No Longer at Ease

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No Longer at Ease (1977, Fawcett)

English language

Published Nov. 12, 1977 by Fawcett.

ISBN:
978-0-449-30827-1
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4 stars (1 review)

A novel of a Western educated Nigerian struggling to bridge the chasm between his education and his tribal upbringing and culture. On his return to Nigeria he gains a position with the Scholarship Board and is immediately offered bribes by people trying to get a scholarship. Scandalised, he initially refuses but after getting into financial difficulties and losing his faith in his countrymen’s ability to modernise after his family forbids him to marry the woman he loves due to a tribal taboo, he eventually succumbs to the temptation and is caught in a government ‘sting’.

17 editions

Review of 'No Longer at Ease' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Second book in the African trilogy, this story of the disillusioned christian grandchild of the protagonist from Things Fall Apart.

The central story kept my attention but I found the settings, with colonial governments, independence, and corruption between old guard British administrators and newer Nigerian functionaries most interesting. The story centers around this man's life as a government functionary who struggles between family, community, relationship, and individual desires for money and influence and power.

Check it out if you're curious.