Selected Book
Anthills of the Savannah
- Paperback
- Author: Chinua Achebe
- Publisher: Anchor
- Release Date: February 1997
- ISBN-10: 0385260458
- ISBN-13: 9780385260459
- List Price: $12.95
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryUsing the conflict between the city and tribal villages, the ravages of the great African drought, and Third World politics as a compelling backdrop, Achebe weaves a potent drama of modern Africa. |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Loved 'Things Fall Apart' - This book disappointed
Rating:
There was no point to this book at all. I loved 'Things Fall Apart', but this book was disappointing.
"A bleak Little England"
Rating:
"Anthills" remains Achebe's only novel published in the last four decades; he has otherwise confined his literary output to stories, children's books, poems, political journalism, and criticism. Although he is still primarily known for the ubiquitous "Things Fall Apart," I think this later and distinctive work is nearly as good, abandoning allegory and myth for a bitter realism and a torn-out-of-the-headlines plot.
The story concerns three friends who studied together in England before gaining prominence in the fictional West African nation of Kangan. Sam assumes power following a coup, Chris Oriko takes a position as Commissioner for Information in Sam's Cabinet, and Ikem Osodi becomes editor of a newspaper critical of the new government. For each man politics and postcolonial Africa have a different meaning: for Sam, they are means to stability through a strong-armed rule that quickly deteriorates to authoritarian self-aggrandizement; for Ikem, the idealist, the new government owes its existence to the people. Caught in between is Chris, the practical member of the trio, who sees the need for firmness yet understand the dangers of Sam's egotism.
What truly unites--and divides--all three men is the time they spent abroad. Even Ikem's connection to "the people" is hesitant and insincere. For all Ikem's idealism, Chris's pragmatism, and Sam's self-absorption, the three men have in common the wall that separates each of them from the people they govern. "But why are all you fellows so bent on turning this sunshine paradise into bleak Little England? Sam is no bloody queen," asks a British expatriate, a longtime friend of the group. "The most awful thing about power is not that it corrupts absolutely but that it makes people so utterly boring, so predictable."
But perhaps the strongest character in the novel is another British-educated government official, Beatrice Okoh, who is also Chris's erstwhile girlfriend. In a pivotal scene fraught with menace, Sam invites her (sans Chris) to a dinner intended to convince the American press that all is well in the sate of Kangan. Beatrice becomes little more than Exhibit A for the prominent role of women in Sam's government, and she bridles against the artifice. Her lack of diplomatic tact is just another dangerous spark among the group of friends; as Sam's insecurities multiply, every confrontation, every sarcastic rejoinder, every challenge becomes a threat to the state, and soon every act performed by even his closest friends is seen as insubordination.
In the end, the problem with Kangan's elite is not simply the lingering prevalence of Western influence or that the leaders look to the West for answers and approval. Rather, the new purveyors of African self-rule are not very different than the old colonizers: they have forgotten that the heart of the nation--its very reason for existence--is its people and their traditions. Given the intractable division between rulers and ruled, the despair of the final chapters is hardly surprising--but Achebe suggests that hope might yet be found in the next generation.
Achebe quills pill. `Hills' thrill=nil.
Rating:
Not that I have anything against Chinua Achebe as an author, mind you. I liked those early novels like "Things Fall Apart", "Arrow of God" and "No Longer at Ease" when I read them back in the 1960s. Achebe was kind of a herald for me---announcing the arrival of African literature in English on the world scene. I used them as I taught Anthropology, not because I was engaged in African Studies, I was not, but because they portrayed a whole world, an interesting one, of different values, different life plans, and opened up such a world to students who could not have got anything remotely similar from dry textbooks. Achebe wrote of African history and politics from an African point of view. Well, I left my job and Achebe kind of receeded into the background. Recently, I thought I would renew my acquaintance with his work and picked up a copy of ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNAH. I must say I was extremely disappointed. Wooden characters and a very preachy plot that jerks around, never running smoothly or deep. In a state reminiscent of Nigeria, a military dictator rules but feels the crown rest uneasy upon his brow---so to speak. Stereotypical characters abound. Corruption and the sycophantism of people around a strong man are hardly new topics in the world. Achebe has picked a highly relevant topic for sure. Many conflicting interests surround the government in every country, some in opposition, some in support. Do the common people ever get a day in the sun ? Not likely ! However, the vicissitudes of tyranny have been written about in far better ways. For example, read Garcia Marquez' "The Autumn of the Patriarch". If you have never read any Achebe, please try one of his other books. I could hardly wade through this one. It's true that the theme is very relevant to modern Africa, but we are judging literature here, not politics or economics. I don't think this novel measures up.
