Customer Reviews

Surviving in Biafra: The Story of the Nigerian Civil War

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4 star:		(1)
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I loved this book because it is similar to reading a personal diary or journal left by a child. It is honest and funny,sad and poignant.

The author, Mr. Uzokwe, doesn't speak as an authoritarian or an analyst. He simply tells the story of what he saw, felt and experienced as a child living in a war torn world. This includes some sorrow but also reminds us of the naiveté and life as usual wanderings of a child's mind. (Not unlike the film "Life is Beautiful" depicting a child's experience in Nazi Germany)

I have read the F. Forsythe book and other material on the subject of the Nigerian Civil War. I recommend those earlier works primarily on historical merit. However in my opinion, Surviving In Biafra is the most heart-felt story telling perhaps because the innocence depicted heightens the senselessness of the nearly 2 million lives lost. Although the subject matter is heavy, many passages are funny and endearing. As a non-African reader I found some ideas and practices presented odd and intriguing. The book is about family relations, community responses and how coping affects everyone differently. A variety of cultural norms are revealed and an overall picture of life in a small war torn village is painted quite beautifully. Many words, phrases and saying and songs are translated into the (then Biafran) native language of Ibo, and a variety of photos are included which adds nice documentation.

Anyone interested in peace will benefit from the truth presented in Surviving In Biafra. For those interested in the holocaust or other genocide attempts it is a must read. Likewise, for those interested in affirming the joy of life and the enduring human spirit this reading is a memorable journey.

This book is a beautiful account of the Biafran war. I grew up with Nigerian refuges and their children in Cameroon and got first hand accounts of the horrors of that war. Overall, this insightful book is credible and like DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE, KING LEOPOLD'S GHOST, SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL, it gives the reader the opportunity to understand African conflicts and the pattern of genocides that have taken place or taking place in the continent. I learned a lot from this book.

Written from the perspective of an observant little boy, this book is a riveting tale of human misery. I'm familiar with the subject and believe the suffering of the boy's family is representative of the average Biafran family at this hour of grave trial. The book, like many others on the Biafran war, is highly recommended especially since the circumstances leading to the war is very much alive in today's Nigeria. The people of eastern Nigeria (former Biafra) are still suffering untold persecution in Nigeria.I think the author should have been bold enough to recommend a way forward rather than conclude the book with the end of the war.But all in all, this is a fine work. The narration is free-flowing; so smooth that I was reading while eating. It's a book I can recall with pride.

From when I picked up the book until I finished reading it, I was simply taken into another world. It was as though the Nigerian civil war had been brought to life again by the author. The author has done a splendid job of capturing the events of that period for his readers. The book profiles one of the pivotal periods of the Nigerian nation. I recommend it to all those who want to learn more about Nigeria and Africa.

This book captures the tragedy of a war that the world still knows very little about...the cost in human lives that in the end was about resource control...oil. What the Uzokwe family and the Igbos endured represent the triumph of the human spirit. A must read for everyone because there cannot be peace without justice.

This book is an easy read. Not only does it give insights into the chronological events that led up to the Biafran War but most importantly, it is an autobiography which includes personal family photos and the personal feelings that the author had towards being an Igbo child during the war. I enjoyed reading the book quite a bit. I was sad when I finished it because there was no more left to read.

In this book the author reveals what it was like for himself and his family to be caught up in Biafra's war of independence. Now largely forgotten, the war rapidly collapsed into an enormous tragedy as a Nigerian blockade cut Biafra off from the outside world and rapidly brought on hunger and starvation.

These first-hand accounts of an Igbo family forced to flee from an area controlled by other tribes, then trying to survive in a village even as resources began to grow scarce... it is heart-rending but it brought the war and the humanitarian disaster it sparked to life for me.

A beautifully presented account of the suffering, resilience & ingenuity of the Biafrans; the sheer bravery of its young soldiers. Written in the great Achebe's approach. About time Biafran story is included in the school curriculum.

The book is a refreshing departure from the accounts of the Nigerian Civil War as told by commanding officers. For the first time, the story of what happened inside Biafra, during the war, to civilians and children, ranging from deaths from starvation and air-raids, lack of basic life necessities like clothes and soap to outright survival is told in such a fluid detail that I read the entire book in four hours without putting it down!

One could not help but feel the pain and anguish of the author as he described in very moving details, the personal losses in human lives that his family and other families in Biafra suffered as a result of the war.
The book is must read for all