The Beautiful Ones are not yet Born
I knew I would see this day. After having some forced book reading sessions back in secondary school, I have finally started reading books again. Perhaps the situation returned due to the compelling boredom at Lewisham.
I finally read The Beautyful Ones are not yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah which Mr Essang seemed to reference consistently in literature class (thinking about it, was Mr Essang a Ghanaian? answers on a postcard please).
The book set in 1960s Ghana is about the Man who refuses to join in on all the corruption happening around him. The book is very detailed in its descriptions which at times made it hard to read but nevertheless it was joyous with all its subtle humor. Notice the way beautyful is spelt. The title of book comes from the back of the bus whose conductor has just bribed a police officer.
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Comments (10)
The beautiful ones are not yet born is a wonderful book, that treats the issue of leadership in the Dark Continent cocomitantly with the issue of corruption and the fatal relationship between these two matters. But it is very Pessimistic vision of the issues of the actual nation.
The referencees to corruption in the society are mindnumbing. Armah hits the nail on the nail when he used filth to describe the decay in the society and the never ending cycle of curruption. I can guarantee that anyone who reads this book will never look at any banister the same way again…
it’s one of the most priftable books i have ever read.
Armah has succed in his description, for he has put dots on the “i’s” and in their right places.
I agree with him that the situation Africa has undergone and still undergoing is a bitter one as filth is everywhere even on the banister which is supposed to be cleaned and that the glimmer of change is not yet reached,still it is not impossible but needs good wills to passion added to a good planning .
I first read “The Beautyful One Are Not Yet Born” when i was at secondary school. I had to stay away from my friends because i was not sure about my safety in a country that was being scatologically portrayed in this seminal work. Yet this was Malawi. Suffice to say that Armah’s attack on corruption and the gleam mentality was not only against Ghana but every African country.
I read Beautifull one Are Not Yet Born, Armah’s outstanding literary piece, as part of my Survey to African Literature course at the University of Asmara and am thinking on doing my senior paper on it.Being interseting and insightfull, the book leaves an impression that African Novels are worth reading and we are on need of them to gear our own track for a promissing future on every aspect of life.
Thank You Armah
This is one the best books i have ever read because it really opened up my mind to the deceit and hypocrisy going on it africa; it literally changed my world. I first read the book back in high school and i still carry a copy wit me all the time; its a timeless masterpiece.
Armah in “The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born” comments on the circle and cycle of corruption in African societies, majorly, Ghana. He presents a situation of a society filled with stench, rot, filth, decay.In this novel, everybody seems corrupt. It is a direct comment on human essence. If i were to suggest another title, i would say ” The circle and cycle of corruption”
So much to say about that Novel. Read it as an example of so to speak, “Africanna Canons” par-excellence. I liked it, though the descriptions made me wonder how come that an African author could adopt a style of writing that is full of metaphors and figures. Isn’t it to counter attack an misjudging western writer? The descriptions are sometimes repulsive, but ironically that what makes of it a wonderful novel indeed.
I have written a lot on this novel– as class assignments. The writer got so much inspired from Plato’s cave story. In need of help with the novel? Get my email* from my website and contact me.
(*to avoid spammers)
Yes, I cant agree to dis agree,The book has been fruitiful to those in need and to those who have been forced to pass through it as students have indeed enjoyed it,more over as it reveals truth and it is uptodate,those passed trough it are currently shameful by their own eyes when they do similar wrongs covered there in.
I read this book after spending an amazing semester studying the corruption of colonization and the process of globlalization. This book is one of the stories which can be used to describe any country that has gone through the colonization process. It is extremely heartbreaking– the life that still continues to take place today. I found it inspiring for the man who did not cave to the corruption. The descriptions given when talking about corruption was enough to make me physically feel sick. This book would be beneficial to any person who reads it.
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