Review: Aké
Editorial Review - Kirkus ReviewsAkÉ is the western Nigerian town where Soyinka--one of black Africa's finest writers--grew up, the son of English-speaking, Christianized parents; and this dense, wry, child's-eye memoir of his first twelve years is rich with bi-cultural textures and exquisite period detail (circa 1934-44). Father, headmaster of the local primary school, was known as ""Essay""--thanks to his passion for logic and argument. Mother, a.k.a. ""The Wild Christian,"" ran a shop, lived in exotic disarray, and took in assorted children as freeform boarders-all of them (including quite a few bed-wetters) sleeping together with the Soyinka children on communal mats. But, though the Headmaster's house became ""the intellectual watering hole"" of the area, little Wole was also raised on tribal legends: for instance, ""there was no question about it, our Uncle Sanya was an ore"" (tree demon); and Wole's grandfather put him through a strengthening ritual--the cutting of the ankles. Some confusions and conflicts, then, were inevitable. Was St. Peter an egungun (spirit of the dead)? Was it a good thing or a bad thing that the headmaster's children never learned how to behave to tribal elders? Was Essay right in pushing Wole toward the goal of a white-supervised, government-school education? And, not surprisingly, intellectually gifted Wole became a brooding, odd-minded little boy, distrustful of inconsistent adults--especially after the death of his baby sister. (Was she dropped by the maid? Or was she, as one relative murmured, a ""weird child""?) Yet, along with these mysterious, goose-pimply matters, Soyinka buoyantly sketches in more cheerful, everyday memories: the arrival of the family radio, with its bewildering situation comedies; how Wild Christian dealt with a persistent lunchtime free-loader; the lovely art of grass mowing; the antitaxation march led by AkÉ's ""Women's Movement."" And the result--with flashforwards to the neighborhood as it is today (MacDonald's!)--is a graceful, touching, thickly evocative childhood memoir: absolutely one-of-a-kind.
Review: Aké: The Years of Childhood
User Review - Nicholas - GoodreadsWole Soyinka's memoir of his childhood begins with an evocative image of the land of his birth and the parsonage that was his stomping ground. It ends with him about to join Government College (a ... Read full review
Review: Aké: The Years of Childhood
User Review - Kelsey Demers - GoodreadsNobel Prize winning author Wole Soyinka's autobiography is truly not an easy read. His dense writing requires the reader's constant attention, but the attentive reader will be rewarded with a ... Read full review
Review: Aké: The Years of Childhood
User Review - Jide Adefope - GoodreadsThe making of a giant writer Read full review
Review: Aké: The Years of Childhood
User Review - Bjorn - GoodreadsAké, the first volume of Nigerian Nobel prize winner Wole Soyinka's (possibly slightly fictionalised) autobiography, is the first book of his I've read. For most authors, an autobiography is probably ... Read full review
Review: Aké: The Years of Childhood
User Review - Anna Josephine - GoodreadsTo quote the back cover (because it's so lovely): "What if VS Naipaul were a happy man? What if VS Pritchett had loved his parents? What if Vladimir Nabakov had grown up in a small town in Western ... Read full review
Review: Aké: The Years of Childhood
User Review - GoodreadsWole Soyinka's autobiography, Ake: the Years of Childhood, tells of a Nigerian boy's daily life before and during World War II. His story originally focuses around his household and school, but ...
Review: Aké: The Years of Childhood
User Review - Ejiro - GoodreadsI return to this book time and time again because it transports me to his childhood world. Read full review
Review: Aké: The Years of Childhood
User Review - Alex - Goodreads1983. This dude won a Nobel and this is his famousest book. Read full review
Review: Aké: The Years of Childhood
User Review - Maryfrances - GoodreadsVery thin. It takes place when he is a child, but not much really happens. It wasn't enough for me. I found myself skimming I wanted so much for it to be over. Read full review
