Reviews

African Short Stories by C.L. Innes, Chinua Achebe

bensmucker93's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

tkath's review

challenging reflective slow-paced

3.0

Some of the short stories in this collection are well worth reading and some are not. In particular, Certain Winds from the South by Ama Ata Aidoo is a gold nugget of a story. It's layered and very well crafted technically. More importantly, the both tight and full character development presents a family I found myself wondering about after I finished the story. The brief bios of the authors are helpful to those us unfamiliar with African writers.  

jrpoole's review

I chose this collection for a World Lit course I'm teaching this semester because it had a good mix of writers I was already familiar with and a few that were new to me. The highlights included Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's devastating "Minutes of Glory," Nadine Gordimer's pitch-perfect "The Bridegroom," and Dambudzo Marechera's "Protista," a dirty little fever dream of a story that proves South America has no monopoly on magic realism.

omqchristi's review against another edition

2.0

» QUICK OVERVIEW «
Stars: ★★☆☆☆
Plot: ★★☆☆☆
Readability: ★★☆☆☆
Characters: ★★☆☆☆
Writing: ★★☆☆☆
Recommend: ✗

» THE FALSE PROPHET by SEMBENE OUSMANE «
★★☆☆☆
meh

» CERTAIN WINDS FOMR THE SOUTH by AMA ATA AIDOO «
★★☆☆☆
interesting start, but that's about it

» THE APPRENTICE by ODUN BALOGUN «
★★☆☆☆
?

» THE WILL OF ALLAH by DAVID OWOYELE «
★★☆☆☆
:/

» CIVIL PEACE by CHINUA ACHEBE «
★★☆☆☆
ok

» THE GENTLEMEN OF THE JUNGLE by JOMO KENYATTA «
★★☆☆☆
meh

» THE GREEN LEAVES by GRACE OGOT «
★★☆☆☆
so... what actually happened?

» BOSSY by ABDULRAZAK GURNAH «
★★☆☆☆
ok

» THE SPIDER'S WEB by LEONARD KILBERA «
★★☆☆☆
meh

» MINUTES OF GLORY by NGUGI WA THIONG'O «
★★☆☆☆
huh

» AN INCIDENT IN THE GHOBASHI HOUSEHOLD by ALIFA RIFAAT «
★★☆☆☆
ok

» A HANDFUL OF DATES by TAYEB SALIH «
★★☆☆☆
the end... why?

» A CONVERSATION FROM THE THIRD FLOOR by MOHAMED EL-BISATIE «
★★☆☆☆
meh

» PAPA, SNAKE & I by B.L. HONWANA «
★★☆☆☆
skimmed this one

» THE BRIDEGROOM by NADINE GORIMER «
★★☆☆☆
interesting start, but nothing else

» THE BETRAYAL by AHMED ESSOP «
★★☆☆☆
meh

» PROTISTA by DAMBUDZO MARECHERA «
★★☆☆☆
ok

» THE COFFEE-CART GIRL by EZEKIEL MPHAHLELE «
★★☆☆☆
that was different

» SNAPSHOTS OF A WEDDING by BESSIE HEAD «
★★☆☆☆
meh

» REFLECTIONS IN A CELL by MAFIKA GWALA «
★★☆☆☆
meh

kellyd's review

informative reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A well-selected, concise collection of short stories. Should be read in schools.