title: The King's Rifle: A Novel
author: Biyi Bandele
description: One of the young African men in this WWII novel is so proud of his new military boots that he hangs them by the laces around his neck and starts a fashion trend in his village, providing one of many powerful and poignant images that fill Bandele's distinctive first novel. The story chronicles the Chindits, a band of African soldiers enlisted by the British military and sent to Burma to fight the Japanese. Among them is Farabiti Banana, a 14-year-old Nigerian who becomes a soldier to follow the lead of his friends and hopes the military will make him a man. Once out of training, life becomes increasingly dangerous for Banana and his eight fellow Chindits, and by the novel's climax, he's become a man, but at a great cost. Bandele favors a straight-ahead style fueled by imagery and wordplay, and his perspective on heavily traveled literary territory is refreshing and even endearing. <I>(Apr.)</I> <BR>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  King--of the Khyber Rifles
  
  
    
    
  CHAPTER I  
    
  CHAPTER II  
    
  CHAPTER III  
    
  [CHAPTER IV  
    
  ](King--of%20the%20Khyber%20Rifles_split_001.html#filepos107112)[CHAPTER V  
    
  ](King--of%20the%20Khyber%20Rifles_split_001.html#filepos145589)[CHAPTER VI  
    
  ](King--of%20the%20Khyber%20Rifles_split_001.html#filepos171727)[CHAPTER VII  
    
  ](King--of%20the%20Khyber%20Rifles_split_001.html#filepos210641)[CHAPTER VIII  
    
  ](King--of%20the%20Khyber%20Rifles_split_001.html#filepos248088)[CHAPTER IX  
    
  ](King--of%20the%20Khyber%20Rifles_split_002.html#filepos288087)[CHAPTER X  
    
  ](King--of%20the%20Khyber%20Rifles_split_002.html#filepos312828)[CHAPTER XI  
    
  ](King--of%20the%20Khyber%20Rifles_split_002.html#filepos364945)[CHAPTER XII  
    
  ](King--of%20the%20Khyber%20Rifles_split_002.html#filepos389522)[CHAPTER XIII  
    
  ](King--of%20the%20Khyber%20Rifles_split_002.html#filepos414249)[CHAPTER XIV  
    
  ](King--of%20the%20Khyber%20Rifles_split_003.htm