From the Bookshelf of The Roundtable…

The Fishermen

Chigozie Obioma

Start date: January 1, 2016

Finish date: January 31, 2016

Discussion: Around the World 2016

Why we're reading this: Our ATW poll winner for Northern / Western Africa.
[close] Our ATW poll winner for Northern / Western Africa.

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Around the World 2016

* December ATW "catch-all" month group discussion
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last updated Nov 24, 2016 04:33PM

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What Members Thought

Jan 10, 2016 Petra rated it really liked it

A really good debut novel. A wonderful story of country, family, bonds and togetherness.
At first, I was skeptical....but then I was completely sucked in. The tragedies of this family, interwoven with the difficulties of the country, came together in a touching, haunting, mystical yet realistic manner. This is a country sitting on the edge of modernization, with all it's uncertainties, clinging to the past and the excitement at moving forward. Chigozie Obiama managed to instill all of these elem ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Jan 30, 2016 El rated it really liked it

Shelves: library-borrow, 21st-centurylit

Having just finished Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga's late 20th-century coming-of-age novel, Nervous Conditions, I wasn't sure if I was ready to head to northern Africa to read this debut Nigerian novel. It is also a coming-of-age novel, but for some similarities the story is vastly different, and the tensions that exist are rich and anxiety-inducing. Much like Nervous Conditions, I had a little trouble putting this down once I got into. (And, like Nervous Conditions, it took me a chapter ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Dec 15, 2015 Kathy Chumley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: my-top-100

Obioma is quite the storyteller, and his debut novel The Fishermen certainly deserved its place on the Man Booker short list. At first I wasn't sure I liked this story because it was so depressing. Obioma tells the story of one family's tragedies in 1990's Nigeria that is also a metaphor for what was happening in the country at that time. The mixture of parables, tribal superstitions, religious contradictions, folklore, and the desire for education and modernization combine in such as way as to ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jul 29, 2015 Heather(Gibby) rated it really liked it

Shelves: booker-nominee, africa

This is a fascinating, multilayered look at a family of Nigerians, how they deal with their bond as brothers and the often competing obligations to family verses need to find themselves.

3 likes · Like · see review

Jul 06, 2022 Pamela rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Tragic but ultimately hopeful story of a family in 1990s Nigeria. Against a historical background that includes the performances of the Nigerian football team and the Presidential campaign of MKO Abiola, the fortunes of the Agwa family mirror the shattered dreams and wasted potential of their nation.

Mr Agwa has stood against the received wisdom of the day by having a family of six children, and he foresees wonderful opportunities for his eldest children - Ikenna, Boja, Obembe and Benjamin (narra Tragic but ultimately hopeful story of a family in 1990s Nigeria. Against a historical background that includes the performances of the Nigerian football team and the Presidential campaign of MKO Abiola, the fortunes of the Agwa family mirror the shattered dreams and wasted potential of their nation.

Mr Agwa has stood against the received wisdom of the day by having a family of six children, and he foresees wonderful opportunities for his eldest children - Ikenna, Boja, Obembe and Benjamin (narrator of the book). However, when the father takes a new post far from the family home, the boys begin to rebel and they take to fishing at a polluted and ill-omened river in defiance of their mother’s orders. Then a prophecy of death made to Ikenna by the madman Abula poisons the brothers’ friendship, tests their loyalty and begins a tragic downfall.

This book reminded me in many ways of a Greek tragedy with the hubris of the father and the choices of the children leading them to a sad end. However, there are also echoes of biblical grandeur, and the mixture of Christianity and traditional beliefs and folklore have a significant part to play in the novel. Added to this are the influence of modern writers, particularly China Achebe and his masterpiece Things Fall Apart, and the cultural artefacts that the boys treasure, all serving to create a many-layered and sophisticated literary work.

The characters of the boys are engaging and interesting, and their life with their mother and younger siblings is vividly described. Benjamin tells the story of events that he experienced as a child, and relates them to the natural environment of the insects and animals that are central to his world. He has a fresh and honest voice, but the reader is also conscious of his youth and inexperience that colour his perspective and make him easily influenced by his older siblings.

This was a thought provoking and often brutal read, with a positive and hopeful view of the possibility for redemption of individuals and nations. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 01, 2016 Sera rated it really liked it

Shelves: library, literary-fiction

This book is Obioma's debut novel and it is a very good one. Set in late 90s Nigeria, it is a story of a group of brothers whose father had high hopes for their individual successes. Then a prophesy told by a local madman begins to unravel the future of this family until it spirals into tragedy.

This book is well written and the story well told. I found that Obioma was able to capture both the heart and the spirit of Nigeria by telling his story through the eyes of one family.

I highly recommend t ...more

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