What effect war has on people.
Or should I say: what effect war has on young people

The main character of the book is a child, a boy-soldier, somewhere in West Africa.
The Nigerian writer several times uses the Hausa word ‘kai’, but civil war seems to be something of the past in Nigeria.

We follow the main character in his journey, following his commander.
We do not know where he is going to.
We do not know what the motives of the commander are.

But as a reader I walk along with this boy,
with his humiliations,
with his hopes for a normal life,
with his forced situation,
with his friends he is losing,
with his hunger and thirst,
with his sleeplessnights,
with his physical abuse he has to undergo,
with his broken language.

This book is the first book written by Iweala. He has taken me into his journey and book about this boy who has crept into the skin of the beast. The end of the book could have benefitted from some more attention.

Uzondinma Iweala – Beasts of No Nation – London 2005