A Big Elephant Has Been Killed: a novel

Author: Yaw Agyeman Price: $ 14.87 (new) $ 6.84 (used) Medium: Paperback (228 pages) Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. 2003-03-17

Editorial Description

A Big Elephant Has Been Killed is a deeply moving and gripping narrative that interweaves stories of ordinary friendships, love affairs, and sexual relationships with a discussion of society and politics in contemporary Ghana. Although Ghana provides the setting, the novel foregrounds a range of issues relevant to Africa and the black Diaspora as a whole. Badly disillusioned from their years of youthful idealism, a group of friends clings with fleeting solace to their vision for their country through their discussions on poverty, pan-Africanism, underdevelopment, religious identity, social revolution and Africa’s relationship with the West. But the challenges of their daily existence compel them to question the ethics and relevance of their idealism, and eventually lead to the desperate decision to steal from the “Big Elephant” in the penultimate gamble to empower themselves as agents of social transformation.

Reader Reviews

A great work
Agyeman's ability to write realistic characters with very different perspectives on the same situation really makes this book come to life. The book evolves as you learn more about each characters background and you begin to understand each one's motivation for their part in the desperate undertaking the embark on. The book informs as well as entertians, leaving the reader enriched in many ways.