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Beasts of No Nation
“Remarkable. . . . Iweala never wavers from a gripping, pulsing narrative voice. . . . He captures the horror of ethnic violence in all its brutality and the vulnerability of youth in all its innocence.”�
—Entertainment Weekly
(A)
The harrowing, utterly original debut novel by Uzodinma Iweala about the life of a child soldier in a war-torn African country
As civil war rages in an unnamed West-African nation, Agu, the school-aged protagonist of this stunning novel, is recruited into a unit of guerilla fighters. Haunted by his father’s own death at the hands of militants, which he fled just before witnessing, Agu is vulnerable to the dangerous yet paternal nature of his new commander.
While the war rages on, Agu becomes increasingly divorced from the life he had known before the conflict started—a life of school friends, church services, and time with his family, still intact. As he vividly recalls these sunnier times, his daily reality continues to spin further downward into inexplicable brutality, primal fear, and loss of selfhood.
In a powerful, strikingly original voice, Uzodinma Iweala leads the reader through the random travels, betrayals, and violence that mark Agu’s new community. Electrifying and engrossing,Beasts of No Nationannounces the arrival of an extraordinary writer.
The harrowing, utterly original debut novel by Uzodinma Iweala about the life of a child soldier in a war-torn African country
As civil war rages in an unnamed West-African nation, Agu, the school-aged protagonist of this stunning novel, is recruited into a unit of guerilla fighters. Haunted by his father’s own death at the hands of militants, which he fled just before witnessing, Agu is vulnerable to the dangerous yet paternal nature of his new commander.
While the war rages on, Agu becomes increasingly divorced from the life he had known before the conflict started—a life of school friends, church services, and time with his family, still intact. As he vividly recalls these sunnier times, his daily reality continues to spin further downward into inexplicable brutality, primal fear, and loss of selfhood.
In a powerful, strikingly original voice, Uzodinma Iweala leads the reader through the random travels, betrayals, and violence that mark Agu’s new community. Electrifying and engrossing,Beasts of No Nationannounces the arrival of an extraordinary writer.
142 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
232 people are currently reading
8,563 people want to read
About the author
Uzodinma Iweala
15books415followersUzodinma Iweala is a writer and medical doctor. His first book, Beasts of No Nation: A Novel (HarperCollins, 2005), tells the story of a child soldier in West Africa. His second book, Our Kind of People: Thoughts on HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, will be released in Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and the United States in the summer of 2012. He has also published numerous short stories and essays and has worked in international development on matters of health policy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 943 reviews
October 19, 2023
Beasts of No Nation is destined to be regarded as a classic. Village life in this unnamed West African country is disrupted when news comes of war. People who can, flee. Some remain, men willing to fight mostly. Unfortunately this includes young boys who are strong enough to hold a weapon. Our narrator is one. He is a bright boy, an eager and exceptional student who loves his time at school. His father is either killed or driven off and the boy is terrified into joining the roving militia that comes through raping and killing.
From the film
His tale is a very intimate portrait of life in this band of cruel leaders and lost boys. He loses innocence in many different ways, none by his own volition. It is a very hard-hitting picture, told in a child’s tongue. I have seen no other attempt to portray the horror of such military life as told by one of the young people who make up so much of the fighting forces in Africa. It is enough to summon tears. I was reminded of Call it Sleep, another classic of a hard life seen through the eyes of a child. I expect this novel will join that in the shelves of ageless literature.
The author - from Australian Broadcasting
The novel was made into a film by Netflix, released in 2015.
=============================EXTRA STUFF
with the author - from KCRW
The author , in Key West
A article on the opening of the film
-----6/21/2017 - a grim, moving real-life story of survival in hell - - by Sarah A. Topol - NY Times Magazine
From the film
His tale is a very intimate portrait of life in this band of cruel leaders and lost boys. He loses innocence in many different ways, none by his own volition. It is a very hard-hitting picture, told in a child’s tongue. I have seen no other attempt to portray the horror of such military life as told by one of the young people who make up so much of the fighting forces in Africa. It is enough to summon tears. I was reminded of Call it Sleep, another classic of a hard life seen through the eyes of a child. I expect this novel will join that in the shelves of ageless literature.
The author - from Australian Broadcasting
The novel was made into a film by Netflix, released in 2015.
=============================EXTRA STUFF
with the author - from KCRW
The author , in Key West
A article on the opening of the film
-----6/21/2017 - a grim, moving real-life story of survival in hell - - by Sarah A. Topol - NY Times Magazine
January 7, 2023
when you read a lot, you build up a barrier over time without trying. it's hard for me to have an intense emotional response to any book.
not this time!
i think there's worthy criticism about a lot about this book, including and maybe especially the decision to use broken english as the narrative voice, but i can't not give this book a solid rating because it broke me down.
bottom line: immersive and horrific.
--------------
tbr review
my short book addiction is getting out of hand
not this time!
i think there's worthy criticism about a lot about this book, including and maybe especially the decision to use broken english as the narrative voice, but i can't not give this book a solid rating because it broke me down.
bottom line: immersive and horrific.
--------------
tbr review
my short book addiction is getting out of hand
January 14, 2025
Rating: 4.5* of five
2018 UPDATE
I watched Netflix's film adaptation of the book at last. Idris Elba wuz robbed by not having so much as a nomination for an Oscar. I get that the Industry is mad at Netflix for giving us what we want instead of what they want us to have, but this is evidence of the sourest imaginable grapes. They got nobody but theyselfs to blame for Netflix blowing up their expensive machinery. Like TV did until they co-opted it. Now Disney, CBS, Hulu are all working to do the same thing to streaming.
I gave my review a serious titivation and posted it to my blog...but if you've never read this book, go straight to the bookstore and buy it.
Stories like this are too true to tell in non-fiction. Stories like this are too hard to read when they're merely factual. But don't kid yourself, this is a reality and we here in the fat and happy West don't give it any thought.
Change that. Buy the book. Read the book.
2018 UPDATE
I watched Netflix's film adaptation of the book at last. Idris Elba wuz robbed by not having so much as a nomination for an Oscar. I get that the Industry is mad at Netflix for giving us what we want instead of what they want us to have, but this is evidence of the sourest imaginable grapes. They got nobody but theyselfs to blame for Netflix blowing up their expensive machinery. Like TV did until they co-opted it. Now Disney, CBS, Hulu are all working to do the same thing to streaming.
I gave my review a serious titivation and posted it to my blog...but if you've never read this book, go straight to the bookstore and buy it.
Stories like this are too true to tell in non-fiction. Stories like this are too hard to read when they're merely factual. But don't kid yourself, this is a reality and we here in the fat and happy West don't give it any thought.
Change that. Buy the book. Read the book.
November 11, 2015
Find all of my reviews at:
“Nobody is really telling how old they are anymore. All we are knowing is that, before the war we are children and now we are not.�
First, I have to admit finishing this book on Veteran’s Day is some seriously f*&^%d up timing. Second, this is a story that is written in a type of “Pidgin English� � you’re either going to go with the flow of it or you’re going to hate it. Third, I thought this was a memoir. I had no idea it was written by a dude who grew up in America and went to Harvard. Sometimes it pays to know nearly nada before starting a book.
I came across Beasts of No Nation due to my non-book-reading-husband’s recommendation. He’s a movie buff/Netflix addict and had watched the film version a week or so ago. He also never tells me what I should read because he knows my TBR already extends to infinity and beyond. When he said this was a must read I knew I had to get it ASAP.
This is the story of Agu, the son of a teacher growing up in a West African village . . .
When word of war begins to spread, the villagers pack up their wives and daughters and send them to a refugee camp. It isn’t long before the rumors of war become a terrifying reality and the adult men, including Agu’s father, are forced to “dance� by the TAKA TAKA TAKA of the machine guns � leaving only the young boys behind . . .
The remainder of the story is about Agu’s life as a child soldier . . . .
and it’s a real heartbreaker . . .
