The Fishermen: A Novel

The writing in this first novel is delicious even though the events are heart wrenching It is easy to believe that Ben the narrator is real and that this is a true story. Although the characters and plot are fictional, the author sets the story in a real place with actual external political events. This book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, an amazing achievement for a first novel. The author is working on a second book.

Reviews for this book were raves, but I found this book pretty hard going. There was enough story to keep me interested, but the writing was crammed with similes and metaphors that just made me shake my head. As a description of how hatred can take over a person and even a whole family, it worked. It also seemed to me a good description, whether intentional or not, I'm not sure, of the bad effects of authoritarian parenting.

Intriguing depiction of cultural beliefs related to being cursed, juxtaposed with madness, homicide and parents falling apart; let down by implausible pulling apart of brotherly bonds and never really clear why being fisherman could be so offensive to parents; most of all impossible to imagine two young boys (spoiler alert) killing a grown mad man with finshing lines and hooks - just not possible.

Before the scourge of colonialism and its accompanying Christianity overtook the continent, many African rivers were viewed and worshiped as gods, including the river Omi-Ala, which runs through the Nigerian city of Akure. By the 1990s, however, Omi Ala has lost its holy status. Now a dangerous and almost forgotten place, the people of Azure avoid the river and the evils that are said to take place there. It is especially off limits to children of respectable families, like that of nine year old Benjamin and his three older brothers. The forbidden river turns out to be the perfect place for rebelling against their very strict but absent father. The boys take up fishing, and are soon spending every afternoon in the company of a few other boys, the river, and their meagre catches. Brothers Ikenna, Boja, Obembe, and Benjamin have always done everything together, and fishing is no exception. And when their secret visits to the river are discovered, they brothers share the harsh punishment of their father. They are beaten in turn, youngest to oldest, with increasing number of blows.
Afterwards, the father exhorts his sons to become fishermen of a different sort; to catch not fish but dreams, and to not settle for anything less than the biggest reward. The boys promise, but their fishing days have set a trajectory in which survival, never mind reward, may be impossible to achieve. Ikenna begins to avoid his brothers and to accuse them of wanting to kill him. His fear and paranoia take over his life and those of his family. Comparisons to the story of Cain and Abel are valid here, but symbols of the Igbo people of Nigeria are also woven throughout the story. In Igbo tradition, four is the most sacred number. The name Ikenna means “father’s power” in the Igbo language. Young Benjamin describes most people as sharing the traits of animals; his father is an eagle, whereas Ikenna, descending into madness, is descrihed as a python, both animals of significance in Igbo folklore.
As narrator, Benjamin’s story switches between his current, adult perspective and his perspective as a nine year old child. Through the child’s eyes, we are introduced to horrific acts of violence with the short sentences and honest words of a nine year old relating what he sees in front of him. Eventually, young Benjamin’s views are overlaid with the explanations and musings of adult Benjamin. The seamless integration of the young and the adult Benjamin’s voices draw us even further inside the nightmare from which this family cannot awake. Obioma’s precise, spare sentences are well deployed in this grand family tragedy, saving it from the sentimentality it might have suffered in the hands of a less skilled and lyrical writer. Highly recommended.

Ostensibly, Chigozie Obioma has written a novel about the disintegration of a Nigerian family. Ostensibly, the reason for its demise is a village lunatic, but there are doubts. The opening scene records the father leaving his wife and six children to work in a remote location. One could easily see this event, like the sudden removal of a chair leg, as the trigger for all subsequent destabilization. But this is only a possibility. The reader knows that life is a complicated web, and most things that happen to us are the result of many interwoven story lines. This multi-layered novel is convincing in that regard.

