Girls at War

Rating:
Summary: An Impeccable Collection
Review: Achebe has proven, once again, that he is one of our true masters. The Nigerian writer has chronicled his people's struggles, passions, idiosyncrasies and vices for a half century. In Girls at War (1991) Achebe continues to accomplish something remarkable--he writes a geo-political novel that is not didactic and a topical novel that is personal and humane. In this, his work resembles that of Graham Greene, although Achebe might not altogether appreciate the comparison. In the title story, we find a microcosm of the collection. By exploring the details of a few ordinary people--caught in wartorn Nigeria--we discover the human stories beneath the national, and global, machinery of modern warfare. By revealing to us the role of women and children in our new wars, Achebe also reveals the fear, culpability and pathos that lurks within everyone regardless of age, gender or nationality.

Rating:
Summary: An Impeccable Collection
Review: Achebe has proven, once again, that he is one of our true masters. The Nigerian writer has chronicled his people's struggles, passions, idiosyncrasies and vices for a half century. In Girls at War (1991) Achebe continues to accomplish something remarkable--he writes a geo-political novel that is not didactic and a topical novel that is personal and humane. In this, his work resembles that of Graham Greene, although Achebe might not altogether appreciate the comparison. In the title story, we find a microcosm of the collection. By exploring the details of a few ordinary people--caught in wartorn Nigeria--we discover the human stories beneath the national, and global, machinery of modern warfare. By revealing to us the role of women and children in our new wars, Achebe also reveals the fear, culpability and pathos that lurks within everyone regardless of age, gender or nationality.

Rating:
Summary: Learn about Nigeria
Review: Did you know that free schooling was only briefly offered in Nigeria? There's a poignant story about it here.

I learned a lot about Nigeria from these stories. Sometimes, the stories seemed to end a little too abruptly, but I guess that's part of the story format: it has to end sooner than a short novel, anyway.

Mr. Achebe is a fine storyteller and he has many interesting things to say about the people and customs of Nigeria. I recommend this book, but only after first reading his classic novel about 19th century Ibo tribe people, Things Fall Apart.

After reading these stories, I was both attracted to Nigeria and repelled by it (I've never been to Africa). Achebe does a good job of capturing the ambivalence aroused by Nigeria's exotic nature (to Americans) mixed with its societal dysfunctions.

Diximus.


Rating:
Summary: Great stories by a master writer
Review: This is an impressive collection of short stories that covers a twenty-year period of Achebe's writing. They also cover a period of history in his native Nigeria that spans from the late colonial period to the Biafran war. In them Achebe explores various aspects of a predominant theme in his work, i.e. tradition vs. modernism in his country (as introduced by British colonial administration). The various stories offer glimpses into the lives of people from various classes and walks of life. Achebe has a concise and eloquent writing style; he has an almost singular talent for making very pertinent observations in an extremely pithy fashion. Thus, for example, in the few pages of a story like "Dead Man's Path," Achebe brings to life the problems which ensue from the drive for quick modernization, the desire to adhere to tradition and the hypocrisy of Nigeria's colonial administrators. Also impressive is Achebe's mastery of narrative styles, i.e. first person, omiscient, etc. These stories can be read on their own, or as a supplement to Achebe's similarly powerful novels.