“I am not saying many thing because I am knowing too many terrible thing to be saying to you. I am seeing more terrible thing than ten thousand men and I am doing more terrible thing than twenty thousand men. So, if I am saying these thing, then it will be making me to sadding too much . . . I am wanting to be happy in this life because of everything I am seeing. I am just wanting to be happy.�
Luckily it’s short. It took me three days to read it as is because I had to keep putting it away. I didn’t cry (since I have no soul), but it did mess with my head more than a little bit. It’s that powerful. It’s also a book that I think should be a required read in high school. Especially high schools of privileged children who will never have to worry about what is for dinner, where they will sleep, or wonder who will come crawling into their bed at night.
Now before I downward spiral myself into head-in-the-oven mode, let’s end on a good note . . .
Dear People Who Are Choosing The Next James Bond: If you don’t pick Idris Elba y’all can just . . .
“Nobody is really telling how old they are anymore. All we are knowing is that, before the war we are children and now we are not.�
First, I have to admit finishing this book on Veteran’s Day is some seriously f*&^%d up timing. Second, this is a story that is written in a type of “Pidgin English� � you’re either going to go with the flow of it or you’re going to hate it. Third, I thought this was a memoir. I had no idea it was written by a dude who grew up in America and went to Harvard. Sometimes it pays to know nearly nada before starting a book.
I came across Beasts of No Nation due to my non-book-reading-husband’s recommendation. He’s a movie buff/Netflix addict and had watched the film version a week or so ago. He also never tells me what I should read because he knows my TBR already extends to infinity and beyond. When he said this was a must read I knew I had to get it ASAP.
This is the story of Agu, the son of a teacher growing up in a West African village . . .
When word of war begins to spread, the villagers pack up their wives and daughters and send them to a refugee camp. It isn’t long before the rumors of war become a terrifying reality and the adult men, including Agu’s father, are forced to “dance� by the TAKA TAKA TAKA of the machine guns � leaving only the young boys behind . . .
The remainder of the story is about Agu’s life as a child soldier . . . .
and it’s a real heartbreaker . . .
“I am not saying many thing because I am knowing too many terrible thing to be saying to you. I am seeing more terrible thing than ten thousand men and I am doing more terrible thing than twenty thousand men. So, if I am saying these thing, then it will be making me to sadding too much . . . I am wanting to be happy in this life because of everything I am seeing. I am just wanting to be happy.�
Luckily it’s short. It took me three days to read it as is because I had to keep putting it away. I didn’t cry (since I have no soul), but it did mess with my head more than a little bit. It’s that powerful. It’s also a book that I think should be a required read in high school. Especially high schools of privileged children who will never have to worry about what is for dinner, where they will sleep, or wonder who will come crawling into their bed at night.
Now before I downward spiral myself into head-in-the-oven mode, let’s end on a good note . . .
Dear People Who Are Choosing The Next James Bond: If you don’t pick Idris Elba y’all can just . . .
January 28, 2011
Read it. Be appalled. - written in the unrelenting tense of now - the horror never ends.
The author's use of present tense works like an incantation, grasping you by the throat tightly, it makes you breathless in a hyperventilating kind of way, you cannot stop - only turn the page, trying to read faster if only to get to the end of it. There's no real repose from the untenable pace, the brutal array of death merely merges into other grotesqueries you'd rather not think about too much.
You can't help feeling some gratitude and guilt for being born in a country not torn apart in civil war. There's the after effect - the infinite sadness to know somewhere today children are being forced to fight in wars not of their making - carrying guns too heavy for them and knives that kill not only their enemies but eventually their own sense of right and wrong, their sanity and their future.
I don't know if the author is a genius (the dust jacket tells me he is). The continual present tense grated and unnerved me - creating that kind of adrenaline rush fear does. Bad grammar and spelling annoyed me, but served it's purpose, being the fictional memoir of an African boy it really could be no other way. I'm rating it at the midway mark 3 stars, not because I liked it, because it's not the kind of book you can "like", but because I can't decide if it should get one star for technique or 5 stars for effect. It certainly achieves it's purpose to shock, despite the character Agu's limited vocabulary the book paints a lurid and searing image that almost rivals the work of war photographers James Nachtwey and Robert Capa .
.
The author's use of present tense works like an incantation, grasping you by the throat tightly, it makes you breathless in a hyperventilating kind of way, you cannot stop - only turn the page, trying to read faster if only to get to the end of it. There's no real repose from the untenable pace, the brutal array of death merely merges into other grotesqueries you'd rather not think about too much.
You can't help feeling some gratitude and guilt for being born in a country not torn apart in civil war. There's the after effect - the infinite sadness to know somewhere today children are being forced to fight in wars not of their making - carrying guns too heavy for them and knives that kill not only their enemies but eventually their own sense of right and wrong, their sanity and their future.
I don't know if the author is a genius (the dust jacket tells me he is). The continual present tense grated and unnerved me - creating that kind of adrenaline rush fear does. Bad grammar and spelling annoyed me, but served it's purpose, being the fictional memoir of an African boy it really could be no other way. I'm rating it at the midway mark 3 stars, not because I liked it, because it's not the kind of book you can "like", but because I can't decide if it should get one star for technique or 5 stars for effect. It certainly achieves it's purpose to shock, despite the character Agu's limited vocabulary the book paints a lurid and searing image that almost rivals the work of war photographers James Nachtwey and Robert Capa .
.
January 16, 2016
3.5...This is a tough read. It's about the day-to-day in the life of African child soldier Agu, who is also the book's narrator. I was very bothered by it because even though we're never told Agu's age, I kept thinking about my nephews. We learn how Agu lived, before he became a soldier, through flashbacks. Agu's recollection of the rainy seasons and passage to manhood, along with a few parables - one of the things I love about African literature- plays a part it breaking up the somber tone of the book.
I finished it a day before seeing the movie. I thought they would have to be very creative with the film adaptation to get an entire movie from a 142 page book that is completely narrated by a child. It was a home run. I almost want to say the movie was better than the book. I'm not even a moviegoer and last night I watched Beasts of No Nation for the second time. To say the movie is intense would be an understatement. I initially planned to see the film because it stars Idris Elba. After seeing the film, I was in awe of Abraham Attah who plays the role of Agu. He has been rightfully nominated for several awards and has already won a few for this, his feature film debut.
I finished it a day before seeing the movie. I thought they would have to be very creative with the film adaptation to get an entire movie from a 142 page book that is completely narrated by a child. It was a home run. I almost want to say the movie was better than the book. I'm not even a moviegoer and last night I watched Beasts of No Nation for the second time. To say the movie is intense would be an understatement. I initially planned to see the film because it stars Idris Elba. After seeing the film, I was in awe of Abraham Attah who plays the role of Agu. He has been rightfully nominated for several awards and has already won a few for this, his feature film debut.
December 4, 2024
روايات الحروب من الانواع المفضلة ليا لكن كنت زهقت من الحرب العالمية التانية والاولى والحروب المشهورة علشان كدا جذبتني الرواية لان المرادي ف اكتر قارة بيحصل فيها حروب ونزاعات لكن محدش بيتكلم عنها..
راوي القصة هنا هو الطفل اغو الذي سحبته الحرب من احضان امه ووالده وقضت على حياته الهادئة فيجد نفسه مخيرا بين الموت او ان يصبح جنديا..
نرى معا حياته الجديدة المليئة بمشاهد الموت والاغتصاب ونراه يتحول الى وحش ولكنه دائما ما يذكر نفسه بأنه لم يكن شخص سيء او ان الشيطان باركه..
اللي معجبنيش ف الرواية هو ضعف الstorytelling والرواية كانت محتاجة مشاهد اكتر وتفاصيل علشان تطلع حلوة لكن في العموم تجربة قصيرة وجميلة...
راوي القصة هنا هو الطفل اغو الذي سحبته الحرب من احضان امه ووالده وقضت على حياته الهادئة فيجد نفسه مخيرا بين الموت او ان يصبح جنديا..
نرى معا حياته الجديدة المليئة بمشاهد الموت والاغتصاب ونراه يتحول الى وحش ولكنه دائما ما يذكر نفسه بأنه لم يكن شخص سيء او ان الشيطان باركه..
اللي معجبنيش ف الرواية هو ضعف الstorytelling والرواية كانت محتاجة مشاهد اكتر وتفاصيل علشان تطلع حلوة لكن في العموم تجربة قصيرة وجميلة...
