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A review by jennygaitskell
The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma
5.0
This novel is heartbreaking, gripping, and so brilliantly written.
The narrator, whose name is not at first shared, is one of four young brothers who go everywhere together. Their strict father has high aspirations for them. In 1996 he leaves Akure for a job in another Nigerian town, against their hardworking mother's wishes. The boys have unheard of liberty and they take it. In secret, they start fishing, an act of defiance which seems small enough in the beginning, but leads to multiplying and tragic consequences.
The storytelling is like a youngster caught in wrongdoing: apparently frank, but withholding certain details until obliged to reveal them. I loved it. The telling of events after the boys become fishermen circles back to clarify their past, and in doing so develops a riveting account of their growing up. This account contains sweet and sour spots of family life, political events and unrest, local mythology (especially the town's eccentrics), the sights-sounds-smells of Akure, and an intimate view of brotherhood. Every sentence is utterly absorbing. Many are disturbing.
Warning: this is one of those books that'll keep you up long after bedtime.
The narrator, whose name is not at first shared, is one of four young brothers who go everywhere together. Their strict father has high aspirations for them. In 1996 he leaves Akure for a job in another Nigerian town, against their hardworking mother's wishes. The boys have unheard of liberty and they take it. In secret, they start fishing, an act of defiance which seems small enough in the beginning, but leads to multiplying and tragic consequences.
The storytelling is like a youngster caught in wrongdoing: apparently frank, but withholding certain details until obliged to reveal them. I loved it. The telling of events after the boys become fishermen circles back to clarify their past, and in doing so develops a riveting account of their growing up. This account contains sweet and sour spots of family life, political events and unrest, local mythology (especially the town's eccentrics), the sights-sounds-smells of Akure, and an intimate view of brotherhood. Every sentence is utterly absorbing. Many are disturbing.
Warning: this is one of those books that'll keep you up long after bedtime.