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[Edited 4/1/22]

Wiki calls the book the most widely read book in modern African literature.

Written in 1958, this is the classic African novel about how colonialism impacted and undermined traditional African culture. It’s set among the Igbo people of Nigeria (aka Ibos). A key phrase is found late in the book: “He [the white man] has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.��

The main character is a strong man, the village wrestling champion. He has three wives and many children, although the wealthiest man in the village has nine wives, thirty children and three barns. The main character is not above beating his wives when the spirit moves him. He seems ruled by anger and fear.



There’s not a lot of plot. We watch as the main character struggles at first to become established. There are some bad crop years but all in all, things go reasonably well. Then he accidentally kills a fellow tribesman and suffers the punishment imposed by the village elders of being banished from the village for seven years. He loses his land and his accumulated wealth and has to go back to his mother’s village, dreaming of his return. When he does return, white rule has extended its influence into his village and everything has changed.

The British have brought greater prosperity, a school and a clinic but at a tremendous cost, mainly by imposing their laws and legal system above the traditional rule by village elders. A Christian church has been built and many villagers are leaving the old gods and converting to the new religion, including one of the main character’s sons.

There is no return to the old ways. Retaliation by the whites is swift. In a nearby village men killed a white man driving a car (they had never seen a car before). In retaliation, soldiers came and machine-gunned the marketplace �� men, women, children; basically annihilating the village.



Much of the book is anthropological. We learn about the village councils, a priestess, crop cultivation, food preparation, and all the elaborate rituals around bride price negotiations, weddings, funerals and the traditional gods.

I liked many of the idioms and proverbs scattered throughout the text:

“There must be a reason for it. A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing.��

“An old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb.��

“Eneke the bird says that since men have learned how to shoot without missing, he has learned to fly without perching.��

“As a man danced, so the drums were beaten for him.��



The author (1930-2013) was raised as a Christian, went to college in Nigeria, became a journalist, and started writing. With his fame he eventually moved to the US as a professor at Brown University. He turned the book into a trilogy, adding No Longer at Ease in 1960 and then Arrow of God in 1964. The author is also known for a famous academic paper attacking Joseph Conrad as “a thoroughgoing racist."

A good read and classic.

Top: old photo of the (also Igbos) from diaryofanegress.com
Modern-day family Igbo family from hometown.ng
Photo of the author in 2008 from Wikipedia.