October 23, 2015
breathtaking....devastating
September 1, 2017
Try not to read this when you are feeling down, when it’s dark and you’re alone as this is an almost relentless novel of the horrors of war for civilians and soldiers, but, most importantly, for those child soldiers who never intended or wanted to be part of the war.
In an unnamed African nation, Agu, the narrator is captured by a guerilla army and given the choice to kill or be killed, a choice that he has to contend with every single day. It is never clear how old Agu is but it’s obvious he is a child soldier, one of those who in Somalia and other nations, become part of such armies. Given rifles and machetes and drugs that make them feel invincible, the book is a fictional but powerful insight into the minds and actions of these children.
Initially Agu is proud of being a soldier and speaks of avenging and finding his family but this soon turns to despair as he is trapped in a ring of moral and physical degradation that only gets tighter as the novel progresses.
Occasionally there are interludes in the book where Agu talks about life pre-war, with his school friends and family and the life of his village. These respites were welcomed if short lived but despite the horror, this book is so absorbing because of the language.
Agu’s voice is so distinct, so compelling, that his way of speaking in a kind of Pidgin English, seems utterly natural and readable, its simple innocence contrasting with everything that is happening around him. Pages fly by even as the horror grows.
In the notes at the back of my edition, Uzodinma Iweala writes that he worked really hard on getting the voice right and that, “To me, Agu’s voice is as much a character as his person. I don’t know that this story could have been spoken in any other way�, something I wholeheartedly agree with.
This is a short but important book and apparently Netflix have made it into a movie. I’m not sure I could face seeing this book translated to the screen but shall be looking for it in the future as I will writings from this extremely talented author.
“If I am sun, I will be finding another place to be shining where people are not using my light to be doing terrible terrible thing.�
In an unnamed African nation, Agu, the narrator is captured by a guerilla army and given the choice to kill or be killed, a choice that he has to contend with every single day. It is never clear how old Agu is but it’s obvious he is a child soldier, one of those who in Somalia and other nations, become part of such armies. Given rifles and machetes and drugs that make them feel invincible, the book is a fictional but powerful insight into the minds and actions of these children.
Initially Agu is proud of being a soldier and speaks of avenging and finding his family but this soon turns to despair as he is trapped in a ring of moral and physical degradation that only gets tighter as the novel progresses.
Occasionally there are interludes in the book where Agu talks about life pre-war, with his school friends and family and the life of his village. These respites were welcomed if short lived but despite the horror, this book is so absorbing because of the language.
Agu’s voice is so distinct, so compelling, that his way of speaking in a kind of Pidgin English, seems utterly natural and readable, its simple innocence contrasting with everything that is happening around him. Pages fly by even as the horror grows.
In the notes at the back of my edition, Uzodinma Iweala writes that he worked really hard on getting the voice right and that, “To me, Agu’s voice is as much a character as his person. I don’t know that this story could have been spoken in any other way�, something I wholeheartedly agree with.
This is a short but important book and apparently Netflix have made it into a movie. I’m not sure I could face seeing this book translated to the screen but shall be looking for it in the future as I will writings from this extremely talented author.
“If I am sun, I will be finding another place to be shining where people are not using my light to be doing terrible terrible thing.�
December 10, 2011
Those who have English as their only language find difficulty understanding it. That is maybe why in some reviews of this book they wail: what's this idea of having the narration here in a constant present tense? I don't think that was the author's idea, however. I've observed something like that first-hand. In my province, when even grade school or high school teachers are not at ease with English, you'd hear people trying to speak the language and end up doing what we call there the "Barok English." I guess "Barok" is in reference to a once popular Filipino character, from the Stone Age, who spoke horrible English (possible, too, that it somehow was a corruption of "Baroque," an architectural style sometimes characterized by flamboyance and irregularity). Anyway, most noticeable about our "Barok English" is its love affair with the present tense AND repetitions. If you ask a Barok English speaker what a "party" is, he'll probably say it is a place "where people eating eating and laughing laughing." Or, describing he saw in an intimate embrace, he may go: "Jose and Maria, I see, loving loving under the tree!' I don't think it can be called "pidgin English" because it is not combined with another language. It's English and no other, trying to be comprehensible with a most limited vocabulary.
I have the suspicion that was the same situation here. The author, although born in the USA like Bruce Springsteen, is Nigerian by blood and heritage. He considers Nigeria his other home. The novel is his first, written in the first-person-narrative of an African boy, somewhere in the troubled parts of West Africa, who was turned into a boy soldier, a killing machine. Even in its "Barok English" you could feel the novel's narrative power. Its first paragraph reads:
"It is starting like this. I am feeling itch like insects is crawling on my skin, and then my head is just starting to tingle right between my eye, and then I am wanting to sneeze because my nose is itching, and then air is just blowing into my ear and I am hearing so many thing: the clicking of insect, the sound of truck grumbling like one king of animal, and then the sound of somebody shouting, TAKE YOUR POSITION RIGHT NOW! QUICK! QUICK QUICK! MOVE WITH SPEED! MOVE FAST OH! in voice that is just touching my body like knife."
Inventive, and the very first English novel I've seen written like this, but it didn't work for me. I found it, at the very least, distracting, if not altogether annoying. Why didn't the author just utilize an omniscient narrator then used that kind of English only when having direct quotes from, or dialogues between, the characters (if they really speak English that way)? Or just tell the story straight up without any linguistic fanfare?
I have the suspicion that was the same situation here. The author, although born in the USA like Bruce Springsteen, is Nigerian by blood and heritage. He considers Nigeria his other home. The novel is his first, written in the first-person-narrative of an African boy, somewhere in the troubled parts of West Africa, who was turned into a boy soldier, a killing machine. Even in its "Barok English" you could feel the novel's narrative power. Its first paragraph reads:
"It is starting like this. I am feeling itch like insects is crawling on my skin, and then my head is just starting to tingle right between my eye, and then I am wanting to sneeze because my nose is itching, and then air is just blowing into my ear and I am hearing so many thing: the clicking of insect, the sound of truck grumbling like one king of animal, and then the sound of somebody shouting, TAKE YOUR POSITION RIGHT NOW! QUICK! QUICK QUICK! MOVE WITH SPEED! MOVE FAST OH! in voice that is just touching my body like knife."
Inventive, and the very first English novel I've seen written like this, but it didn't work for me. I found it, at the very least, distracting, if not altogether annoying. Why didn't the author just utilize an omniscient narrator then used that kind of English only when having direct quotes from, or dialogues between, the characters (if they really speak English that way)? Or just tell the story straight up without any linguistic fanfare?
Read
March 7, 2016Honestly, I don't know how to rate this book. It was painful to read, but it was a necessary pain.
We who live in privilege countries take our safety and happiness and security for granted. We think the atrocities we see blaring through our screens can be wiped away for other countries if they just follow the simple steps that our privilege tells us they need to follow to have thriving economies, but we don't realize how wrong we are and how hard our judgement is.
Iweala makes it clear that everything is not so black and white in his short novel and makes the reader really think about those less fortunate than them. This novel is gritty, gut wrenching, hard to swallow and thoroughly well written. I'd recommend it to every one.
If you like it then I'd also suggest reading , which is a short story collection set in different countries of Africa that deal with war, conflict, strife in families, and a lot more.
We who live in privilege countries take our safety and happiness and security for granted. We think the atrocities we see blaring through our screens can be wiped away for other countries if they just follow the simple steps that our privilege tells us they need to follow to have thriving economies, but we don't realize how wrong we are and how hard our judgement is.
Iweala makes it clear that everything is not so black and white in his short novel and makes the reader really think about those less fortunate than them. This novel is gritty, gut wrenching, hard to swallow and thoroughly well written. I'd recommend it to every one.
If you like it then I'd also suggest reading , which is a short story collection set in different countries of Africa that deal with war, conflict, strife in families, and a lot more.
