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Search Sweet Country
Series: Penguin Modern Classics
Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.
Check link for latest rating. ( 154 ratings, 37 reviews)
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Description
A startling, densely poetic portrait of 1970s Ghana as it emerges from colonial rule.
Search Sweet Country follows the lives of an eclectic, interconnected group of Ghanaians living in and around the sprawling, chaotic city of Accra in the mid-1970s. Bringing the city to life in dizzying, lyrical prose, Laing weaves a story filled with bizarre and often melancholy characters: an idealistic professor, a lovely young witch, a wide-eyed student, a corrupt politician and his hack sidekick, a business-savvy young woman, a healer, a bishop, and a crazy man intent on founding his own village. Their collective narratives create a portrait of a country where colonialism is dying, but democracy remains elusive.
Search Sweet Country is a timeless, near-forgotten gem by a virtuosic writer, as necessary now as when the book was first published. Like Joyce's Dublin and Dickens's London, Laing's Accra brims with both lush specificity and universal relevance.
Winner of the Valco Fund Literary Award for Fiction and the Ghana Book Award.
Series: Penguin Modern Classics
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
i>Search Sweet Country by Kojo Laing has been praised for its surreal and satirical narrative, showcasing an original and energetic voice. Reviews highlight its inventive use of language, combining English and African elements, creating a rich, poetic tapestry. Laing's writing is noted for its vivid imagery, demanding yet rewarding storytelling, and an intricate, dream-like quality. The novel is celebrated for being both a challenging and a truly cosmopolitan achievement.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780241370094
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 01 August 2019
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Penguin Classics
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 21.0mm
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 269g
Pages: 368
About the Author
Kojo Laing was born on the Gold Coast, Ghana, in 1946, studied in Glasgow, Scotland, in the 1960s, before returning to Accra, where he would spend the rest of his life as a novelist, poet and educator. A writer of soaring originality and pioneer of Afrofuturism, his Search Sweet Country (1986) won numerous awards, vast critical acclaim, and has been praised as 'the finest novel written in English ever to come out of the African continent' (Binyavanga Wainaina).
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