The Famished Road
Ratings7
Average rating4
Journey between the land of the Living and the spirit world in this magical Booker Prize-winning novel 'So long as we are alive, so long as we feel, so long as we love, everything in us is an energy we can use' Azaro, is a spirit child, who in many traditions of Nigeria exists between life and death. Born into a difficult world, Azaro awakens with a smile on his face. Despite belonging to a spirit world made of enchantment, where there is no suffering, Azaro chooses to stay in the land of the Living: to feel it, endure it, know it and love it. This is his story. 'In a magnificent feat of sustained imaginative writing, Okri spins a tale that is epic and intimate at the same time. The Famished Road rekindled my sense of wonder. It made me, at age 50, look at the world through the wide eyes of a child' Michael Palin 'This is a book to generate apostles. People will be moved and, with stars in their eyes, will pass on the word' Time Out 'Ben Okri is incapable of writing a boring sentence' Independent on Sunday
Series
Featured Series
3 primary books#1 in The Famished Road Trilogy
The Famished Road Trilogy is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 1991 with contributions by Ben Okri.
Reviews
Popular Reviews
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So, magical realism, another attempt. I try, but it is just not working for me.
I get that people enjoy the highly over-written and colourful part of the story - with spirits and talking animals, with dream adventures, with witches and curses. I see that the political thugs, wizards, herbalists and other strange beings are an appealing fantasy world. Where I get stuck is the basis of the story is reality - working as a labourer, carrying ridiculously heavy loads; beggars, and people living below the poverty line in a poor village where the wealthy landlord can exert pressure on his tenants to vote the way he wants; a village getting electricity for the first time, and its first car. For me, it works better to be based in one or the other - fantasy or reality.
The other aspect of the book that annoyed me is the repetition. It seems every 50 pages or so Azaro is kidnapped by the spirits, only to escape; Madame Koto gets fatter, again; the Party of the Rich intimidate voters again...
So five hundred pages is a fair investment, and I didn't feel the need to stop reading it, but at the end was there any appeal to picking up the follow-on book? No, not really. For me, I have to err towards ‘it was ok' rather than ‘I liked it', although it sits in between, but two stars it is.