July 1, 2016
Qualquer conto de fadas tem monstros e príncipes que se degladeiam até ao confronto final onde a felicidade se conquista para que o “viveram felizes para sempre� esteja patente como desenlace bendito� mas e se monstros e príncipes fossem uma e a mesma pessoa, qual “Bela e o Monstro�, numa batalha interior, agravada por ser travada por um eu ainda jovem e em formação que assim perde a infância sem plena consciência?
Numa história contada a partir do ponto de vista de uma criança perdida da vida, são relatados os desafiantes acontecimentos que conturbaram a sua vida: a morte dos familiares, a solidão perante um mundo cruel e a escravatura num regime tão criticado. Contudo, se à partida seria de pensar que este relato fosse fácil entender, tal não poderia estar mais longe de ser verdade: se, por um lado, o espírito adulto deturpa-nos o acesso as recordações de menino e à sua linguagem não gramaticamente concebida; a própria criação de uma nova língua entre o português e o crioulo - que mimetize a língua imposta pelo autor -, traduz-se numa construção frásica de díficil entendimento superficial mas fácil compreensão final. Adicionalmente, a escrita não é de perto nem de longe deturpada pela infância vivida por tal como esta foi perdida também a primeira foi deturpada, caindo num rol de malvadezas e descrições cruas de morte e violações, que nos obrigam a tapar os olhos e só ler nas entrelinhas qual filme de terror, onde, durante o saque para roubar os bens do mortos, existe um momento em que o que sobressai são as larvas abandono-o porque também dele já saquearam o que queriam.
De notar a própria filosofia perfeitamente estabelecida para um menino soldado e prontamente apre(e)ndida: “Soldado mata, assim se vive, assim se morre�, numa cabal vingança pela morte imoral e solteira da família perdida. E com frieldade imensa, ao admitir tão fraco silogismo, matar é comparado ao acto de se apaixonar, com o frio na barriga e as palpitações no coração, tão características. Dicotomizando com estas ideologias “pseudo-canibalistas�, está a adoração por um livro magico que é a Bíblia, a qual aborda a visão do inferno para os pecadores. Mas este inferno poderá não ser o derradeiro descanso merecido porque o próprio diabo poderá fazer usufruto dos seus diabólicos encantamentos de morte e condenar pobres criaturas, sem noção do pecado, a um destino de assassínio que se encerra em si numa ladainha em que se mata por matar e se morre por morrer, sem constrangimentos face à indignidade dada à vida humana.
E assim, com a progressiva clarificação da visão, torna-se necessário utilizar artefactos que permitam executar tão abomináveis tarefas, como os óleos que deturpam as cores, num império de rubro sangue, e permitem obnular a mente para esses momentos de massacre; e surge também um sentimento de culpa encarado como uma mosca que zune ao ouvido e não pára o seu feitiço hipnótico até conseguir sugar o sangue que a mantém viva. Até ao merecido descanso com cama reparadora, comida em fartura, roupa lavada e livros até doer olhos� sem poder faltar a Bíblia, símbolo fulcral da confissão, do perdão e da ressurreição.
Mais que pela história em si, o choque vem do realismo contido no relato, porque tal como admitido na reflexão inicial crua, somos nós que votamos e colocamos políticos corruptos no poleiro, responsáveis pela criação destas bestas pobres crianças que sem saberem ler ou escrever e sem tão pouco saberem brincar pegam em armas para matar.
Numa história contada a partir do ponto de vista de uma criança perdida da vida, são relatados os desafiantes acontecimentos que conturbaram a sua vida: a morte dos familiares, a solidão perante um mundo cruel e a escravatura num regime tão criticado. Contudo, se à partida seria de pensar que este relato fosse fácil entender, tal não poderia estar mais longe de ser verdade: se, por um lado, o espírito adulto deturpa-nos o acesso as recordações de menino e à sua linguagem não gramaticamente concebida; a própria criação de uma nova língua entre o português e o crioulo - que mimetize a língua imposta pelo autor -, traduz-se numa construção frásica de díficil entendimento superficial mas fácil compreensão final. Adicionalmente, a escrita não é de perto nem de longe deturpada pela infância vivida por tal como esta foi perdida também a primeira foi deturpada, caindo num rol de malvadezas e descrições cruas de morte e violações, que nos obrigam a tapar os olhos e só ler nas entrelinhas qual filme de terror, onde, durante o saque para roubar os bens do mortos, existe um momento em que o que sobressai são as larvas abandono-o porque também dele já saquearam o que queriam.
De notar a própria filosofia perfeitamente estabelecida para um menino soldado e prontamente apre(e)ndida: “Soldado mata, assim se vive, assim se morre�, numa cabal vingança pela morte imoral e solteira da família perdida. E com frieldade imensa, ao admitir tão fraco silogismo, matar é comparado ao acto de se apaixonar, com o frio na barriga e as palpitações no coração, tão características. Dicotomizando com estas ideologias “pseudo-canibalistas�, está a adoração por um livro magico que é a Bíblia, a qual aborda a visão do inferno para os pecadores. Mas este inferno poderá não ser o derradeiro descanso merecido porque o próprio diabo poderá fazer usufruto dos seus diabólicos encantamentos de morte e condenar pobres criaturas, sem noção do pecado, a um destino de assassínio que se encerra em si numa ladainha em que se mata por matar e se morre por morrer, sem constrangimentos face à indignidade dada à vida humana.
E assim, com a progressiva clarificação da visão, torna-se necessário utilizar artefactos que permitam executar tão abomináveis tarefas, como os óleos que deturpam as cores, num império de rubro sangue, e permitem obnular a mente para esses momentos de massacre; e surge também um sentimento de culpa encarado como uma mosca que zune ao ouvido e não pára o seu feitiço hipnótico até conseguir sugar o sangue que a mantém viva. Até ao merecido descanso com cama reparadora, comida em fartura, roupa lavada e livros até doer olhos� sem poder faltar a Bíblia, símbolo fulcral da confissão, do perdão e da ressurreição.
Mais que pela história em si, o choque vem do realismo contido no relato, porque tal como admitido na reflexão inicial crua, somos nós que votamos e colocamos políticos corruptos no poleiro, responsáveis pela criação destas bestas pobres crianças que sem saberem ler ou escrever e sem tão pouco saberem brincar pegam em armas para matar.
August 28, 2017
Incredibly brutal and heartbreaking, this is an important story of a child soldier. It isn't beautiful - it's horrific, but I wholeheartedly recommend it.
June 26, 2017
And this is how it is starting God. When I’m closing my eyes, I am seeing the rainy season in my village. You can be finding the ground is washing away beneath your feet. Nothing is ever for sure. And everything is always changing.
In response to the #OscarSoWhite debate, Dame Helen Mirren said, “One of the reasons it went that way � Idris Elba absolutely would have been nominated for an Oscar. He wasn’t because not enough people saw, or wanted to see, a film about child soldiers.� That intrigued me, and when I saw that she was talking about the film based on the book , and when I then remembered that that particular slim volume was unread on my bookshelf, I eagerly cracked it open in order to better understand the conversation. Now, with a 142 page book in hand and the film streaming on Netflix, it was easily possible to both read the book and watch the movie on the same afternoon, which I did, and I'm writing equally about book and film in this opening paragraph to make this urgent point: While the film is really very good, if you only watch the film, you haven't experienced the book: read this book!
Told from the point-of-view of a little boy of unknown age from an unnamed West African country, Beasts of No Nation begins as Agu is discovered in hiding and brought before the Commandant of a rebel squad. His backstory will eventually be filled in by flashbacks � Agu is the bright son of a schoolteacher father and a loving mother, his childhood enriched by both Christianity and traditional animism, his family scattered as his village was invaded by militia � but in the beginning, he is just a sick and scared little boy, given the choice to fight or die. What makes this book so fascinating is Agu's distinctive voice:
The boy who is hitting me is running to the first truck. When he is reaching the door, he is bending down with his back so straight and his leg so straight. Only his head is moving back and forward, left and right, on his neck. Then he is standing up and suddenly, quick just like that, the door of the truck is swinging open and hitting the boy right in his big belly and he is just taking off like bird, flying in the air, and landing on his buttom in hole of water in the road. There is sound coming from all the other soldier. It is laughing sound.
