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OLUCHUKWU

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  • There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra | [Chinua Achebe]
    There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra
    UNABRIDGED

    There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 24 mins)
    • By Chinua Achebe
    • Narrated By Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (5)
    Performance
    (5)
    Story
    (5)

    The defining experience of Chinua Achebe's life was the Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, of 1967-1970. The conflict was infamous for its savage impact on the Biafran people, Chinua Achebe's people, many of whom were starved to death after the Nigerian government blockaded their borders. Immediately after, Achebe took refuge in an academic post in the United States, and for more than 40 years he has maintained a considered silence on the events of those terrible years. Now, decades in the making, comes a towering reckoning with one of modern Africa's most fateful events.

    OLUCHUKWU says: "The Audible Edition Is a Disaster"
    "The Audible Edition Is a Disaster"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story
    What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

    Mr. Akinnuoye-Agbaje, a non-Igbo speaker who simply happens to be of Nigerian-descent, manages to mispronounce every Igbo word in the book, making it a particularly painful experience to listen to his reading. It wouldn't have required much to learn how to pronounce these words properly, without which their meanings are lost. I'll be exploring the possibility of getting my money back. There's no imaginable reason why an Igbo speaker could not have been recruited to read this book for Audible. That this was not the case is simply inexcusable.


    What didn’t you like about Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s performance?

    His pronunciation of Igbo words are embarrassingly silly, to put it mildly.


    You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

    I own both the British and American hardback editions, so, of course, i think the book is brilliant. But I could not suffer through the very first few minutes of the reader's performance.


    Any additional comments?

    Audible should withdraw this disaster, and have a native speaker of Achebe's language read the book.

    4 of 5 people found this review helpful

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