num_pages: 180
description: In this stunning debut novel, Agu, a young boy in an unnamed West African nation, is recruited into a unit of guerrilla fighters as civil war engulfs his country. Haunted by his father's own death at the hands of militants, which he fled just before witnessing, Agu is vulnerable to the dangerous yet paternal nature of his new commander. While the war rages on, Agu becomes increasingly divorced from the life he had known before the conflict started -- a life of school friends, church services, and time with his family still intact. As he vividly recalls these sunnier times, his daily reality spins further downward into inexplicable brutality, primal fear, and loss of selfhood. His relationship with his commander deepens even as it darkens, and his camaraderie with a fellow soldier lends a deceptive sense of normalcy to his experience.In a powerful, strikingly original voice that vividly captures Agu's youth and confusion, Uzodinma Iweala has produced a harrowing, deeply affecting novel. Both a searing take on coming-of-age and a vivid document of the dark face of war, "Beasts of No Nation announces the arrival of an extaordinary new writer.
language: English
title: Beasts of No Nation
titlecomplete: Beasts of No Nation
genres: Fiction, African Literature, War, Literature, Adult, Nigeria, Novels, Contemporary, Historical Fiction, Africa
ratings_count: 6307
awards: awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: James Tait Black Memorial Prize
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: Los Angeles Times Book Prize
category: Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction
publisher: John Murray