Not only does Agu employ idiosyncratic phrasing that marks his voice as vaguely foreign to the Western reader, but his observations remain naive and non-introspective throughout: no matter the horrors that Agu witnesses or participates in, his voice is always that of a little boy; one who eventually becomes numb; his tone unchanged whether marching in the rain or hacking at someone with a machete. And this is where the book differs from the film: On the screen, the remarkable Idris Elba as the Commandant is given military objectives in order to provide a plot, but on the page, none of that matters � Agu doesn't understand the politics that led to the civil war, so we don't learn about it; he's a pawn who does what he's told, at first from fear and then from habit, and the reader watches in horror as a little boy's humanity is all but erased.
I was crying as I closed this book, and when the film opened with a carefree Agu getting into mischief with his village friends, the tears continued streaming down my face: the character had become a part of me and I wept for the future I knew was coming for him. Perhaps it's true that no one wants to see a film � or read a book � about child soldiers, but this felt like a powerful act of witnessing and valuable (in different ways) on both the page and the screen.
January 16, 2023
۲/۵
به نظرم این کتاب لایق این همه تمجید پشت جلدش نیست. ما متوجه نمیشیم داستان توی کدام کشور آفریقایی میگذر�. نمیفهمی� گروهک تروریستیا� که پسر عضوش شده به کجا وابستهس�. نشون نمیده به چه دلیل جنگ داخلی درگرفته. نویسنده شاید قصد داشته با استفاده از بیمکان� و بیزمان� سرنوشت محتوم ملتها� آفریقایی رو نشون بده. اما تمام کشورهای آفریقایی که چنین شرایطی ندارند. صحنهها� غارت و تجاوز و خشونت دردناکی اتفاق میافت� اما هیچکدام برای خوب بودن این کتاب کافی نیست
به نظرم این کتاب لایق این همه تمجید پشت جلدش نیست. ما متوجه نمیشیم داستان توی کدام کشور آفریقایی میگذر�. نمیفهمی� گروهک تروریستیا� که پسر عضوش شده به کجا وابستهس�. نشون نمیده به چه دلیل جنگ داخلی درگرفته. نویسنده شاید قصد داشته با استفاده از بیمکان� و بیزمان� سرنوشت محتوم ملتها� آفریقایی رو نشون بده. اما تمام کشورهای آفریقایی که چنین شرایطی ندارند. صحنهها� غارت و تجاوز و خشونت دردناکی اتفاق میافت� اما هیچکدام برای خوب بودن این کتاب کافی نیست
February 11, 2021
The last chapter kinda ruined my reading experience. It's the second time this has happened when it comes to this author's work (with Speak No Evil, it was Part 2 that sullied my "enjoyment.")
This is an intense story of the lives of child soldiers, told through the eyes of the newest recruit. What I loved most was the language and voice. Even though you're reading about extreme violence and unflinching brutality, the prose is hypnotic and engulfs you in its rhythm.
This is an intense story of the lives of child soldiers, told through the eyes of the newest recruit. What I loved most was the language and voice. Even though you're reading about extreme violence and unflinching brutality, the prose is hypnotic and engulfs you in its rhythm.
June 9, 2016
soldier soldier
Kill kill kill
That is how you live
That is how you die.
Is there anything uglier than WAR?!when all of your dreams turn into the nightmare!?
Kill kill kill
That is how you live
That is how you die.
Is there anything uglier than WAR?!when all of your dreams turn into the nightmare!?
November 25, 2015
Το βιβλίο αυτό αποτελεί την βάση για την φετινή ταινία Beasts Of No Nation, σε σκηνοθεσία Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective 1) και με πρωταγωνιστή τον Idris Elba, που παίρνει εξαιρετικές κριτικές και την οποία σκοπεύω να δω στο άμεσο μέλλον. Μόλις έμαθα ότι το βιβλίο υπάρχει στα ελληνικά, δεν άργησα να το αγοράσω και, τελικά, να το διαβάσω.
Πρόκειται για ένα μικρό βιβλίο σε μέγεθος, αλλά μεγάλο σε νοήματα. Βρισκόμαστε σε κάποια χώρα της Αφρικής, η οποία βρίσκεται στη δίνει ενός εμφυλίου πολέμου. Ένα μικρό αγόρι, ονόματι Άγκου, θέλοντας και μη, θα βρεθεί σε δύσκολη θέση, καθώς θα καταλήξει μ'ένα όπλο στο χέρι και με διαταγές να σκοτώνει τους εχθρούς. Ήταν μικρό παιδί και έγινε στρατιώτης. Παρακολουθούμε την λιτή και ξεχωριστή αφήγηση του μικρού Άγκου, ο οποίος περιγράφει με τον δικό του τρόπο την ωμή και σκληρή πραγματικότητα που ζει. Σκέφτεται τον καιρό πριν τον πόλεμο, την οικογένειά του, τους φίλους του και το σχολείο, τώρα όμως είναι υποχρεωμένος να σκοτώνει και να καταστρέφει. Το θέμα είναι βαρύ και οι διάφορες δυνατές και άκρως ρεαλιστικές περιγραφές βίας, κάνουν το βιβλίο αρκετά συγκλονιστικό. Είναι ένα έργο που σε ταρακουνάει, έστω και λίγο, σε κάνει να σκέφτεσαι κάποια πράγματα. Η γραφή μου φάνηκε πάρα πολύ καλή, ευκολοδιάβαστη και συνάμα ιδιαίτερη, με ποιητική διάθεση σε λίγα σημεία.
Έχουμε να κάνουμε με ένα αρκετά δυνατό, τρομακτικό και καλογραμμένο μυθιστόρημα, που δυστυχώς περιγράφει μια σκληρή πραγματικότητα. Ακόμα και σήμερα υπάρχουν παιδιά-στρατιώτες, και δεν συζητάμε φυσικά για πόλεμο, καταστροφές και βία. Τώρα που διάβασα το βιβλίο, ανυπομονώ να δω την ταινία, που φαίνεται εξαιρετική.
Πρόκειται για ένα μικρό βιβλίο σε μέγεθος, αλλά μεγάλο σε νοήματα. Βρισκόμαστε σε κάποια χώρα της Αφρικής, η οποία βρίσκεται στη δίνει ενός εμφυλίου πολέμου. Ένα μικρό αγόρι, ονόματι Άγκου, θέλοντας και μη, θα βρεθεί σε δύσκολη θέση, καθώς θα καταλήξει μ'ένα όπλο στο χέρι και με διαταγές να σκοτώνει τους εχθρούς. Ήταν μικρό παιδί και έγινε στρατιώτης. Παρακολουθούμε την λιτή και ξεχωριστή αφήγηση του μικρού Άγκου, ο οποίος περιγράφει με τον δικό του τρόπο την ωμή και σκληρή πραγματικότητα που ζει. Σκέφτεται τον καιρό πριν τον πόλεμο, την οικογένειά του, τους φίλους του και το σχολείο, τώρα όμως είναι υποχρεωμένος να σκοτώνει και να καταστρέφει. Το θέμα είναι βαρύ και οι διάφορες δυνατές και άκρως ρεαλιστικές περιγραφές βίας, κάνουν το βιβλίο αρκετά συγκλονιστικό. Είναι ένα έργο που σε ταρακουνάει, έστω και λίγο, σε κάνει να σκέφτεσαι κάποια πράγματα. Η γραφή μου φάνηκε πάρα πολύ καλή, ευκολοδιάβαστη και συνάμα ιδιαίτερη, με ποιητική διάθεση σε λίγα σημεία.
Έχουμε να κάνουμε με ένα αρκετά δυνατό, τρομακτικό και καλογραμμένο μυθιστόρημα, που δυστυχώς περιγράφει μια σκληρή πραγματικότητα. Ακόμα και σήμερα υπάρχουν παιδιά-στρατιώτες, και δεν συζητάμε φυσικά για πόλεμο, καταστροφές και βία. Τώρα που διάβασα το βιβλίο, ανυπομονώ να δω την ταινία, που φαίνεται εξαιρετική.
July 24, 2015
Heart-breaking account of a young boy's life after he is captured by a band of soldiers who are terrorizing the country-side of an unnamed African country. Very tough to read, especially knowing that this story is based on fact.
