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Guests | October 15, 2009

Michelle Wildgen: IMG A Few Initial and Not-Comprehensive Meditations on Group Novels

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I am a sucker for a book about a group. What reminded me of this was Joanna Smith Rakoff's A Fortunate Age, her homage to Mary McCarthy's endlessly re-readable... Continue »
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The Famished Road

by Ben Okri

The Famished Road Cover

ISBN13: 9780385425131
ISBN10: 0385425139
Condition: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

In the decade since it won the Booker Prize, Ben Okri's Famished Road has become a classic. Like Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children or Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, it combines brilliant narrative technique with a fresh vision to create an essential work of world literature.

The narrator, Azaro, is an abiku, a spirit child, who in the Yoruba tradition of Nigeria exists between life and death. The life he foresees for himself and the tale he tells is full of sadness and tragedy, but inexplicably he is born with a smile on his face. Nearly called back to the land of the dead, he is resurrected. But in their efforts to save their child, Azaro's loving parents are made destitute. The tension between the land of the living, with its violence and political struggles, and the temptations of the carefree kingdom of the spirits propels this latter-day Lazarus's story.

Review:

"[A] powerful, compassionate vision of modern Africa and the magical heritage of its myths." Publishers Weekly

Review:

"Okri's tale is a beautifully rendered allegory, enriched by its African setting, of love powerful enough to defy even death and his minions." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"A dazzling achievement for any writer in any language." The New York Times Book Review

Review:

"A masterpiece if one ever existed." Boston Globe

Review:

"Dazzling, hypnotic...a true feast for the word hungry." San Francisco Chronicle
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About the Author

Ben Okri was born in Lagos, Nigeria. He lives in London.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 3 comments:
Maryam, December 5, 2006 (view all comments by Maryam)
I've used this in a college level course that addresses African literature, and students have had very powerful responses to Okri's work. While some have passionately hated it, most have found it magical and deeply rich. Okri does expect a reader to come to the table with wit and attention, but isn't too much to ask most of the time. I don't think you can consider yourself versed in African literature without including Okri in your reading.
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Laurie Blum, December 1, 2006 (view all comments by Laurie Blum)
All five characters in this novel along with their creative narration can be classified as magical! The Famished Road is the Booker Prize-winning novel written by Nigerian author Ben Okri & you should not miss it! The book, written in 1991, follows Azaro, an abiku or spirit child, living in the Nigerian city of Lagos on the eve of independence. Order it today - perfect holiday gifts for the sophisticated readers on your list.
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hmarchand, November 29, 2006 (view all comments by hmarchand)
It's been said that One Hundred Years of Solitude should be required reading for every human being; if I were to make a list of such required reads, I'd go along with that, and I would include The Famished Road on the list as well.

What Ben Okri achieves in this novel is simply astonishing. The very nature of reality, and particularly of the relationship between flesh and spirit, is iridescently transformed, and there may never have been a more masterly demonstration of the necessity of opposites: love is strong as hate is strong, tenderness overwhelms in the presence of cruelty, life is life because death is death (except in the case of the spirit children, who are born and die and are born again into the pain and the joy of the world).

The Famished Road is truly a glorious work of literary art, focused intently on a small central cast of vividly imagined and indelibly created characters but so broad and surprising in scope that it astounds. It is an exhilarating, fascinating and delightful experience to read this book. What more could be asked of any novel?
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780385425131
Author:
Okri, Ben
Publisher:
Anchor Books
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Africa
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
Social life and customs
Subject:
Magic
Subject:
American - African American & Black
Subject:
Nigeria
Subject:
Allegories
Subject:
Magic -- Fiction.
Subject:
Bildungsromane.
Subject:
Bildungsromans
Subject:
Fantasy - General
Copyright:
1993
Edition Description:
1st Anchor Books ed.
Series Volume:
MA 5-C
Publication Date:
May 1993
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
512
Dimensions:
852x534x92 80
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