Obioma's narrator, the fourth child of the family, is fascinated with the fauna of his home in small town Africa. Most chapters open with his reflections on the the similarities between a certain animal and a human actor in the drama. For example, "Father was an eagle: The mighty bird that planted his nest high above the rest of his peers, hovering and watching over his young eagles, the way a king guards his throne. Our home...was his cupped eyrie; a place he ruled with a clenched fist." From my Western point of view, the interdependence of human and natural environment is part of the alluring "Africanness" of the story. There is a sense that all of creation is interconnected, and what happens to one part affects all the others.

Obioma also draws us into the Nigerian context with his skillful use of language. The family in the story is multi-lingual, but the reader soon learns that not all languages are created equal in Nigeria. The narrator explains, "English, although the official language of Nigeria, was a formal language with which strangers and non-relatives addressed you. It had the potency of digging craters between you and your friends or relatives if one of you switched to using it." When emotions or deep thoughts must be conveyed, the actors use their heart languages Yoruba or Igbo. At times Obioma incorporates those languages into the text, with the English translation to the side, or embedded in the dialogue. It is another move to show us the relational complexity of the Nigerian culture.

An undercurrent throughout the narrative is the interplay between Christianity, introduced by missionaries, and the traditional Nigerian religions. The cultural veneer is Christian, but the heart and soul of the people is quickened by animistic belief. The young narrator explains, "Although Christianity had almost cleanly swept through Igbo land, crumbs and pieces of the African traditional religion had eluded the broom." At one point, the narrator admits that he only knows how to pray in English. In light of the relational distance created by the use of English, it is no wonder that "crumbs and pieces" conspicuously linger.

Several curious biblical allusions in the novel left me intrigued, but at a loss to determine their usefulness for interpretation. Early on, Ikenna, the eldest, calls to his brothers, "Follow us, and we will make you fishermen!" And we followed--the narrator is quick to add. My antennae went up. Compare Mark 1:17, "Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will make you fishers of men. At once they left their nets and followed him." Coincidence? Maybe not, but I see no clear Christ figure in the story.

Later, after a crucial act, Obembe says to his brother Ben, "Don't worry, he said, the chirping of the night crickets punctuating his speech. It is finished. It is finished, a voice repeated in my ears." Again my antennae went up. Compare John 19:30, where Jesus utters the same words just before he dies. But in the novel, Obembe is not dying when he speaks those decisive words. Is the reader to be thinking about a metaphorical death at this juncture? What to make of these allusions? I don't have the answer just yet.

The downward spiral of the story is such that the reader wonders toward the end if there is any room for hope. The final chapter, entitled "The Egrets," offers the reader a thread. In fact, several clues in that chapter made me wonder if Obioma might be thinking of Nigeria as he writes about this family that has suffered unspeakable loss. There have been difficult days, the past has deformed the present, but for the survivors there is always hope for a better future.

I chose this debut novel by the Nigerian writer Chigozie Obioma because I had just finished UNDER THE UDALA TREES by Chinelo Okparanta -- a book in which I felt the form did battle with the content -- and wanted to calibrate it against another book from the same tradition. And it is true: Obioma uses a similar mixture of songs and folk tales in his novel, and similar interpolations in Igbo, Yoruba, or Pidgin, though less persistently than Okparanta. But while I never doubted what Okparanta was trying to do -- write an impassioned personal denunciation of the limitations placed on women -- I have no idea what Obioma's purpose is, whether he means his story to be taken literally, with a degree of magical realism, or as some kind of parable.

The narrator, Benjamin Agwu, is nine when the story opens in 1996. He is the fourth of six children in a family living in the town of Akure. His older brothers Ikenna and Boja share one bedroom; he shares another with his slightly older brother Obembe; the much younger David and their infant sister Nkem play little part in the story. Just before the book opens, the children's father, who works for the Bank of Nigeria, is sent to a town in the north, and can visit his family only on alternate weekends. The four brothers take advantage of his absence by fishing each day in the forbidden and dangerous Omi-Ala River, a disobedience which earns them a severe thrashing when their father finds out. But already the foursome has begun to disintegrate. Ikenna is cursed by a filthy madman on the banks of the river, who prophesies his brutal death. Before the book is over, brother will have turned against brother in a horrible escalation of the Cain and Abel story, making the prophecy come true, and virtually every other bond holding the family together will be broken. To quote the title of the famous Chinua Achebe novel that the boys have to study in school, Things Fall Apart -- and with a vengeance!

