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Liked It “My favorite work by Soyinka, and one of my two or three favorite works of all time by an African author. Soyinka, of course, won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1986. He’s mostly known for his plays and poetry, along with some spectacular political stunts, such as once holding up the dj at a...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“My favorite work by Soyinka, and one of my two or three favorite works of all time by an African author. Soyinka, of course, won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1986. He’s mostly known for his plays and poetry, along with some spectacular political stunts, such as once holding up the dj at a Nigerian radio station at gunpoint so that he could play a tape he’d made satirizing the Nigerian head of state. But this work is an autobiography, focusing on his childhood. He’s a challenging writer, because he uses language in such creative and unexpected ways. Ake is told through the naïve eyes of Soyinka himself as a child, starting at about the age of four. It can be confusing, because he sticks to the point of view of a young child, with all his mistaken perceptions and fanciful projections, but it’s full of memorable characters and events (such as, for instance, a strike by the market women against a new tax on their produce, complete with a physical confrontation with the male power structure of the town). The dominant characters in the work, apart from young Wole himself, are his two parents, his father S. A. Soyinka, a school headmaster, called "Essay" throughout the work, with some wry irony--and his mother, called "Wild Christian" througout the book. Both are complex, amusing, memorable characters, full of the life and spirit of a vanished era, yet every bit individuals too. The great beauty of this book is that it makes his African childhood seem as familiar and as full of a depth of symbolic meaning as James Joyce does his Irish childhood in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. And that is a signal accomplishment! ”
peter b wrote this review Friday, May 23 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This autobiography by Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka describes his childhood and British/Christian education during the wartime years of 1940's in the western Nigerian village of Ake. One of my favorite stories was that of a group of three school children caught stealing and roasting a chicken. When being examined at the school court, Iku, ring leader and spokesman, gave the following defense: "It was this way, principal. There was I at the lower perimeter of the fields principal, with my friends about to engage in a scholastic experiment, Chemistry to be exact, principal, relating to the phlogiston theory of spontaneous combustion. It succeeded, principal. To our scientific delight a small fire erupted among the twigs and oguso (fiber kindling) which we had gathered for the purpose, principal. We were about to put out this fire, it having served its purpose of proving a scientific point when along came a cockerel, whose patination and regal bearing identified it beyond doubt as having emerged from no other place than from the private poultry yard of Mrs herself." This story ends in the acquittal of the accused, however they are sentenced to subsist on the remains of the chicken for the next week. ”
tapbirds wrote this review Tuesday, November 27 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“What an incredible mind wrote this story of his childhood. AS he grows the writing and perceptions grow,as if you are in the growth with him. Wonderfully written and enlightenment for me as to a Yoruba boys experiences growing up. Now I have a clue as to who my husband is.”
dreamertambien wrote this review Friday, September 7 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I'll be honest and say that I never understood how Wole Soyinka won the Nobel Prize for Literature until I read this book! It is a warm, engaging story of life in Nigeria in its transition to independence. By looking at life through the life of Kuti (Wole Soyinka and Fela Kuti are cousins!), it gives a perefect glimpse into the challenges of life for the 'new' generation of Nigerians who have to face a modern non-colonial future. The beauty of the book is that Wole Soyinka managed to capture the parts of his family's history that are relate-able to any Nigerian family. The books transports you gently to the past and you come away at the end feeling as if you've lived the story with each character and you are older and wiser for that experience!”
fowora wrote this review Saturday, June 9 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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