March 16, 2014
This short book took a long time to read, my heart and mind could only handle short doses of the content - well-written, the horror of war is all too tangible.
December 16, 2015
first of all it is the best book I 've read this year so far !!! and certainly will be on my all time recommended books list ..that was said now back to my review :)
beasts of no nation is totally and shockingly alive read from the very beginning where Agu the main character and narrator of the novel becomes your AVATAR with a poetic and natural unilateral voice you experience a breathtaking extreme violence and slaughter beyond your imagination yet it s happening each day in real life around you !!!
the horrific emotional force of narration contains your sympathy and affection for Agu even if he is acting out the worse atrocities in the world you rush to forgive him .
very impressive of Iweala how he combined the innocence and violence in his character. a distinguished writing style with original expressions .
the use of present tense and africanised English made Agu so real !!!!
it was a heartache read , I cried many times while reading ...in a world where we became somehow accustomed to violence here beasts of no nation comes to make sure that no violence would be tolerant in any kind and we should always be connected to our humanity no matter what ....
no for war and certainly no for child soldiers !!!!
insights from the book :
" so we were playing all this game then and thinking that to be a soldier was to be the best thing in the world because gun is looking so powerful and the men in the movie are looking so powerful and strong when they are killing people, but I am knowing now that to be a soldier is only to be weak and not strong, and to have no food to eat and not to eat whatever you want, and also to have people making you do thing that you are not wanting to do and not to be doing whatever you are wanting which is what they are doing in movie. But I am only knowing this now because I am soldier now.
So I am singing to myself,
Soldier Soldier
Kill Kill Kill.
That is how you live.
That is how you die."
" I am always hungry, so hungry that I am always dreaming of chicken and how I will be eating it, how I will be crunching its beak and eating even the feather. I am so hungry I can be eating wood if it's making me to hungry less, but it s only hurting my belly and making me to vomit and shit. I am so hungry I can be eating my skin small by small if it is not making me to bleed to death."
Heal the world make it a better place for you and for me and the entire human race <3
beasts of no nation is totally and shockingly alive read from the very beginning where Agu the main character and narrator of the novel becomes your AVATAR with a poetic and natural unilateral voice you experience a breathtaking extreme violence and slaughter beyond your imagination yet it s happening each day in real life around you !!!
the horrific emotional force of narration contains your sympathy and affection for Agu even if he is acting out the worse atrocities in the world you rush to forgive him .
very impressive of Iweala how he combined the innocence and violence in his character. a distinguished writing style with original expressions .
the use of present tense and africanised English made Agu so real !!!!
it was a heartache read , I cried many times while reading ...in a world where we became somehow accustomed to violence here beasts of no nation comes to make sure that no violence would be tolerant in any kind and we should always be connected to our humanity no matter what ....
no for war and certainly no for child soldiers !!!!
insights from the book :
" so we were playing all this game then and thinking that to be a soldier was to be the best thing in the world because gun is looking so powerful and the men in the movie are looking so powerful and strong when they are killing people, but I am knowing now that to be a soldier is only to be weak and not strong, and to have no food to eat and not to eat whatever you want, and also to have people making you do thing that you are not wanting to do and not to be doing whatever you are wanting which is what they are doing in movie. But I am only knowing this now because I am soldier now.
So I am singing to myself,
Soldier Soldier
Kill Kill Kill.
That is how you live.
That is how you die."
" I am always hungry, so hungry that I am always dreaming of chicken and how I will be eating it, how I will be crunching its beak and eating even the feather. I am so hungry I can be eating wood if it's making me to hungry less, but it s only hurting my belly and making me to vomit and shit. I am so hungry I can be eating my skin small by small if it is not making me to bleed to death."
Heal the world make it a better place for you and for me and the entire human race <3
May 6, 2017
Sure, it's depressing, but does that make it good? In other words, is that all a book needs to achieve in order to be worth reading? I think not, and I can find no other reason to read Beasts of No Nation.
What about raising awareness? Personally, my awareness was already raised. I knew about child soldiers and the horrors of modern low-tech warfare going in, and this book contained no new information. In fact, more accurate information could be obtained through the news source of your choice. Finally, I think "raising awareness" is an all-too-common phrase that usually signals pointless mongering of one kind or another.
What about gaining perspective? Unlike "raising awareness," "gaining perspective" is a real thing that has value. Despite its many flaws, , is an important book for distilling perspective and insights that are revelatory for many. This book, on the other hand, fails to convey a depth of perspective. I went in expecting that a child soldier would be irrevocably scarred, and came out with the same surface-level knowledge. In fact, the narration rang hollow on the perspective front. It was far too lucid and sequential for a PTSD sufferer. The figurative language was too rational and spot-on to be the product of a scarred mind. The expert use of dialect only partly covered the gaps in character believability.
Who would appreciate this book? I did not appreciate this book. I conjecture that social justice junkies who seek feelings of guilt and pity would appreciate it. The mark of a quality social justice book, such as or is a new insight into a social problem and its effects on human nature. Beasts of No Nation is marked by complete absence of these traits.
What about raising awareness? Personally, my awareness was already raised. I knew about child soldiers and the horrors of modern low-tech warfare going in, and this book contained no new information. In fact, more accurate information could be obtained through the news source of your choice. Finally, I think "raising awareness" is an all-too-common phrase that usually signals pointless mongering of one kind or another.
What about gaining perspective? Unlike "raising awareness," "gaining perspective" is a real thing that has value. Despite its many flaws, , is an important book for distilling perspective and insights that are revelatory for many. This book, on the other hand, fails to convey a depth of perspective. I went in expecting that a child soldier would be irrevocably scarred, and came out with the same surface-level knowledge. In fact, the narration rang hollow on the perspective front. It was far too lucid and sequential for a PTSD sufferer. The figurative language was too rational and spot-on to be the product of a scarred mind. The expert use of dialect only partly covered the gaps in character believability.
Who would appreciate this book? I did not appreciate this book. I conjecture that social justice junkies who seek feelings of guilt and pity would appreciate it. The mark of a quality social justice book, such as or is a new insight into a social problem and its effects on human nature. Beasts of No Nation is marked by complete absence of these traits.
August 19, 2022
This is the second book I am reading about an African child soldier, and the horror of it all never decreases. For me, the most heartbreaking moments are when Agu talks about his life before picking up guns. It’s a sad reminder that not only is life unpredictable, but for some, it just shifts from one cruel phase to another. Beasts of No Nation is a short book that you need to read slowly and then ponder about for many, many days.
February 28, 2016
My thoughts are wild about this book. Unlike the second half, I couldn't feel any emotional connection to the narrator in the first half.
But right after the first half, it got more interesting, heartbreaking and pretty much intense.
3.5/5
But right after the first half, it got more interesting, heartbreaking and pretty much intense.
3.5/5
November 6, 2024
هذا الكتاب أبكاني، وذكرني كذلك بمدى الاستياء الذي تملكني وأنا أقرأ ذاكرة الرحيل لقرنح!!!
فهذه الرواية هي لمَ خُلق الأدب والكتابة، و بترجمتها الأنيقة توحدت لغتين في ابداع إنساني أؤمن أنه سيبقى ..
أوزودينما أيويلا كاتب نيجيري، أبدع في باكورة أعماله هذا، إذ جعلني أتقمص شخصية الفتى الصغير الذي دُفع إلى الحرب، وبقي طوال الحكاية يستكشف أفكاره ومشاعره تجاه كل مصادفات الطريق! الشمس والقمر، الليل والنهار، الرب والشيطان في صراع داخلي خاضه وحده محاولًا تبين الخير من الشر.
أدب حقيقي، أحالني لرواية الليبية عائشة ابراهيم "صندوق الرمل" تقص الاستعمار بلسان أحد جنوده، والى حنة اردنت وهي لا ترى الشر في آيخمان ذلك أنه بات مأمورًا ينفذ الأوامر، ودون شك لم أخرج من عباءة الأحداث الحالية فسالت دموعي
مشفقة على آغو الفتى المُجبر، بينما تتراءى لي المشاهد المرعبة المؤلمة التي نعايشها منذ سنة تقريبًا!