The adult Benjamin tells his story in an inventive voice that mingles unexpected words with normal ones; his father, for example, calls a whipping a Guerdon. Many of his images are simply marvelous ("Mother owned copies of our minds in the pockets of her own mind"); others strain too hard for effect ("the dying sun pitched in the corner of the sky as faint as the nipple on the chest of a teenage girl a distance away"). Many aspects of the book suggest a popular narrative style. The chapters, for instance, have one-word titles ("The River," "The Eagle," "The Python"), explained by their first lines ("Ikenna was a Sparrow," "Boja was a Fungus," "Obembe was a Searchdog"), as though the book were a collection of fables. The frontispiece shows a map of Akure drawn as a tribal village, where everyone knows everyone else, and much of the book is written that way. But look it up, and you will see a busy city, with six lanes of traffic on its main street. Is perhaps Obioma giving us a child's-eye view on reality? Yet so much of his action is way over the top: the gruesome appearance, odor, and grossly indecent behavior of the madman Abulu, for instance, or the relentless way in which everything goes from bad to worse in the most spectacular way possible.

So what IS this novel? Certainly not a literal account of Nigerian life today. A Greek myth told in folk style? A Shakespearean tragedy, ditto? A parable, perhaps, on how life falls apart if the traditional bonds are broken? An allegory of a country that can descend into tribalism at the drop of the hat? Or something more specific, perhaps related to the death of ideals when the politician MKO Abiola, who also makes an appearance in the story, was imprisoned after the 1994 stolen election? Or just a good story? I don't know. For that reason, I am rounding my 3.5-star rating up rather than down. A writer so talented deserves the benefit of my doubt.

