The Fishermen

By Chigozie Obioma

The Fishermen - Chigozie Obioma
  • Release Date: 2015-04-14
  • Genre: Literary Fiction
Score: 4
4
From 66 Ratings

Description

In this striking novel about an unforgettable childhood, four Nigerian brothers encounter a madman whose mystic prophecy of violence threatens the core of their close-knit family

Told by nine-year-old Benjamin, the youngest of four brothers, The Fishermen is the Cain and Abel-esque story of a childhood in Nigeria, in the small town of Akure. When their father has to travel to a distant city for work, the brothers take advantage of his absence to skip school and go fishing. At the forbidden nearby river, they meet a madman who persuades the oldest of the boys that he is destined to be killed by one of his siblings. What happens next is an almost mythic event whose impact-both tragic and redemptive-will transcend the lives and imaginations of the book's characters and readers.

Dazzling and viscerally powerful, The Fisherman is an essential novel about Africa, seen through the prism of one family's destiny.

Reviews

  • Sensational

    5
    By Mademoiselle Kimmy
    Beautiful!!! This book went 0 - 100 but it was a warm feeling at the end to soothe the cold grip of tragedies in the book. You need to read it!
  • Average

    2
    By jscann
    The first half of this novel is very slow going. The second half reads better but it is also very melodramatic.