Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully written and evocative
Review: I don't normally like autobiography but this is poetry and magic. This is a childhood you wish you'd lived. Alive with energy and emotionally and sensually drenched the descriptions dance along. Beware it's a hard read to put down and you will be searching for the sequel!!
Rating:
Summary: A Densely Written, Deeply Evocative Memoir of Childhood
Review: I don't often read memoirs and autobiographies because I don't usually find them compelling. This is an exception. Soyinka's paean to his early youth reads like literature. He recounts his life in a Nigerian village in the Forties in ways that point up the universality of childhood wonderment, the special circumstances of life in an African village, and the unique perspective of a child on such deep topics as colonialism, Hitler(!), and the role of women.The first chapter was somewhat bewildering to me and suggested that this would be a difficult read. In retrospect, I think the confusion in which this chapter left me -- I couldn't quite fathom who was who and what was going on -- may well have been intended as a realistic reflection of the world from the eyes of a toddler. After this first chapter, the book flowed more naturally and things became clearer. There are plenty of amusing incidents, anecdotes, and characterizations in this work. Not the least of these is Soyinka's name for his mother: "Wild Christian," an appellation borne of respect and awe. The book draws to a close with a beautifully rendered depiction of early political action by the women of Soyinka's village, with his mother one of the ringleaders. One often hears of the moral power and underappreciated economic clout of African women but I have never read such a vivid account of these realities, an account which is all the more compelling in that it is true. I highly recommend this book as a very entertaining and accessible recounting of life in a Nigerian village when colonialism was in full flower but beginning to wilt. That it describes the formative years of a Nobel laureate and a giant of world literature is a bonus.
Rating:
Summary: Stronger Than Fiction
Review: I don't often read memoirs and autobiographies because I don't usually find them compelling. This is an exception. Soyinka's paean to his early youth reads like literature. He recounts his life in a Nigerian village in the Forties in ways that point up the universality of childhood wonderment, the special circumstances of life in an African village, and the unique perspective of a child on such deep topics as colonialism, Hitler(!), and the role of women. The first chapter was somewhat bewildering to me and suggested that this would be a difficult read. In retrospect, I think the confusion in which this chapter left me -- I couldn't quite fathom who was who and what was going on -- may well have been intended as a realistic reflection of the world from the eyes of a toddler. After this first chapter, the book flowed more naturally and things became clearer. There are plenty of amusing incidents, anecdotes, and characterizations in this work. Not the least of these is Soyinka's name for his mother: "Wild Christian," an appellation borne of respect and awe. The book draws to a close with a beautifully rendered depiction of early political action by the women of Soyinka's village, with his mother one of the ringleaders. One often hears of the moral power and underappreciated economic clout of African women but I have never read such a vivid account of these realities, an account which is all the more compelling in that it is true. I highly recommend this book as a very entertaining and accessible recounting of life in a Nigerian village when colonialism was in full flower but beginning to wilt. That it describes the formative years of a Nobel laureate and a giant of world literature is a bonus.
Rating:
Summary: A refreshing and funny story of life in Nigeria
Review: I read Ake two months ago and loved it immensely. Not only did I learn more about the author, Wole Soyinka, but I also remembered what life is like back home. It took me back to my childhood. Even though I was raised in a totally different era (post-colonial Nigeria), I could somewhat relate to some events described in the book. I loved how Mr Soyinka described his hometown, some political events that took place at that time and also, the names he chose for the characters. I found them to be quite poetic. Thank you Mr. Soyinka for such wonderful writing. You are truly gifted. I have truly enjoyed all your books so far and I will continue to read all of your books. I hope and pray more people will also. I now know why you won the Nobel prize for literature. Keep up the good work.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful read
Review: I read this recently on the recommendation of a good friend whose judgment I really trust and I have to say I was unmoved. I couldn't really sympathize with the young boy from whose point the book is written and I didn't find the things that happened to him all that interesting. After reading the other reviews on this page, I came to two conclusions: (1) if you already know something about Africa, the book apparently calls to mind that knowledge and/or memories. I didn't, so the book didn't do anything for me; and (2) other readers also found the writing verbose. The best thing I can say about this book is that it finally provoked me to read "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe (MUCH better), which had been on my reading list for years.
Rating: 
Summary: Nyeh.
Review: I read this recently on the recommendation of a good friend whose judgment I really trust and I have to say I was unmoved. I couldn't really sympathize with the young boy from whose point the book is written and I didn't find the things that happened to him all that interesting. After reading the other reviews on this page, I came to two conclusions: (1) if you already know something about Africa, the book apparently calls to mind that knowledge and/or memories. I didn't, so the book didn't do anything for me; and (2) other readers also found the writing verbose. The best thing I can say about this book is that it finally provoked me to read "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe (MUCH better), which had been on my reading list for years.
Rating:
Summary: The Flavor of Childhood is Universal
Review: I've never been to Nigeria, nor even West Africa, and though I've known many Nigerians, including a number of Yoruba, I could never say, until I read AKÉ, THE YEARS OF CHILDHOOD, that I had any real idea about where they came from. You can read other Nigerian writers---Tutuola, Achebe, Ekwensi, Nzekwu, Amadi---or listen to Nigerian music from Fela, Ebenezer Obey, 'King' Sunny Ade, or Olatunji---there's a vast world of Nigerian culture, but until you've read Soyinka, you haven't tasted the real flavor of it. Seeing that I've just confessed that I haven't been there, how do I dare to say such a thing ? It's because I believe that the human experience has both particular and universal elements and Soyinka is at his best in describing his childhood days in such a way that both are clearly present. Childhood is a welter of impressions, small events, accidents, misunderstandings, broken promises, smells, sounds, and feelings. Everyone's childhood is composed of just these things. But how about a childhood in Abeokuta, Nigeria in the late 1930s and 1940s ? In Soyinka's autobiography, we appreciate the specific qualities of those years in that place in magnificent detail...addiction to powdered milk, getting lost because you followed a marching band, stewing a snake, dislike of being an 'exhibit', learning to love books. Everything is told from a child's point of view, with no attempt to be prescient after the fact. [The thing that annoyed me tremendously about Jean Paul Sartre's "The Words".] Soyinka comes across as a very honest man. The first few pages are a little bewildering, before you sink into the comfortable flow of humorous, tender, wondering memories. I liked the use of Yoruba expressions and sayings, translated at the bottom of each page-if Europeans could bombard us with German, French, Latin, etc., why not Yoruba ? Soyinka makes no concessions, and that's great. Most of the famous autobiographies of world literature have come from Europe and America. Now Africa has produced one to stand up with the best of them.
Rating:
Summary: A revelation of an autobiography. Masterful.
Review: If Marcel Proust had been born in Abeokuta, he could not have done better. Childhood, family, myth, the pains and joys of growing up, and the exhilaration of living are all there.
Rating:
Summary: Superb. Makes African childhood deeply real to Westerners.
Review: The best book about childhood I've read. Everything rings true -- the universalities of childhood are unsentimentally but movingly realized; while an alien, African setting is brought vividly to life to a Western reader. Soyinka has that rare ability to communicate relish for life in a sincere but unaffected, humorful manner. To read this book is to smile.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring!
Review: The prose is extremely awkward and verbose. It was difficult to struggle through.
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