Description

Sozaboy powerfully describes the fate of a young, naive soldier thrown into the frontline of a civil war, from his first proud days of recruitment to the disillusionment and horrors that follow.

Mene yearns for manhood. He dreams of gaining the glory that the ex-soldier in his village brags about, with his stories of hunting 'Hitla'. So when war breaks out and soldiers appear in Mene's isolated village, he sees his chance to finally wear a uniform. Too soon, however, Mene's innocence turns to terror. While witnessing the unfathomable, Mene must learn to evade the carnage of warfare if he wants to make it home alive...

Writing in Nigerian Pidgin English, Ken Saro-Wiwa creates a unique window into the dark consequences of meaningless war.

'Haunting.' Guardian
'Sozaboy is not simply a great African novel, it is also a great anti-war novel, among the very best the twentieth century has produced.' William Boyd

About the Author

Ken Saro-Wiwa was a novelist, television producer, and environmental activist born in Bori, Nigeria in 1941.
Saro-Wiwa won a scholarship to study English at the University of Ibadan and taught briefly at numerous universities before the Nigerian Civil War in 1967.
A prolific writer, his work ranged from the wildly successful satirical television series Basi & Company (1986–1990), to a non-fiction account of his experiences during the Civil War, On a Darkling Plain (1989).
After 1991, Saro-Wiwa devoted himself full-time to political and ecological causes, becoming president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. The movement fought against the irreparable environmental damage that oil corporations were causing to the surrounding land and waters.
After years of non-violent protest against government inaction, Ken Saro-Wiwa was unlawfully imprisoned under the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. He was executed in 1995. His death sparked international outrage and resulted in Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth.

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