Buying Options

Print List Price:	$9.99
Kindle Price:	$8.99 Save $1.00 (10%)
Sold by:	Penguin Group (USA) LLC Price set by seller.

Promotions apply when you purchase

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group. Learn more

Quantity:

This item has a maximum order quantity limit.

Enter a promotion code or Gift Card

Share <Embed>

No Longer at Ease (African Trilogy, Book 2) by [Achebe, Chinua]

Follow the Author

Chinua Achebe

No Longer at Ease (African Trilogy, Book 2) Kindle Edition

by Chinua Achebe (Author)

163 ratings

Book 3 of 3 in African Trilogy

See all 41 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$8.99

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

—

$25.00

Paperback

"Please retry"

$9.99

$6.00

$2.18

Mass Market Paperback

"Please retry"

—

$72.49

$3.81

Board book

"Please retry"

$979.73

$925.89

$773.47

A classic story of moral struggle in an age of turbulent social change and the final book in Chinua Achebe’s The African Trilogy

When Obi Okonkwo, grandson of Okonkwo, the main character in Things Fall Apart returns to Nigeria from England in the 1950s, his foreign education separates him from his African roots. No Longer at Ease, the third and concluding novel in Chinua Achebe’s The African Trilogy, depicts the uncertainties that beset the nation of Nigeria, as independence from colonial rule loomed near. In Obi Okonkwo’s experiences, the ambiguities, pitfalls, and temptations of a rapidly evolving society are revealed. He is part of a ruling Nigerian elite whose corruption he finds repugnant. His fate, however, overtakes him as he finds himself trapped between the expectation of his family, his village—both representations of the traditional world of his ancestors—and the colonial world. A story of a man lost in cultural limbo, and a nation entering a new age of disillusionment, No Longer at Ease is a powerful metaphor for his generation of young Nigerians.

Length: 196 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled

Books In This Series (3 Books)

Complete Series

African Trilogy

Kindle Edition

Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

1
Things Fall Apart (African Trilogy, Book 1)

(1,836)

Kindle Edition

$10.99
2
Arrow of God

(55)

Kindle Edition

$12.99
3
No Longer at Ease (African Trilogy, Book 2)

(111)

Kindle Edition

$8.99

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items when the Enter key is pressed. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Chinua Achebe

94

Kindle Edition
$12.99
Chinua Achebe

2,342

Kindle Edition
$10.99
Chinua Achebe

55

Kindle Edition
$6.49
Chinua Achebe

55

Kindle Edition
$11.99
Bharati Mukherjee

91

Kindle Edition
$9.64
Chinua Achebe

243

Kindle Edition
$10.99

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Chinua Achebe is a magical writer — one of the greatest of the twentieth century."
— Margaret Atwood

"It is a measure of Achebe's creative gift that he has no need whatsoever for prose fireworks to light the flame of his intense drama. Wothry of particular attention are the characters. Achebe doesn't create his people with fastidiously detailed line drawings: instead, he relies on a few short strokes that highlight whatever prominent features will bring the total personlaity into three-dimensional life."
— Time

"The power of majesty of Chinua Achebe's work has, literally, opened the world to generations of readers. He is an ambassador of art, and a profound recorder of the human condition."
— Michael Dorris

"He is one of the few writers of our time who has touched us with a code of values that will never be ironic. This great voice."
— Michael Ondaatje

From the Publisher

The story of a man whose foreign education has separated him from his African roots and made him parts of a ruling elite whose corruption he finds repugnant. More than thirty years after it was first written, this novel remains a brilliant statement on the challenges still facing African society.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product details

File Size: 1561 KB
Print Length: 196 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0385474555
Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (September 28, 2011)
Publication Date: September 28, 2011
Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B005MHHRQG
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray:

Not Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Screen Reader: Supported

Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #112,923 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #159 in African American Literary Fiction
- #305 in Classic American Fiction
- #145 in Historical African Fiction

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?

Customer reviews

5 star		57%
4 star		21%
3 star		11%
2 star		6%
1 star		5%

How does Amazon calculate star ratings?