أمر اتفق عليه كل من د. أماني فوزي حبشي والاستاذ عماد الأحمد في ملتقانا بهما بمناسبة يوم الترجمة العالمي، أن المترجم ينقل للقارئ ما أغبطه وأحزنه هو أثناء مطالعته الاولى للعمل، اذ هي مسؤوليته الأجل، وقد برع حيدرة أسعد في ذلك، اذ منح النص أصالة بدا وكأنه مكتوب بلغتنا العربية.
أيويلا قلم واعد، وهذه رواية تستحق الجوائز، فهي انسانية بامتياز، عرضت عالمًا واقعيًا يعيش فيه أطفال بلا قوانين، تنتهك فيه براءتهم وأحلامهم!
▪️لست فتى شريرًا. لست فتى شريرًا. أنا جندي، والجندي لا يكون شريرًا عندما يقتل. أقول هذا لنفسي لأن على الجنود أن يقتلوا، ويقتلوا، ويقتلوا. لذلك اذا كنت أقتل، فأنا لا أفعل إلا الصواب.
▪️الرصاص يلتهم كل شئ، الأوراق والأشجار والأرض والناس- يلتهم كل شئ- يجعل الناس ينزفون من كل مكان، والدم يتدفق في كل الأدغال. النزيف يجعل الناس يصيحون ويصرخون طوال الوقت، يصرخون منادين أمهاتهم وآباءهم، الرب والشيطان، يصرخون بلغة لا أحد يفهمها أبدًا. أحيانًا أغطي أذني كي لا أسمع الرصاص والصراخ وأحيانًا أكون من يصرخ ويطلق النار فلا أسمع عندها غير صوتي. أحيانًا أرغب في أن أبكي بصوتٍ عال لكن لا أحد يبكي في هذا المكان. إذا بكيتُ فسوف ينظرون إلي لأنه لا ينبغي للجندي أن يبكي.
فهذه الرواية هي لمَ خُلق الأدب والكتابة، و بترجمتها الأنيقة توحدت لغتين في ابداع إنساني أؤمن أنه سيبقى ..
أوزودينما أيويلا كاتب نيجيري، أبدع في باكورة أعماله هذا، إذ جعلني أتقمص شخصية الفتى الصغير الذي دُفع إلى الحرب، وبقي طوال الحكاية يستكشف أفكاره ومشاعره تجاه كل مصادفات الطريق! الشمس والقمر، الليل والنهار، الرب والشيطان في صراع داخلي خاضه وحده محاولًا تبين الخير من الشر.
أدب حقيقي، أحالني لرواية الليبية عائشة ابراهيم "صندوق الرمل" تقص الاستعمار بلسان أحد جنوده، والى حنة اردنت وهي لا ترى الشر في آيخمان ذلك أنه بات مأمورًا ينفذ الأوامر، ودون شك لم أخرج من عباءة الأحداث الحالية فسالت دموعي
مشفقة على آغو الفتى المُجبر، بينما تتراءى لي المشاهد المرعبة المؤلمة التي نعايشها منذ سنة تقريبًا!
أمر اتفق عليه كل من د. أماني فوزي حبشي والاستاذ عماد الأحمد في ملتقانا بهما بمناسبة يوم الترجمة العالمي، أن المترجم ينقل للقارئ ما أغبطه وأحزنه هو أثناء مطالعته الاولى للعمل، اذ هي مسؤوليته الأجل، وقد برع حيدرة أسعد في ذلك، اذ منح النص أصالة بدا وكأنه مكتوب بلغتنا العربية.
أيويلا قلم واعد، وهذه رواية تستحق الجوائز، فهي انسانية بامتياز، عرضت عالمًا واقعيًا يعيش فيه أطفال بلا قوانين، تنتهك فيه براءتهم وأحلامهم!
▪️لست فتى شريرًا. لست فتى شريرًا. أنا جندي، والجندي لا يكون شريرًا عندما يقتل. أقول هذا لنفسي لأن على الجنود أن يقتلوا، ويقتلوا، ويقتلوا. لذلك اذا كنت أقتل، فأنا لا أفعل إلا الصواب.
▪️الرصاص يلتهم كل شئ، الأوراق والأشجار والأرض والناس- يلتهم كل شئ- يجعل الناس ينزفون من كل مكان، والدم يتدفق في كل الأدغال. النزيف يجعل الناس يصيحون ويصرخون طوال الوقت، يصرخون منادين أمهاتهم وآباءهم، الرب والشيطان، يصرخون بلغة لا أحد يفهمها أبدًا. أحيانًا أغطي أذني كي لا أسمع الرصاص والصراخ وأحيانًا أكون من يصرخ ويطلق النار فلا أسمع عندها غير صوتي. أحيانًا أرغب في أن أبكي بصوتٍ عال لكن لا أحد يبكي في هذا المكان. إذا بكيتُ فسوف ينظرون إلي لأنه لا ينبغي للجندي أن يبكي.
December 12, 2015
This review was originally published on
Warning: Contains spoilers.
I really wanted to love this book and savor every word of it and then put it on my 'favorite-books' shelf along with my other favorites. The novel certainly seemed like my cup of tea, in the essence of dealing with heavy subjects of war brutality and child soldiers in Africa. I also read several reviews of this book, praising how shocking and powerful the novel is. I wouldn't dare to say that the book is 'overrated' but it is an ultimate test of endurance. The author's attempt to tell an unsentimental story through the eyes of an adolescent child with a limited range of vocabulary and bad spelling is a daring choice. While some readers may find the narration in continuous present tense cumbersome like I did, some may find it appealing as it tends to give the novel an intrinsic sense of honesty and rare originality.
Here is an example of the narration:
I am angrying that Commandant is not taking me and Strika together and I am fighting very hard to get into the back of the truck first so I am not having to stand and be too too tired wherever we are going to raid. I am finding my seat in the corner where I am having wood wall on one side. This way no one will be pushing me to get up.
Despite being a work of fiction, Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala does not fail to reverberate the unheard voices of faceless and nameless child soldiers who suffered in the midst of a civil war that erupted in their country. The protagonist, Agu is the embodiment of emotional turbulence and deteriorating morality as he finds himself torn between trusting his own morals and killing for survival under the influence of guerrilla fighters. As the novel progresses, the story gets more stomach-churning and Agu dives deeper into the abyss of savagery and killings. His inner conflicts are aggravated by the trauma of having his life thrown into chaos in the midst of war and being torn apart from his family. He commits atrocities in a state of delirium, unable to distinguish reality from momentary abstraction or maintain a balanced state of mind with a machete in his hand. Devoid of any glimmering hope to be liberated and reunited with his family, his fate slips into the grasp of The Commandant, a mysterious, ruthless guerrilla commander who rules his army by fear and violence. A fatherless child in need of a father figure and guidance spirals into the unimaginable violence shaped by circumstances and milieu. As Agu finds himself clinging onto The Commandant for survival and small favors, the story takes another gut-wrenching twist when the author finally reveals the darkest side of human beings in very graphic descriptions of sexual abuse that leaves an indelible scar on Agu. What makes it even more disturbing for the reader is that it was boldly told from a child's perspective.
I personally don't think this is a novel for people with anxious minds. There are lots of digressions because Agu tends to ramble aimlessly about his life in extraneous details. I was filled with anticipation to see what would happen in the next chapter but the story moves forward at a slow pace that it becomes laden with ridiculously childish details that do not add up to the story, which ended up siphoning my enthusiasm and excitement.
Nevertheless, Iweala's debut novel has done a magnificent job of creating a world of savagery where nauseating violence and the loss of innocence has merged and bred the genesis of a beast. The author skillfully dissimulated himself behind the voice of a young soldier, a beast by circumstances, an orphan by war, a victim of sexual abuse and governmental ignorance. He crafted a visceral novel imbued with brute force in a world of beasts in the form of men, who rape and kill every single creature in their sight, a world seemingly surreal that it no longer feels fictionalized. As Agu finally losses his innocence and kills for the first time, we also mourn the boy he once was, a studious, precocious little boy, who begged his father to enroll him in school. There is an immense sadness within the subject matter because Agu may be only a fictionalized character but he also does represent thousands of child soldiers fighting in Africa at the moment whom we would collectively brand as 'beasts' and 'killers' in a heartbeat without so much as hearing their stories, whereas in the harsh reality their stories may not end well with a happy ending like Agu's.
