The Great Ponds

By Elechi Amadi

Book Overview

Tells of the ruinous feud between two villages in Eastern Nigeria. By the author of The Concubine and Estrangement.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0435900447
• ISBN13: 9780435900441
• Release Date: January 1970
• Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.41 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great Literature

I read this book many years ago whilst still in high school, as part of the literature syllabus. On the surface, this book seems to portray a story of a long standing rivaly between two tribes over a pond. But upon deeper inspection, this story infact gives us an insight into the political and social beliefs of a community of people. The great pond itself, was simply not just a watering hole, but it was the "be all" and "end all" of a way of life; it was to die for; and Elechi, through his exceptional ability to bring the story to life, allows the reader to decend into the very fabric of a war; never-ending and tragic. This is a beautiful, well-written story and political commentary, and I would highly recommend it.

Excellent

If you want African literature without the modernist slant; a story that deals with African traditional living from an *African perspective*, then this is it.Elechi Amadi weaves a tale that had me glued to my seat from start to finish.

Belive like they do.

I had to read this book for school so I naturally was scheptical at the beginning. But within the first page they had already started the planning to ambush 6 people fishing in their pond. Being an adolecent, that's all that it took. From then on out it was a great story about two tribes in eastern nigeria fighting with both phisical and spiritual weapons. One of the most intreaging aspects of this whole book is how these people zealously these african people belive in the gods. This is a great book about the a culture completely different than ours. It is a learning experience. But the reason that I gave it 4 stars is that I found the end to be dissapointing but with deeper meaning. All in all it is a great book.