The Fishermen, Chigozie Obioma, author: Chukwudie Iwuji, narrator
In the bible, Jesus speaks of making ordinary fishermen, “fishers of men”. In this book there are four brothers who briefly become fishermen. Tragedy follows when they become “fishers of men”, but not in the way encouraged in the bible. The oldest, Ikenna, was nearly 15, Boja was a year younger, almost 14, Obembe was 11, and Benjamin was 9. Benjamin, the youngest of these brothers, narrates the story about his family during one fateful year and its aftermath in their home town Akure, Nigeria.
The sophisticated and successful patriarch, Mr. Agwu, was employed by the Central Bank of Nigeria. He had high hopes for the future of all his children; for his sons he dreamt of professions; one would be a lawyer, one a doctor, one a professor, one an engineer, one a pilot. For his daughter, he had no great concerns since she was, after all, only a girl. When a job transfer forced him to commute back and forth to his home, spending weeks at a time away, his wife, who ran a food store in the open market, begged him not to take the promotion. If he became a part-time parent, it would be a great hardship on her to raise their six children alone. He could not take them with him because the city he was going to, Yola, was unsafe with warring factions and armed revolt. When she begged him to return because she was losing control of the boys without his firm hand, he ignored her pleas. When he did return, things had already gone from bad to worse. The moment had passed to restore order.
Mr. Agwu wanted his children to be “fishers of the mind”, go-getters, not the simple fishermen that they had become in his absence. He beat them all severely. However, he believed that their defiance, when they briefly became fishermen, showed a kind of courageous spirit even though it was forbidden and dangerous. He had not known that on one day, when the fishermen brothers were returning home from fishing, they had encountered the resident madman, Abulu whose visions and curses frightened many of the people in their town. Abulu had been seriously injured in an accident and had become unstable afterwards. He was feared as a prophet of doom since often when he cursed people or prophesied their futures, his mutterings became reality or self-fulfilling prophecies. When the brothers came upon him, he called out to Ikenna by name and began to spew out prophecies and curses. He announced that one brother would turn against another and take his life. Ikenna, the eldest, was consumed with a fear that he was the one to be murdered for how could Abulu have known his name if he did not see the future. He grew angry and remote, suspicious and accusatory. He couldn’t eat. Soon, his fear focused on his younger brother Boja and the two began fighting, each fearing the curse referred to one of them. They believed that one would kill the other; they just did not know who would be the victor. Soon the fear of the prophecy consumed the lives of the brothers and their dreams of the future were dashed.
Avenging wrongful death was considered the duty of brothers, and since Abulu was the cause of all the trouble, he becomes the “fish” Obembe and Ben seek out to catch and punish for all their suffering. They believe they are reckoning the books for their older brothers. They were young boys, not yet men, who clothed themselves in a maturity they did not have and followed their angry instincts and religious superstitions rather than their intellect, common sense or their father’s advice. Benjamin decided, belatedly, to follow his father’s advice and to think of his mother before he acted. He refused to run away with Obembe. He returned home to face judgment. Each of the brothers became a victim in his own way, but Benjamin seems to have borne the brunt of punishment for the sins they committed. Was it because he was the most sensitive? Did that make him the weakest or, ultimately, the strongest? In the end, the Nigerian justice system made a mockery of the definition of justice and illustrated ignorance, backwardness, superstition, and injustice.
The climate of the times was no better. It was one of rebellion, political upheaval and civil war. People were murdered for being on the wrong side of an issue. They feared the soldiers and the rival factions against the government. Growing up under such tense conditions was a trial for the entire family. Their mother who was unable to handle all the stress and loss that life handed to her wound up in a mental hospital for an extended period of time until she recovered. She had visions of spiders which superstition dictated inhabited houses of grief. Their father, who returned after tragedy struck, removed the spiders from the house, which helped somewhat with her mental state, but it was only the beginning of their suffering.
The political atmosphere, backward culture and religious beliefs that had not yet entered modernity highlighted the difficult environment in Nigeria that the family faced and endured. The author clearly portrayed the scenes so that the brutality of the government and revolutionaries came alive. The author’s prose made abundant use of metaphors and similes that worked wonderfully to knit the story together and to create realistic images for the reader to imagine. A running nose was made to sound poetic even if the image was almost a bit too realistic. The narrator, because he was a native Nigerian, spoke with the appropriate accent and stress, making the story so much more realistic and authentic. Whether he described the locust season or the violent scenes, it was real. He understood the culture and the moment, and so he read it perfectly to impart the appropriate meaning and message. The reader was a participant rather than an observer and it was often disheartening as the politics of the day and the suffering of the family became clear as was their helplessness to bring about change.
Benjamin, in telling his story, gives his family members nicknames describing their personalities. His mother was a falconer; in order of their age, Ikenna was a sparrow, Boja was a fungus and Obembe was a moth. The book is filled with symbolism, legends and superstitions that illustrate the rhythm of their lives, lives governed by a good deal of erroneous belief in myths, religious misconceptions, and childish notions about the need for retribution when sins are committed. Ben remembered a story about Eagles and eaglets which is referred to as the Cain and Abel syndrome. Because of hunger, the eaglets turn against each other while the adult eagles stand by and do nothing. Cain and Abel are brothers in the bible who turn against each other, as well, with Cain killing Abel. The novel is moving and poignant. It is well told and well worth the print or audio version.

Drawing upon the rich history of Nigerian storytelling, this remarkable debut novel is a myth of sorts, reminding the reader of tales of the Greek gods or particularly the biblical story of Cain and Abel. A religious madman prophesies that the oldest brother of the Agwu family, Ikenna, will be killed by one of his brothers. This prophecy is a ghost that haunts Ikenna, who is gradually undone by it, and in a mysterious turn of events, ultimately succumbs to it. The Agwu family must come to grips with this tragedy and find healing and redemption. Obioma combines stark, mythic narrative with lavishly descriptive writing that depicts not only the Agwus’ life in their home and town, but also the rapidly modernizing culture of Nigeria in the 1990s. Chigozie Obioma has certainly given us one of the year’s finest novels, leaving the reader eager for more of his exceptional fiction.

