Beasts of No Nation is the story of a very young boy named Agu who is recruited into a group of guerrilla fighters during a civil war in his West African nation. Beasts tells the story of a boy slowly forgetting his life of school work, friends and family only to have those memories replaced by the atrocities that he and his group of fighters inflict on others.  Agu is haunted by questions of his own morality as he slips deeper into the role of a soldier and falls further from childhood.

Uzodinma Iweala writes this story in a language all his own.  The story is told in first person narrative through Agu’s eyes, and is unlike anything you’ve read before, like listening to a young African child with only a rudimentary grasp of the English language.  The imagery he paints and the careful choice of words pulls the reader into Agu’s mind.  It could have turned out to be a mess, but instead it is lyrical, hypnotic and breathtaking.

Excerpt from Page 1, Paragraph 2: I am opening my eye and there is light all around me coming into the dark through hole in the roof, crossing like net above my body.  Then I am feeling my body crunched up like one small mouse in the corner when the light is coming on.  The smell of rainwater and sweat is coming into my nose and I am feeling my shirt is so wet it is almost like another skin. I want to be moving, but my whole bone is paining me and my muscle is paining me like fire ant is just biting me all over my body. If I can be slapping myself to be making it go away I am doing it, but I cannot even move one finger. I am not doing anything.

Beasts of No Nation is Uzodinma Iweala’s first novel, and he stands poised to become one of the most powerful writers of this generation. Clocking in at 142 pages, Beasts of No Nation can easily be read in a weekend, but will probably never leave your mind.

10/10 Highest Possible Recommendation.

Mahalo,

Duke