Political life in a modern African country
Rating:
The story in this book is set in the fictional modern-day African country of Kanga. The action revolves around three central characters. Chris holds the position of "Commissar of Information" in the president's cabinet; he basically has the final say in what gets printed in the country's newspapers and broadcast on the airways. Ikem is the editor of the country's leading newspaper. He and Chris are friends have been friends since school. Finally, Beatrice is a mutual relation of both of these men. She and Chris are romantically involved, while she and Ikem have a close but strictly platonic relationship.
The story revolves around how these three and their relationships are affected by the creeping authoritarianism that has been taking place in Kanga. We learn that both Chris and Ikem are boyhood friends of the president, whom his obsequious ministers address as "His Excellency." His Excellency took power in a military coup that was intended to quash instability and then restore democracy, but as in most real-life African military governments, it stayed on after this original mandate had expired and turned into a full-fledged dictatorship. His Excellency is the archetypical African ruler. Trained in a European military school, he quickly rose up through the ranks because of his loyalty to his superiors, and when he seemingly accidentally gets installed as the new ruler, expects similar obedience from his aides. Like all authoritarian rulers His Excellency feeds off playing his subjects against each other. Eager to curry his favor, His Excellency's ministers spread rumors about each other and attempt to sow discord.
In such a cynical, amoral, power-driven world, Chris and Ikem are clearly sympathetic characters. Achebe does a good job of describing what it is like to be a reform-minded, idealistic politician in contemporary Africa. Both Chris and Ikem received their college education in the U.K. and returned to Kanga hoping to build a vibrant democratic nation, only to get sucked into the web of corruption and authoritarianism that has been so typical of post-colonial Africa. Both try to deal with the situation in their own ways. Chris is more pragmatic; rather than open insubordination to His Excellency, he thinks that he can try to reform the situation from the inside. Ikem, on the other hand, openly criticizes the government's policies in his editorials.
For me, Ikem was the most convincing and sympathetic character. While he openly criticizes the regime, he is no naïve revolutionary. There is a great scene in which he gives a lecture to a group of university students. While he urges them to vigilantly pursue their convictions, he also takes a few jabs at Marxist theories of imperialism. I think Ikem's character is probably closest to Achebe's own views; while he faults the West for its general neglect of Africa and frequent embrace of its authoritarian leaders, he also places much of the blame for its predicament at the feet of its own corrupt, self-interested leaders. The character of Beatrice, while sympathetic, did not seem as instrumental to the story as that of the two men. Achebe clearly intended for this character to represent an educated African woman, and there is even a chapter written in the first-person from her point of view. While the chapter is interesting in itself, it seems somewhat disconnected from the larger story.
Overall, I think that Achebe portrays an intriguing and realistic portrait of contemporary Africa. Although the book was written nearly 20 years ago, it did not seem dated at all. While Achebe accurately portrays the venality and corruption of African political leaders, he also depicts the genuine humanity and indomitable will of both ordinary people and leaders who are trying to bring about change.
acute observations and beautiful prose
Rating:
After reading excellent non-fiction about the situation in Africa by Ryszard Kapuscinski, I felt ready for Chinua Achebe. "Anthills of the Savannah" is his first novel I've read. At first, I thought I would be disappointed. In the first half of the novel, the political topic combined with very dense prose, constant changes in the narrators and frequent use of pidgin English from the region made the mix for me hard to swallow and requiring very much undisturbed attention. Luckily, the second half of the book is the prize for patience, the action starts to develop very fast, the plot is engrossing and the book is difficult to put down until the end.
The novel, set in the imaginary African country of Kangan, ruled by the military regime established after the coup, is built around three main characters: Ikem, the editor of the national newspaper, an idealist from the remote province, who identifies with the problems of the nation and seeks solutions (to his peril); Chris, the Commissioner for Information in the current government, suffering from critical attitude, but also somehow soft-hearted; and Beatrice, a thoroughly modern, intelligent and beautiful woman, a girlfriend of Chris and friend of Chris and Ikem. All three had the luck to get the best quality education in Europe, speak excellent English, but in reality only Ikem is not removed too far from his native people to feel what needs to be done in the country.
The central complication and the fact which is the starting point of all the subsequent events is that Chris, Ikem, and the dictator, His Excellency (or Sam) are former colleagues from the same school.
The country is in chaos, the permanent drought and poverty in the Northern province of Abazon causes destabilization, His Excellency is not popular in that region, his insecurity grows and with it his destructive tendencies. He wants to stay in power by al means... Even if it includes persecuting his friends and loyal collaborators.
Achebe managed to include in his novel powerful insights into the reality of many African republics, struggling with corruption, natural disasters, poverty, illiteracy, lack of national consciousness and influence of former European colonizers, at the same time making the novel an interesting story, evoking the images of vast African savannahs and rainforests, the humor of the people and the deep love.
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