The Famished Road - Softcover

Okri, Ben

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0385425139 ISBN 13: 9780385425131

Publisher: Anchor Books, 1993

Synopsis

Set in the ghetto of an African city during British colonial rule, this rich, phantasmagorical novel follows Azaro, a "spirit-child" who has reneged on a pact with the spirit world. Winner of the 1991 Booker Prize, this book is "something approaching a masterpiece of magic realism...." -- "The Wall Street Journal"

About this title

Review:

You have never read a novel like this one. Winner of the 1991 Booker Prize for fiction, The Famished Road tells the story of Azaro, a spirit-child. Though spirit-children rarely stay long in the painful world of the living, when Azaro is born he chooses to fight death: "I wanted", he says, "to make happy the bruised face of the woman who would become my mother." Survival in his chaotic African village is a struggle, though. Azaro and his family must contend with hunger, disease and violence, as well as the boy's spirit- companions, who are constantly trying to trick him back into their world. Okri fills his tale with unforgettable images and characters: the bereaved policeman and his wife, who try to adopt Azaro and dress him in their dead son's clothes; the photographer who documents life in the village and displays his pictures in a cabinet by the roadside; Madame Koto, "plump as a mighty fruit", who runs the local bar; the King of the Road, who gets hungrier the more he eats.

At the heart of this hypnotic novel are the mysteries of love and human survival. "It is more difficult to love than to die", says Azaro's father, and indeed, it is love that brings real sharpness to suffering here. As the story moves toward its climax, Azaro must face the consequences of choosing to live, of choosing to walk the road of hunger rather than return to the benign land of spirits. The Famished Road is worth reading for its last line alone, which must be one of the most devastating endings in contemporary literature (but don't skip ahead). -- R. Ellis

Review:

"A dazzling achievement for any writer in any language."
--Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The New York Times Book Review

"A mesmerizing vision of modern Nigeria, seen through the eyes of a peculiarly sentient child.... The Famished Road is a quintessential African novel."--The Philadelphia Inquirer

"A stunning work, suspenseful and haunting, the product of one of the lushest imaginations on record."--The Plain Dealer

"A masterpiece if one ever existed."
--The Boston Globe

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

About this edition

• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0385425139
• ISBN 13: 9780385425131
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 512