Warning: Contains spoilers.
I really wanted to love this book and savor every word of it and then put it on my 'favorite-books' shelf along with my other favorites. The novel certainly seemed like my cup of tea, in the essence of dealing with heavy subjects of war brutality and child soldiers in Africa. I also read several reviews of this book, praising how shocking and powerful the novel is. I wouldn't dare to say that the book is 'overrated' but it is an ultimate test of endurance. The author's attempt to tell an unsentimental story through the eyes of an adolescent child with a limited range of vocabulary and bad spelling is a daring choice. While some readers may find the narration in continuous present tense cumbersome like I did, some may find it appealing as it tends to give the novel an intrinsic sense of honesty and rare originality.
Here is an example of the narration:
I am angrying that Commandant is not taking me and Strika together and I am fighting very hard to get into the back of the truck first so I am not having to stand and be too too tired wherever we are going to raid. I am finding my seat in the corner where I am having wood wall on one side. This way no one will be pushing me to get up.
Despite being a work of fiction, Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala does not fail to reverberate the unheard voices of faceless and nameless child soldiers who suffered in the midst of a civil war that erupted in their country. The protagonist, Agu is the embodiment of emotional turbulence and deteriorating morality as he finds himself torn between trusting his own morals and killing for survival under the influence of guerrilla fighters. As the novel progresses, the story gets more stomach-churning and Agu dives deeper into the abyss of savagery and killings. His inner conflicts are aggravated by the trauma of having his life thrown into chaos in the midst of war and being torn apart from his family. He commits atrocities in a state of delirium, unable to distinguish reality from momentary abstraction or maintain a balanced state of mind with a machete in his hand. Devoid of any glimmering hope to be liberated and reunited with his family, his fate slips into the grasp of The Commandant, a mysterious, ruthless guerrilla commander who rules his army by fear and violence. A fatherless child in need of a father figure and guidance spirals into the unimaginable violence shaped by circumstances and milieu. As Agu finds himself clinging onto The Commandant for survival and small favors, the story takes another gut-wrenching twist when the author finally reveals the darkest side of human beings in very graphic descriptions of sexual abuse that leaves an indelible scar on Agu. What makes it even more disturbing for the reader is that it was boldly told from a child's perspective.
I personally don't think this is a novel for people with anxious minds. There are lots of digressions because Agu tends to ramble aimlessly about his life in extraneous details. I was filled with anticipation to see what would happen in the next chapter but the story moves forward at a slow pace that it becomes laden with ridiculously childish details that do not add up to the story, which ended up siphoning my enthusiasm and excitement.
Nevertheless, Iweala's debut novel has done a magnificent job of creating a world of savagery where nauseating violence and the loss of innocence has merged and bred the genesis of a beast. The author skillfully dissimulated himself behind the voice of a young soldier, a beast by circumstances, an orphan by war, a victim of sexual abuse and governmental ignorance. He crafted a visceral novel imbued with brute force in a world of beasts in the form of men, who rape and kill every single creature in their sight, a world seemingly surreal that it no longer feels fictionalized. As Agu finally losses his innocence and kills for the first time, we also mourn the boy he once was, a studious, precocious little boy, who begged his father to enroll him in school. There is an immense sadness within the subject matter because Agu may be only a fictionalized character but he also does represent thousands of child soldiers fighting in Africa at the moment whom we would collectively brand as 'beasts' and 'killers' in a heartbeat without so much as hearing their stories, whereas in the harsh reality their stories may not end well with a happy ending like Agu's.
March 7, 2016
Iweala is a Nigerian-American writer, very young (fresh from Harvard) who has crafted a very fine debut novel about a nameless African country brutalized by a civil war fought in no small part by children. The narrator is one such child-soldier. This was an impulse purchase while stuck waiting for a delayed flight in the Indianapolis airport. The novel is short, lyrical in a dark but childlike way, and totally compelling.
Agu is discovered by another child soldier hiding in a torched town. He will either be killed or conscripted. Fortunately (one is forced to say fortunately because of the alternative) he is conscripted and embarks on a life of hardship, violence, rape, deprivation, and fear. Iweala makes the circumstances credible, sustains the child-voice of the narrator throughout, and makes you feel for the protagonist and his fellow soldiers and the victims of this tattered army’s bloody and pointless march through desolation.
The book is an antidote to any possible view for those of us who encounter this world, if at all, at the comfortable remove of a CNN, NY Times, or Newsweek report, shaking our heads, perhaps absolving ourselves of responsibility on the grounds that the situation is beyond reason or hope and seems to feature murderers killing murderers. Beasts of No Nation hides and excuses nothing, but it also insists we care about the brutalized and brutalizing humanity of its subjects. Superb first novel.
Agu is discovered by another child soldier hiding in a torched town. He will either be killed or conscripted. Fortunately (one is forced to say fortunately because of the alternative) he is conscripted and embarks on a life of hardship, violence, rape, deprivation, and fear. Iweala makes the circumstances credible, sustains the child-voice of the narrator throughout, and makes you feel for the protagonist and his fellow soldiers and the victims of this tattered army’s bloody and pointless march through desolation.
The book is an antidote to any possible view for those of us who encounter this world, if at all, at the comfortable remove of a CNN, NY Times, or Newsweek report, shaking our heads, perhaps absolving ourselves of responsibility on the grounds that the situation is beyond reason or hope and seems to feature murderers killing murderers. Beasts of No Nation hides and excuses nothing, but it also insists we care about the brutalized and brutalizing humanity of its subjects. Superb first novel.
May 6, 2010
This is a book that punches. It is not a book for the faint hearted. It is savagely horrific, harrowingly heartbreaking, violently visceral and chillingly claustrophobic.
With these terms, you might wonder why I rate it five stars. The answer is because it is a tale that needs to be told.
My life is comfortable, yet, I complain about the stress of my fast paced job, the dust that gathers on the floors because I have little time to clean, the meals I eat out because I am too tired to cook, and the fact that there are too few hours and too much to do.
Then, when reading Beasts of No Nation, bitter, cold water hits my face with the reality that I should stop whining and be grateful for my many blessings.
Agu is a young boy uprooted, torn and thrown into a violent African civil war. His village is destroyed and his father is killed. His mother and sister were taken by a UN truck to a safer place, yet Agu never knows if they made it to safety.
When Agu is beaten out of his hiding place, he has no choice but to join the cold, cruel, evil Commandant who leads a raggedy band of soldiers.
The author vividly shows the underbelly and violence of civil war where the elusive enemy hacks and kills senselessly.
With these terms, you might wonder why I rate it five stars. The answer is because it is a tale that needs to be told.
My life is comfortable, yet, I complain about the stress of my fast paced job, the dust that gathers on the floors because I have little time to clean, the meals I eat out because I am too tired to cook, and the fact that there are too few hours and too much to do.
Then, when reading Beasts of No Nation, bitter, cold water hits my face with the reality that I should stop whining and be grateful for my many blessings.
Agu is a young boy uprooted, torn and thrown into a violent African civil war. His village is destroyed and his father is killed. His mother and sister were taken by a UN truck to a safer place, yet Agu never knows if they made it to safety.
When Agu is beaten out of his hiding place, he has no choice but to join the cold, cruel, evil Commandant who leads a raggedy band of soldiers.
The author vividly shows the underbelly and violence of civil war where the elusive enemy hacks and kills senselessly.
June 13, 2016
Agu's world is torn apart by war and after his father is killed, he is taken in by an intimidating Commander of guerilla fighters in the unnamed African country. The story is told from his POV - that of a child missing his old life and struggling with the brutalities he both experiences and commits. It is a powerfully emotional tale.
February 25, 2016
This is a very hard book to read, but still an amazing fictional account of being a child soldier in an unnamed war in an unnamed West African country. Very different from the movie and not as stunning, but still innovative and captivating until the last word. A very quick, but powerful read.
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