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Mad Max

Don't miss this one

Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Great book and very interesting story told from the eyes of a Nigerian tribe at the time of English colonization. The only thing I disliked was the fact that besides the main character which is quite complex and suffers from all sorts of internal struggles, the others are fairly cookie cutter personas, inserted there for the sole purpose of moving the story forward. Yet none of them really stand out or make the reader form an attachment to them or care for their plight. I also particularly liked the writing style, which uses simple words and short sentences but evokes powerful images in the mind of the reader. Very similar to Hemingway's prose in my opinion.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Jon Waters

Achebe's Third Volume in his Chronicle of Nigerian Igbo Life Under British Colonial Rule

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2019

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

No Longer At Ease is the third installment of Achebe’s African Trilogy, first published in 1960. This volume follows the third generation of a family from a native Igbo village in what is now Nigeria. Achebe, university educated in England as an English major, again cites T.S. Eliot (“The Journey of the Magi”) for the epigraph to the book:

“We returned to our places, these Kingdoms, But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, With an alien people clutching their gods.”

Obi Okonkwo is two generations removed from his grandfather, the strong man of the village of Umuofia, who killed the messenger from the new British colonial administration, and then hanged himself. As the elder Odogwu said, “Today greatness has changed its tune. Titles are no longer great, neither are barns or large numbers of wives and children. Greatness is now in the things of the white man.”

Obi Okonkwo’s father Isaac was the eldest son of this strong-man Okonkwo, who converted to the new religion of Christianity with a zeal consistent with Okonkwo’s passion for life, and as a result was ostracized by the village. But his son Obi was easily the best student from the village, and the village scrapped and saved to send Obi to England for “book” learning so he could assist the village in dealing with the foreign administration that so dramatically now dominated Igbo village life. (“We are sending you to learn book. Enjoyment can wait. Do not hurry to rush into the pleasures of the world like the young antelope who danced herself lame when the main dance was yet to come.”) The written word has a powerful magic to an illiterate: “Our women made black patterns on their bodies with the juice of the uli tree. It was beautiful, but it soon faded. But our elders spoke about the uli that never faded. We see it today in the writing of the white man.”

Achebe picks up Obi’s story upon his return from England as the prodigal son of the village. Obi obtains a plum job for educated locals in the capital Lagos and the villagers think Obi has it made, lots of money and prestige. Obi even receives a rent-free apartment in the government zone and a car, the highest status symbol for a local Nigerian. But all is not as it seems. Obi has massive financial demands. From his village to repay the loan that paid for his tuition at the English university. From his lover who provides what little financial support that she can. From his family, who are sending his younger brother to a private school to learn English. All this financial pressure results in a logical conundrum: how to meet everyone’s expectations with limited resources. The result is a catastrophe.

Achebe’s fourth novel, the 1966 volume A Man of the People, is overtly more political than No Longer at Ease. It tells the story of a talented, educated young Igbo man, Ogdili, who becomes the apprentice of a successful Igbo politician, Chief Nanga, and then becomes disenchanted by the overt corruption of the political class. The story is classic Achebe, but it’s plain political import lessens the impact of the narrative. This said, it is not to diminish Achebe’s literary achievement. He brings a very unique way of life to our immediate comprehension, through flawed characters who nonetheless have deeply felt commitments to a truly African result.

Try out this unique novelist’s narratives. You will never look at contemporary African politics the same again.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Susan

second of a trilogy lives up to its genre, plot and setting

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

For those readers who like to experience the literature of other worlds, the famed THINGS FALL APART trilogy of Chinua Achebe continues to offer an insight into how other cultures operate and contrast with others' ways of life. In this second of the three books about the downfall of traditional African societies, Mr. Achebe continues his story of an African chief's family, as it tumbles from community grace and fortune, under the advance of Western powers' influx and influence, on the African continent.

In this second novel, we find the grandson of chief Obi Okonkwo being sent to the West to study the white man's language, culture and ways. When the grandson, also named Obi, returns to Lagos, Nigeria from England, he secures a prestigious desk job that takes him far away from his cultural and ancestral roots, back in his bush village. But the long arm of his traditional community reaches and influences him, even while he tries to learn and accommodate to the ways of modern Nigeria. In the process, the new, young functionary finds city women, personal finances, white coworkers, his higher education and changing life habits to be an overwhelming challenge. Soon the younger Obi finds that he truly cannot escape his past, in order to satisfy his present life. As much as the hero Obi tries to overcome the demands of his new city life, he is ever pulled down into the morass of public failure, as he strives to be a modern, Western-educated Nigerian.

