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Amazon.co.uk 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 brilliant read, unlike anything you have ever read before...the message is universal." -- Philip Howard, "The Times"
"Okri is incapable of writing a boring sentence. As one startling image follows the next, The Famished Road begins to read like an epic poem that happens to touch down just this side of prose.... When I finished the book and went outside, it was as if all the trees of South London had angels sitting in them." -- Linda Grant, "Independent on Sunday"
"It is a rich, provocative and hopeful vision of the world, stuffed full of drama and surprise.... Its literary lineage -- the ease with which spirits move through everyday life -- is from ancient Greece and medieval romances." -- Robert Winder, "Independent"
"Overwhelming...just buy it for its beauty." -- Jenny Turner, "New Statesman & Society"
"Okri is incapable of writing a boring sentence. As one startling image follows the next, The Famished Road begins to read like an epic poem that happens to touch down just this side of prose.... When I finished the book and went outside, it was as if all the trees of South London had angels sitting in them." -- Linda Grant, "Independent on Sunday"
"It is a rich, provocative and hopeful vision of the world, stuffed full of drama and surprise.... Its literary lineage -- the ease with which spirits move through everyday life -- is from ancient Greece and medieval romances." -- Robert Winder, "Independent"
"Overwhelming...just buy it for its beauty." -- Jenny Turner, "New Statesman & Society"
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What i found absoltely incredible- and unique- about this book is the ease with which Okri merges enlightening and sometimes shocking images of African life , with the surreal and dark supernatural world, both seen through the eyes of Azaro - 'the spirit child'. His everyday struggles- living in poor accomadations admist political upheaval, while his father indulges in his eccentricities and suffers in his manual labour job, - seem entangled with the strange spiritual or mental battle Azaro has with the strange creatures he sees around him, and the call of his fellow' spirit children' . His perception of the two worlds is intriguing, and I found myself especically immersed for example, in the cafe scenes where he sees all the customers as sinful monsters. Quite simply I've never read anything like it, and was soon desperate to read the sequel....truly one of the best books I've ever read.
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Like many modern Nigerian authors, Ben Okri bases the Famished Road on Nigerian legends, and to the unitiated, the book may seem symbolic, lacking in connection to the real world. But when read carefully, this book limns all of modern life. From the election campaigns of the hypocritical "Party of the Rich" and the even more hypocritical "Party of the Poor" to the vision of the trees in retreat from the village after having "lost their argument with men" Okri has written a masterpiece about the modern death of the spirit and presented it (as is fitting) in a magical form. From the first page, where the narrator describes his position as a spirit child, born only to die young, often many times to the same parent, a figure of fear and horror, until he decides to see what life is like, the book captivates you. The first three pages are as well written as any novel in the English language, Moby Dick and Augie March included.I ave a soft spot for Nigerian literature (although I myself am a Jew from Brooklyn); for some reason, the Nigerian authors manage to come up with some of the best literature of our time again and again: and this book is the perfect introduction.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A bizarre and incident packed magical realist novel, 'The Famished Road' reads like an African Gabirel Garcia Marquez. The story is narrated by Azaro, a 'spirit child' - i.e. a spirit born in human form who is destined to die young and return to the spirit world, only to be reborn. Azaro, however, decides he has had enough of constant death and rebirth and tries to stick with life for a bit. The life he lives - one of grinding poverty with his downtrodden parents in a West African village - is constantly interrupted by incursions from the spirit world as his former companions try to lure him back.
I'm not overly keen on magical realism as a genre, although Ben Okri does write very nicely. Most reviewers describe the prose as beautiful, which I'd agree with. However, it is a very long book which doesn't really get anywhere - the reader becomes trapped in a groundhog day of the same sort of incidents over and over throughout its 600 or so pages. It is very beautifully written - if you don't mind style over content. But by halfway through I was fed up of reading about Azaro being tempted by spirits in the forest, his father getting into fights, or a lot of strange people coming into Madame Koto's bar.
I accept that the repetition and circularity do make their own point in some way, about the tedium of daily life and the despair of being trapped in poverty. It does evoke very clearly the picture of life in Azaro's village and the desperation of his community. The storylines about the political parties canvassing for votes in the forthcoming elections are the more interesting aspects of the novel. The most interesting character, for me, is Azaro's mother - but the book prefers to focus on his belligerent father.
