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A review by mownon
The Age of Magic by Ben Okri
4.0
"Some things only become clear much later."
Age of magic is not like the works of contemporary literature that focuses on just an unidirectional grand narrative. The book is more about change, magic, and moreover, a book that is full of ideas. It has the ability to persuade the reader to think deeply. Often dwelling in the corners of unexplored lines of thoughts and perception, this book presents ideas and philosophies- that at any mundane situation would seem to be silly and occasionally, blasphemous even. No matter what you feel about them, the content is surely thought provoking and engaging at the same time.
The disjoint form of narration is often considered by critics to be an hindrance when it comes to storytelling... But Age of Magic is an exception in my opinion. Each chapter is self reliant, and each 'book' is self contained. Put together in a way to present various lines of thoughts sequentially yet giving away just a dash of parallelism. And at the same time each narrative leaves one or more threads that the reader can use later, to join the beads to form a larger piece of art.
Each character involved in the story represents something that corresponds to something else in your real-life. Each place, event is a reference to materialistic symbolism and emotion is expressed via the actions of the characters.
One of the many interesting parts of this book is that, it often leaves undirected references here and there. Some lead to incidents or concepts of our known realm, journeys and other trivial or not so trivial matters of importance... And some references lead to other layers of the story, giving the reader an opportunity to explore the narrative from a different point of view. ...And just when you'll start to think that, you've finally been able to get a hold of the reference and grasp it's true meaning, Okri surprises you completely by unveiling an unique intention.
A book full of lossless ideas and mystery, often touching the borders of realism and magic together through very ordinary events at times, Age of Magic in its true essence is definitely more like a fairytale reconstructed. Surrealism at its best, that's what this book is. Reading it too fast won't be a wise thing to do at all.
Age of magic is not like the works of contemporary literature that focuses on just an unidirectional grand narrative. The book is more about change, magic, and moreover, a book that is full of ideas. It has the ability to persuade the reader to think deeply. Often dwelling in the corners of unexplored lines of thoughts and perception, this book presents ideas and philosophies- that at any mundane situation would seem to be silly and occasionally, blasphemous even. No matter what you feel about them, the content is surely thought provoking and engaging at the same time.
The disjoint form of narration is often considered by critics to be an hindrance when it comes to storytelling... But Age of Magic is an exception in my opinion. Each chapter is self reliant, and each 'book' is self contained. Put together in a way to present various lines of thoughts sequentially yet giving away just a dash of parallelism. And at the same time each narrative leaves one or more threads that the reader can use later, to join the beads to form a larger piece of art.
Each character involved in the story represents something that corresponds to something else in your real-life. Each place, event is a reference to materialistic symbolism and emotion is expressed via the actions of the characters.
One of the many interesting parts of this book is that, it often leaves undirected references here and there. Some lead to incidents or concepts of our known realm, journeys and other trivial or not so trivial matters of importance... And some references lead to other layers of the story, giving the reader an opportunity to explore the narrative from a different point of view. ...And just when you'll start to think that, you've finally been able to get a hold of the reference and grasp it's true meaning, Okri surprises you completely by unveiling an unique intention.
A book full of lossless ideas and mystery, often touching the borders of realism and magic together through very ordinary events at times, Age of Magic in its true essence is definitely more like a fairytale reconstructed. Surrealism at its best, that's what this book is. Reading it too fast won't be a wise thing to do at all.