes of which are Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God.
Synopsis
"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.
About the Author
Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. His first novel, Things Falls Apart, became a classic of international literature and required reading for students worldwide. He also authored four subsequent novels, two short-story collections, and numerous other books. He was the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University and, for over 15 years, was the Charles P. Stevenson Jr. Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard College. In 2007, Achebe was awarded the Man Booker International Prize for lifetime achievement. He died in 2013.