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Beasts Of No Nation
A Novel
by Uzodinma Iweala


7.8

based on 18 reviews
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based on 21 votes
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Official Publisher Site

A young African boy is drafted into a guerrilla army in the debut novel from 23-year-old Uzodinma Iweala.

HarperCollins, 160 pages
11/01/2005
$16.95

ISBN: 006079867X

Fiction
General Literature & Fiction

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

Booklist Gillian Engberg

Readers will come away feeling shattered by this haunting, original story. [1 Sep 2005, p. 64]

Boston Globe Renee Graham

In this staggering debut, ''Beasts of No Nation," Uzodinma Iweala, a 23-year-old Harvard graduate, has written a novel about the perversity of war, and the fragility of humanity.

Entertainment Weekly Thom Geier

It is a credit to Iweala, and to the future of fiction, that Agu's story is true, fundamentally true, in every way but the most superficial--he does not literally exist.

Kirkus Reviews

This astonishing debut by a gifted 23-year-old American of Nigerian ancestry tracks an African child soldier's descent into hell. [15 Jul 2005, p.756]

Library Journal Misha Stone

This slim, harrowing account of the intoxication of violence and how quickly it can escalate is a cautionary tale that offers no easy answers or explanations. [1 Sep 2005, p. 131]

Publishers Weekly

Its odd singsong cadence and twisted use of tense take a few pages to get used to, but Iweala's electrifying prose soon enough propels a harrowing read. [29 Aug 2005, p. 29]

The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Lewis DeSoto

Beasts of No Nation is a difficult book to read. But it is a book we must read, and think about. [10 Dec 2005, p. D9]

The New York Times Janet Maslin

All we are knowing about Mr. Iweala is that his book will be readily embraced by readers. Its nuances may not be subtle, but its nobility is impossible to miss.

The New York Times Book Review Simon Baker

The acute characterization, the adroit mixture of color and restraint, and the horrific emotional force of the narrative are impressive. Still more impressive is Iweala's ability to maintain not only our sympathy but our affection for his central character.

The Guardian Ali Smith

A novel so scorched by loss and anger that it's hard to hold and so gripping in its sheer hopeless lifeforce that it's hard to put down.

The Independent Nicholas Tucker

This book about children that is in no sense a children's book deserves to be read, particularly by those with strong stomachs and the inclination to encounter some of the more horrific lows that exist in the world today.

TLS: The Times Literary Supplement Anita Sethi

The unmodulated stylistic intensity may paradoxically dissipate the novel's overall power, but Uzodinma Iweala's is a confident and promising new voice.

Washington Post Anderson Tepper

Iweala's slim, incendiary novel immerses us in the nightmarish chaos and savagery of an unnamed African country's civil war.

USA Today Deirdre Donahue

This profoundly depressing novel depicts a world without hope or structure, where violence is random and meaningless. Most disturbing are the adult attempts to destroy Agu's soul. And that is why the end resonates so deeply.

The Guardian Hephzibah Anderson

This is urgent writing, starkly unsentimental and convincing in both cadence and rhythm, but this same dread authenticity overwhelms any sense of its novelistic virtues.

San Francisco Chronicle Diana Abu-Jaber

This stark, vivid book derives much of its immediacy from Agu's fragmented consciousness. Elements of his voice--its urgent testimonial quality; a raw, naive forthrightness; and an almost ruthlessly disarming spontaneity--recall Jamaica Kincaid's narrators in novels such as "Annie John."

London Review Of Books Thomas Jones

Beasts of No Nation isn't autobiographical, and doesn't claim to be. But he has worked in Nigeria with survivors of West Africa's civil wars, and Beasts of No Nation is written with the authority of someone who knows what he's talking about. It's also written in a way that acknowledges the problems of representing a life of such extraordinary brutality that it's almost beyond imagining.

Los Angeles Times Susan Salter Reynolds

In the blood and vomit and angry voices captured in "Beasts of No Nation," a reader sees human nature reforged, manacled to evil, tragically perverted.

The average user rating for this book is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 21 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Kenji H. gave it an8:
good book. short/quick read. pretty enjoyable.... very weird tone though so may be hard to understand for young readers

Nicky G gave it a7:
Uzodinma Iweala's debut novel captures the reader in his strict use of the present tense, taking them through the gripping story of a naive soldier who is trying to maintain his conscience. It tells a good story through an interesting character, but there is still something missing that would make this book amazing. Perhaps it is in the end where the theme of the novel is lead astray, but an overall interesting work. Recommended, but not incredibly strongly. It will be interesting to see how his future works turn out, but Iweala seems to have a promising literary future.

Jinfiest o gave it an8:
Good book, the abrupt ending was a little annoying though. The childish language can get a little annoying after a while.

TheKate M gave it a7:
Perhaps this is where my voracious appetite for books hurts me... It is true that this book offers us a change in perspective and writing style by creating a child's language, but does that make it more worthy of praise? It felt as if I were reading the abridged blurb of something better.

Michael K gave it a7:
The setting is an unnamed African nation, although one first thinks of Liberia's warlord/ president Charles Taylor and his Small Boys Unit. The subject matter is very compelling and while this is certainly a worthwhile read, I don't feel its ranking on this site as one of the top 3 or 4 works of fiction of 2005 is justified.

Dara G gave it a10:
A disturbing tale of child soldiers that one will not soon forget. I must respectfully disagree with other criticisms of the abbreviated length of the book. Shorter works such as this one and Yasmina Khadra's The Swallows of Kabul demonstrate that it is possible to pen an excellent work that gets to the heart of a subject.

Matthew L gave it a7:
Solid writing, but felt it lacked real gravity for the subject matter. Maybe more length would have added to its 'weight.'

Beasts Of No Nation A Novel by Uzodinma Iweala

Beasts Of No Nation
A Novel
by Uzodinma Iweala