'Beasts of No Nation' by Uzodinma Iweala

Beast of No Nation is the first song Fela wrote in 1986, after he was released from prison, serving two years from a five year prison sentence for trumped-up foreign currency violation charges.

Thanks to the title and my father's romance with Fela, I thought this book was going to be about police brutality, army oppression, courts without justice, magistrates who are supposed to uphold the law, and basically an ex-prisoner's description of what happens inside Nigerian prisons.

Of course I was mistaken.

Uzodinma Iweala's novel Beast of No Nation is the story of Agu, a child soldier in a war-torn African country, who lost his family to the war and recruited into a unit of guerilla fighters.

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."

This book once again shows that the psychological effects of war on children are long lasting and horrific. Despite the fact that Agu was saved by 'White people' in the end, the horrendous images, sounds and smell of dead bodies continue to haunt him.

Although, Agu wants to become a rich doctor and engineer in future, the physical, sexual and emotional violence he witnessed at the hands of commandant would continue to shatter his world and destroy his trust in adults.

While i really enjoyed this book I found the writing a bit immature, distracting and even very annoying.

I wonder why the author did not opt for using an omniscient narrator instead of putting us through the stress of translating and re-reading some of the sentences.

The fact that Agu's age was never really clear. Is he 8 or 15? He felt “older” and “younger” in different parts of the book and it took away from the book strength.

Also, because I knew the author was born-and raised in America, attended Harvard, visited Africa only during the holiday, I found his impersonation of a child soldier from a war-torn African country a bit skewed and very half-baked.

Although it lacks any type of real depth, this book is incredible, horrifying, beautiful and phenomenal.

I’ve read my fair share of bizarre, unbelievable child soldier stories. But only this one has made me snicker uncontrollably, mimicking the lunacy of the odd cast of characters portrayed within its pages.

Trust me, all the story that Agu is telling is one you will never forget in a hurry.

On another note this book reminded of the late 90's, even though i was really small at that time, My dad's rhyming to Fela's Beasts of no nation- Egbe Ke Gbe na bad society made me laugh and scream 'O'feshe-Lu AIYA-KATA'.

Just like Agu, remembering those times is making water shine in my eye.

Rating: 3/5

P.S Read the book before you watch the movie biko, you would thank me later.

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