Chigozie Obioma's The Fishermen

review by - Valerie Chiamaka Chikwendu

Every time literary prize winners and almost winners are announced, I do a quick scan of the authors, the books, the titles. I read up on some of the interesting authors if they are new to me and I occasionally will read a book or two from the long long list of people who I consider heroes of our time: writers.

I look for intrigue, I look for something grungy and beautiful at the same time, something different and then, somewhat unconsciously, I look for the familiar. So it is not a surprise that when I did my first scan of the recent Man Booker prize long list. I stopped short at a name: Chigozie Obioma. The name is a familiar name that tells me that I have one thing in common with this writer: a common ancestry. This is a very small connection but it was enough for me to stop and see what he had to say. It has been exactly a week since I came across the name and today, similar to what Arundhaty Roy did to me with The God of Small Things, Chigozie and his work will continue to haunt me for a long time to come.

I just finished reading the last pages of his debut novel The Fishermen and I found myself poring through every last word on the book, the dedication, the book cover snippets, anything that will give me more of what this talented author has to say. Chigozie's writing is superbly designed to captivate readers. Chigozie took me on a devastatingly heart wrenching journey. I was tortured, rooting for the main characters and being let down each step of the way. At the same time, as I went through the agonizing journey into Chigozie's imagination, as painful as it was, I still refused to get off the ride.

I read this book initially because of it's familiarity but the truth is, this is not just a novel set in Western Nigeria during the 1990's showcasing a middle income family weaving its way through uncertain political and economic times. It is not just a glimpse into the coming together of traditional Yoruba beliefs and western influences. It is a carefully crafted work of art that does what every good work of art is supposed to do. It tugs at your soul. It stirs up deep emotions. It humbles.

Chigozie is not just Chinua Achebe's heir. He is not just one of the best contemporary African writers of these times. He is much more than these compartments and categories that we often find ourselves placing him in.

He is simply a great writer, story teller and artist - by any standard. I am sitting at the edge of my seat waiting, with bated breath to see what he comes up with next.

THE FISHERMEN
BY
CHIGOZIE OBIOMA

Many civilisations are damaged from within. This damage is often instigated by external forces. Ben’s family who live in Akure in Nigeria are to experience a parallel imploding. The life they once knew, the daily routine of a happy normal life will be altered forever when their father moves away to work. Their mother will be left to raise her six children and to run her stall at the local market.

The story of The Fishermen narrated by Ben, spans a decade depicting the lives of a large family.

‘He wanted us to be many so that there could be diversity of success in the family.’

Ikenna, Boja, Obembe, Benjamin, David and their sister Nkem along with their parents, struggle to cope in a country disrupted by a recently botched election. The boys watch their father exacting his power within the household and they absorb this masculinity which moulds them profoundly for the future.

Their mother is the first member of the family to change:

‘She’d acquired the gait of a wet mouse’

This is how Ben describes their mother emerging from the frantic hushed conversations with their father over his impending departure.

Abulu who is the ‘local lunatic’ and a dangerously displaced individual casts a curse on the family by way of a prediction. Superstition manifests itself. Ikenna is the eldest and it is towards him this prediction is aimed and for Ikenna this is devastating because;

‘Little things could unbridle his soul.’

Suffice it to say heart breaking years ensue for the family. But the genuine love the children share for each other and for their parents is brilliantly highlighted time and time again throughout the story. True family love and sibling bonding resurrects the reader’s faith in human nature despite the harrowing events which transpire throughout the book. The experience for each family member is different and is impacted according to age.

