Beasts of No Nation - Uzodinma Iweala
Beasts of No Nation is a rather deceptive book in that it's very slim and compact (a mere 142 pages in the edition I read) and yet the depth of the material makes it a difficult read. The plot follows a young child soldier in an unnamed African country who not only has unspeakable things happen to him but does the unspeakable to others. It reminded me a lot of Elie Wiesel's Night. Though that book is a memoir and Beasts of No Nation is fiction it is based on reality and there is the uncomfortable and painful realization as it is being read that somewhere in the world this is actually happening.
Iweala writes the book in dialect which at first is a little hard to adjust too, but once a few pages go by it is a beautiful immersive language which perfectly encapsulates the feelings and the emotions of a child forced to, in his own words, become a man.
Iweala writes the book in dialect which at first is a little hard to adjust too, but once a few pages go by it is a beautiful immersive language which perfectly encapsulates the feelings and the emotions of a child forced to, in his own words, become a man.