Post-Colonization Literature

1) The Kite Runner by, Khaled Hosseini
The story of a young boy Amir growing up in Afghanistan and his friendship with a boy named Hassan. They live in to completely different worlds, but fight the odds and become best friends. Then one day after Amir betrays Hassan they no longer can stay friends and Hassan and his father move to California. I loved this story and hated putting it down. It is a greatly written story while at the same time describing the history of Kabul. It also describes the fearful journey in immigrating to America from Afghanistan.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Kite-Runner/Khaled-Hosseini/e/9781594480003
http://www.curledup.com/kiterun.htm

2) Things Fall Apart by, Chinua Achebe
The tragic story of a man living in Nigeria named Okonkwo. Achebe portrays a traditional African village that is corrupted by European influence. The main conflict the reader follows is Okonkwo vs. the Europeans. In the end the Europeans drive Okonkwo to kill himself. I didn't like reading this story just because the language was so simple and everything was said so literally. There was little room for debate because everything was literally written. The story however is quite informative because it puts a name and face to European colonization in Africa.
http://wsu.edu/~brians/anglophone/achebe.html
http://www.africaspeaks.com/leslie/2808.html

3) Blood Diamond directed by, Edward Zwick
The Internet Movie Database describes it as: "A story following Archer, a man tortured by his roots. With a strong survival instinct, he has made himself a key player in the business of conflict diamonds. Political unrest is rampant in Sierra Leone as people fight tooth for tooth. Upon meeting Solomon, and the beautiful Maddy, Archer's life changes forever as he is given a chance to make peace with the war around him." This compelling story moves me and truly shows us the results of colonization in Sierra Leone.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450259/
http://movies.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/movies/08diam.html