If the book was about half the length, I'd probably judge it more kindly. But by the time I'd struggled through it - and it was a struggle towards the end - I'd forgotten the good points and was fed up of all the less good things which had thoroughly annoyed me by then. I gather there are two sequels, which fills me with a kind of wonder that the author managed to get published two more books of the same recycled storylines.
But then, perhaps other readers are happy to follow the advice quoted by a reviewer on the jacket - 'just buy it for its beauty'. If you are the sort of reader who will enjoy a book simply because it is beautiful - and nothing wrong with that, you will probably love this story. But if, like me, you want a bit more from a book than a nice turn of phrase, this is going to prove too long a haul to be worth it.
I'm not overly keen on magical realism as a genre, although Ben Okri does write very nicely. Most reviewers describe the prose as beautiful, which I'd agree with. However, it is a very long book which doesn't really get anywhere - the reader becomes trapped in a groundhog day of the same sort of incidents over and over throughout its 600 or so pages. It is very beautifully written - if you don't mind style over content. But by halfway through I was fed up of reading about Azaro being tempted by spirits in the forest, his father getting into fights, or a lot of strange people coming into Madame Koto's bar.
I accept that the repetition and circularity do make their own point in some way, about the tedium of daily life and the despair of being trapped in poverty. It does evoke very clearly the picture of life in Azaro's village and the desperation of his community. The storylines about the political parties canvassing for votes in the forthcoming elections are the more interesting aspects of the novel. The most interesting character, for me, is Azaro's mother - but the book prefers to focus on his belligerent father.
If the book was about half the length, I'd probably judge it more kindly. But by the time I'd struggled through it - and it was a struggle towards the end - I'd forgotten the good points and was fed up of all the less good things which had thoroughly annoyed me by then. I gather there are two sequels, which fills me with a kind of wonder that the author managed to get published two more books of the same recycled storylines.
But then, perhaps other readers are happy to follow the advice quoted by a reviewer on the jacket - 'just buy it for its beauty'. If you are the sort of reader who will enjoy a book simply because it is beautiful - and nothing wrong with that, you will probably love this story. But if, like me, you want a bit more from a book than a nice turn of phrase, this is going to prove too long a haul to be worth it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not so great
I appear to be one of few, but this book utterly failed to captivate me. Too much colourful language and too many creepy-crawlies for creepy's sake. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Tilma
Good book
I really like this book. It's very gripping and I found it hard to let it go. Sometimes his almost philosphical writing about spirits and supernatural events can get slightly... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Nill
famished road
I think this is the best book I have read. I reccommend it to anyone. It was written in a very beautiful poetic style that leaves lasting impressions. Read more
Published 11 months ago by B. Tan
574 pages of chore
I began this book full of expectation; it was hailed as a modern classic, a seminal work. I was intrigued by the premise: a spirit child, destined to bring suffering to his parents... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Abigail Pepperell
Not an easy read, but without doubt a beautiful read.
I began this book years ago and cannot remember whether I got to the end of it or not, infact I couldn't remember very much about it at all. Read more
Published 14 months ago by C.C. Bloom
very original reading
At the beginning I did not like it, but I did go ahead just to see what was about, then I was captivated by all the strange things that were happening and the very beautiful style... Read more
Published 19 months ago by S. Carta
a disapointment
I really looked forward to reading this book after "astonishing the gods" being one of my all time favourite books, but i just could not get into it at all. Read more
Published 22 months ago by P. Hiles
A famished tale
The kind of book you either love or hate, I guess, depending on how you respond to magic realism (or whatever moniker it's going under these days). I hated it. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Isafish
Different - Nothing Like It
I read this book and asked if it was possible to maintain the rhythm, to keep a book as poetry in motion and Ben Okri delivered to the end. Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2010 by Georgia Ugwu
Never a dull sentence
This book does not have dull sentence in it. It is layered with imagery and rich powerful meaning. Sometimes even the most insignificant characters offer insight into the world. Read more
Published on 9 Oct 2009 by Jaie Miller
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