This is how Ben explains his two younger siblings escape from the worst of the fallout from the past. They were like Egrets.

‘The wool white birds that appear in flocks after a storm…their wings unspotted their lives unscathed.’

The Fishermen is a book that deserves to be read again and again and I believe that one reading of this work does not do it justice. This is a book about family and of a family’s strengths and weaknesses combined. It is a book that emphasises how things can be damaged from within due to outside influence. Whether it is a family or a country, an external force can impact greatly. It is a story of courage, conviction and belief and the global story of every parent’s unconditional love for their children.

A disturbingly brilliant book.

The Fishermen describes the aftermath of one event: the eldest of four inseperable, Nigerian brothers encounters a madman who prophecies that he will be killed by one of his siblings. As the prophecy weaves its way into the family, Oboma describes how it begins to tarnish every beautiful thing it touches.

The most striking thing about this novel was Oboma's ability to inhabit the minds of children and their absolute, irrefutable logic. It is precisely this skilled narration that makes the novel all the sadder.

This book is not a light or particularly happy one; however, I recommend it to everyone who is interested in how stories and myths can shape our lives.

An amazing novel by Chigozie Obioma. The clarity and flow of writing makes this novel an easy read for a free weekend. The story does a great job of using the context (Nigeria, different ethnicity, political struggle & culture) and plot to create a rich reading experience.

The novel starts with four brothers and their interaction with each other and their parents. They have a hierarchical structure within them being led by the older brother. They fear their father and spend most of their time with the mother. The father has planned out their lives for them and leading them to their destiny. Then, superstition around a prophesy (from the town madman) leads to series of expected & unexpected events which are beautifully woven with Nigerian politics. I loved the inventiveness of the boys which played out with their destiny. The plans drawn by their father are torn to pieces with one tragedy after the other that the boys were drawn to like moth to the light.

I am glad that this novel was short-listed for Man Booker Prize other wise I would have never heard for it. Congratulations to the author for a strong work.

The Fishermen focuses on the perspective of the youngest brother in a tight knit, traditional Nigerian family. The family faces a whirlwind of tragedy throughout the novel. The Fishermen starts with a strong family with no tragic problems, and eventually we are shown the metamorphosis of each individual character after the tragic events that occur. The theme of christianity prevails throughout the novel as large forces in Nigerian culture. The novel is set in colonized Nigeria. Nigerians began to associate certain geographical objects with Christianity, and thus changed their view of these previously sacred items in Nigerian culture. An example of this is the Omi-Ala River, which was once worshiped by Nigerians for its religious value. As Christianity spread, Christian places of worship were erected in close proximity to the river, causing the Nigerians to disavow the river. The family does not completely understand Christianity though. This is evinced when Ikenna kills the chicken, he does not want to eat it because that would be stealing and stealing was considered a sin; yet killing is also a sin, so his understanding of the religion is weak.
In my opinion, The Fishermen was an enjoyable and informative read. When I took African Studies last year, we read Things Fall Apart, I notice many large thematic similarities between these two books, The themes of Christianity, Superstition, and Tradition hold strong throughout both novels. These themes were such pushing forces in Things Fall Apart that it drove one main character to kill himself. Characters in both books are so adamant about their traditions being upheld because after the Europeans began to colonize, Africans felt that everything was changing and they wanted to hold onto something. My preconceived notions about Africa were shattered. I had the common image in my head that all African culture was identical across the huge continent of over 1.2 billion people. This is a very bigoted point of view and shows that many Americans, including myself, typically feed into the common images of a one, identical, and ubiquitous Africa as portrayed by the media. This book taught me that different countries in Africa have very different, and even opposing cultures so they cannot be grouped into one and generalized by continent.
The Fishermen was an intellectually stimulating novel that delved into Nigerian specific traditions, family dynamics, and superstitions. It evinces how the presence of European colonialists negatively affected otherwise typically revered objects in Nigerian culture. The novel criticizes the extensivity of the Christian religion and how difficult it is to completely understand all parts of the Christian doctrine. This book exemplified the power of the worldwide media in influencing common conceptions of culture. It is important to receive information from multiple sources in order to develop an unbiased opinion about the topic at hand. The Fishermen was honestly an informative read and I would recommend it to all. If I were to rate this book, I would gve it a nine because of its stylistic dignity, the quick paced plot, and its informative character.

