Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth
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Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth
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Narrated by:
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Michael Obiora
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By:
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Wole Soyinka
About this listen
Bloomsbury presents Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Wole Soyinka, read by Michael Obiora.
'Soyinka's greatest novel ... No one else can write such a book' – Ben Okri
'A high-jinks state-of-the-nation novel' – Chibundu Onuzo
A FINANCIAL TIMES AND SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR
A towering figure in world literature, Wole Soyinka aims directly at the corridors of power as he warns against corruption both of high office and of the soul, with a dazzling lightness of touch and gleeful irreverence.
Much to Doctor Menka’s horror, some cunning entrepreneur has decided to sell body parts from his hospital for use in ritualistic practices. Already at the end of his tether from the horrors he routinely sees in surgery, he shares this latest development with his oldest college friend, bon viveur, star engineer and Yoruba royal, Duyole Pitan-Payne, who has never before met a puzzle he couldn’t solve. Neither realise how close the enemy is, nor how powerful.
Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is at once a savagely witty whodunit, a scathing indictment of Nigeria’s political elite, and a provocative call to arms from one of the country’s most relentless political activists and an international literary giant.
MORE PRAISE FOR WOLE SOYINKA: 'You don't see the things the same when you encounter a voice like that' – Toni Morrison
'One of the best there is today, a poet and a thinker, who knows both how the world works and how the world should work' – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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What listeners say about Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- genna
- 27-04-24
Real, Sad, Shocking,
Too close to Africa's version of democracy, cloaked in her veil of black magic, deciey, betrayal,. Awful reader.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Abigail Taubin
- 04-12-21
A great story read by a brilliant orator
5 stars for a brilliant painting of words caressing words round and round describing explaining painting images and slowly moving forward. The reader is masterly
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 19-10-21
An astonishing masterpiece of wit, imagination, an
An astonishing masterpiece of wit, imagination, and humour from the maestro. The celebrated writer is known for his intricate and sophisticated works often impenetrable due to his style of delivery, basically not in plain English therefore having it narrated in Audible by a competent narrator helps a great deal. Great story, terrific imagination.
My only gripe with the Audible rendition is that the narrator could not correctly pronounce the Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa names, places, and phrases in the book. Considering that it is a work of African literature and an opportunity to showcase the cultures of peoples from that place, surely it is as important to pronounce those words correctly in their mother tongue as it is to pronounce the English words, and there couldn't be a shortage of competent narrators on the planet who could achieve such a feat. I think this really did take away from the enjoyment of the product and hope that a later edition will remedy this blunder.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 12-01-23
Intriguing to say the least
A complex work of art, heavy and confusing at times. Corruption, politics, tradition, friendship, murder mystery, religious fanaticism; the reader will start off thinking the central theme is one and by the end of the novel realise it is many. It is thought provoking, particularly as one would find themselves in proximity to real life events at times, while navigating the plot and the lessons to take out from this have no optimistic tones. Or perhaps, depending on your perspective, a quasi-optimistic one is that in the eye of corruption, nobody is indispensable?
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- DeltaAlphaXray
- 01-11-21
Terrible Performance from Voice Actor
Given that this is a novel from a great like Soyinka, I cannot understand why Audible or whoever would choose to have it read so very badly. The actors reading is poor beyond belief, he mispronounces words, places a heavy, almost racist emphasis/accent on the wrong ones and all in all I just had to quit listening. Just poor.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- CVP Onyeaka
- 24-01-22
My worst Audible narration yet!
The book is good albeit scaburous, particularly knotty, but for the life of me I cannot understand why Audible would choose to have it read so very badly. The Narrator's reading is atrocious beyond belief. For a person with a very Nigerian sounding name, he mispronounces words, places and names, places a heavy accent on the wrong ones and exaggerated stereotypical Nigerian intonation to almost a caricature. This is a very unfortunate loss of opportunity to teach the rest of the world the correct pronunciation of the many Nigerian words and names that are awash in this book, words like "Agbada" "Babariga" etc, etc. Very unfortunate. If I am Prof Wole Soyinka, I will have it completely redone, differently, properly.
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1 person found this helpful