In the conclusion, the inevitable happens to Obi, due mostly to his naivete about how to navigate the new Nigeria, as a savvy and city-experienced modern man of Lagos. The main character is a typical good guy caught between the old and the new. As a result, Chinue Achebe's trilogy are continuing cautionary tales about how one can appear as one thing on the outside but can also be quite another kind of evolving being, on the inside.

If one enjoys the famed works of Mr. Achebe, other worthwhile, African authors are: Nadine Gordimer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Zakes M'day, M. J. Vassanji, Abdulrazak Gurnah or Ben Okri. All are masterful authors about how Africa thinks and works of Africans.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Dr Mom

"No Longer at Ease" is a good, definitely worthwhile read

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Achebe's first book, "Things Fall Apart" was a small masterpiece in my view. His second doesn't match. The story, while interesting is less complex. It speaks about the common experience of the expatriate from the developing country returning home and trying to fit into his now uncomfortable mother-land, but it doesn't generalize philosophically as does "Things Fall Apart". In the first novel we are exposed, not only to two cultures clashing, enriching, and destroying each other, but the universal law of unintended consequences.

However, "No Longer at Ease" is a good, definitely worthwhile read.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Top international reviews

Jacob J Akol

My brief views on "No Longer at Ease" By Chinua Achebe

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 28, 2013

Verified Purchase

I have reread "No Longer at Ease" for the fourth time, just as much as his book “Things Fall Apart”. As always it is refreshing, confirming that changing a society's ways is much larger than the individual. In an evolving society like that of African nations, “government” has largely remained an alien concept from which to take, not to put in and owned. As such, so much is expected from school educated African who must find some way to fulfil his traditional social obligations, which are often in conflict with the modern nation’s building. So the hero of the book, who returns to Nigeria with a university degree from England and with the zeal to fight nepotism and corruption finds so many obstacles in his way, so much that he himself falls victim to corruption. I have reread the book because I come from the youngest nation on earth, South Sudan, and there are so many young people returning home from abroad into a corrupt system and I can see many of them ending up frustrated and victims of corruption. Achebe always has something important to say and he is my hero. Jacob J. Akol, author of three books: "Burden of Nationality", "I Will Go the Distance/(Long Way to Tipperary)" and Dinka Folk Tales".

3 people found this helpful

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Good new copy of this classic Trilogy by China Achebe

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 6, 2018

Verified Purchase

Really clean fresh copy of a 'No longer at ease' with completes the trilogy for me.
Good service from the seller.

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Amelia Ofori

Slow

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 3, 2016

Verified Purchase

It took me a little while to get into this. I did not find it as humorous as some of his other books I have read, and I like a writer who makes me laugh as this world is dreary enough

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Susan Cooper-Olawale

An interesting read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 25, 2019

Verified Purchase

Liked the prose style and the story

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

moeva rinaldo

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 17, 2018

Verified Purchase

Thank you so much.

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 9, 2018

Verified Purchase

Nice quick read. Lots of Cultural and Social topics that makes for great debates with family and friends

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Mr D Noble

Good read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 10, 2019

Verified Purchase

Great little snapshot of Nigeria and the craziness of the human race.

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Margaret Cowlard

Achebe: One of his novels.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 20, 2013

Verified Purchase

i am intrigued by Chinua Achebe's fiction writings, as I have now read three of his novels and each one seems to follow its own distinctive style. Although Obi Okonkwo, the main character, is an accomplished and well-bred, well educated young African, I was surprised to read that, on his return from England, he readily resorts to such customary practices as wearing only a loincloth!

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

The Epicurean Garden

Perfect!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 25, 2019

Verified Purchase

Perfect!

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Adaeze

Haven't finished the book yet, but is interesting to ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 17, 2018

Verified Purchase

Haven't finished the book yet, but is interesting to see to see the contrast between Christianity and Traditional Religion in all Chinua Achebe Books.

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Tom

Wow

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 13, 2018

Verified Purchase

What a novel.
Perfect end to the trilogy. Possibly the saddest of the 3, also possibly the funniest. Maybe my new favorite writer.

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Victoria N

Amazing read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2018

Verified Purchase

I'm ashamed to say that as a Nigerian, I only just got to read this book now in 2018. Chinua was a legend,an amazing writer.
Fantastic book!

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

I-Kors

Excellent read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 26, 2017

Verified Purchase

Smoothly captivating. This was an easy yet well crafted book which I enjoyed reading very much. Sharing the journey of Obi's dilemmas gave insight to man's struggles with morality and conscience.

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again