Word: ague
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...this harrowing first novel by Iweala, a 23-year-old recent Harvard grad, a young boy is swept into a pitiless world. In an unnamed West African nation, the boy, called Agu, is seized by a band of rebel soldiers and initiated into their way of life. Soon enough he learns to loot, burn and butcher other humans like a man, all the while struggling not to become a heartbroken monster. He tells his story of unspeakable terror in a halting, not quite comprehending voice that will stay with you for a long time...
...excerpt from the new work, which tells the story of a African child soldier. “The person who is doing the killing is still as human as you would be if you were in that situation,” Iweala said. In the passage he read, Agu, the young narrator, is forced to kill for the first time. His leader guides his hand as he begins to hack a man to death with a machete. “I am seeing each drop of blood and each drop of sweat flying here and there. I am hearing...
...Tell me about Agu, the narrator...
Uzodinma Iweala (U-zod-din-ma EE-wall-a), a 23-year-old Harvard graduate who grew up in Washington, D.C., has written an extraordinary debut novel, Beasts of No Nation (HarperCollins), that is basking in critical acclaim. The book tells the story of Agu, a child soldier in an unnamed country in Western Africa, who has been recruited by a unit of guerrilla fighters after watching his own father being slaughtered. The author visited Nigeria, where his mother is currently the finance minister, frequently when he was growing up, and lived there last year, working with refugees. We chatted...
...Agu, in essence, would probably be a composite of a number of different people and their experiences that I encountered while doing the research for the book. I guess that's in the basic sense. He's obviously much more than that. But that's where the genesis of his character is. This person might have been in Uganda and this person might have been in Sierra Leone, and this person might have been in Sri Lanka, and this person might have been in Cambodia, but I'm trying to put all of these experiences into one character that will...