“The Fishermen”, by Chigozie Obioma, takes place in 1996 in Akure Nigeria and tells the tragic story of the Agwu family amidst a changing Nigeria. A first novel short listed for the 2015 Man Booker Prize, The Fishermen revolves around 4 brothers. The story begins with the transfer of their disciplinarian father to the town of Yola, more than 1000 kilometers from Akure. The remainder of the family stays in Akure and that is when things begin to fall apart.

The story is narrated by the youngest of the four brothers, Ben, looking back 20 years after his father’s transfer, when life as he knew it changed forever. “Whenever I think of our story, how that morning would mark the last time we’d live together, all of us, as the family we’d always been, I begin–even these two decades later–to wish he hadn’t left, that he had never received that transfer letter.”

At the beginning of the novel the four brothers are virtually inseparable. Almost the first thing the brothers do after their father’s transfer to Yola is go fishing at the Omi-Ala river, where they have been forbidden to go. “We knew our parents would severely punish us if they ever found out we were going to the river.” The Omi-Ala river is a symbol of everything dark and evil in Akure. “Omi-Ala was a dreadful river…It became the source of dark rumours. One such rumour was that people committed all sorts of fetish rituals at its banks. This was supported by accounts of corpses, animal carcasses and other ritualistic materials floating on the surface of the river or lying on its banks.”

While returning from the river one day, the boys meet a town madman who is said to have the gift of prophecy. The madman recounts a vision he has for the eldest of the brothers and after that the lives of the family start to unravel in a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.

The reader follows the boys from innocent childhood to the stark realities of a volatile and violent time. While Ben looks back at the events that occurred 20 years previous, he provides a glimpse into the politics, religion, superstition and environment of 1990s Nigeria. We learn about the vigilante style of justice that still took hold at that time in descriptions of school discipline, mob protests and petty disagreements. Ben introduces us to M.K.O. Abiola when the brothers meet him in 1993 as he is running for president of Nigeria. He then takes us through the bloody riots in June of 1993 when the military regime annulled the results of a presidential election. We see extreme poverty, conventional and superstitious religion, and love, depravity and intolerance.

Although the book is a moving and thoughtful story of a family interwoven with historic events, the book does feel like a first novel. In places Obiomo’s language is forced and tortured. For instance, when looking back on Ben’s father’s hopes and dreams for his sons, Obioma writes: “And for many years, he’d carried his bag of dreams. He did not know that what he bore all those days was a bag of maggoty dreams…” And describing the frailty of Ben’s mother, he writes “I wondered at the sight of her, if this horrible place sucked out the flesh of human beings and deflated large buttocks.” In another example of painful prose, he describes a sunset as “faint as a nipple on the chest of a teenage girl a distance away.” These sorts of sophomoric descriptions are painful to read and suggest a certain lack of maturity.

Despite the inconsistency in his writing, Obioma shows promise as a novelist and hopefully his next novel will reflect his growth and maturity.

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Spoiler Alert**** The Fishermen is a biblical tale of four brothers set in Nigeria during the 1990s. The story is told from the perspective of 9 year old Benjamin, who is the youngest of the four brothers. His other siblings include: Obembe, who is ten and the closest with ben, Boja who is 13, and Ikenna who is 14. The inception of the story is that these boy’s father moves to another city for his work, and when he leaves he gifts his children with a small amount of money. The father was a controlling man who had all of his children's lives planned since their birth, so their absence gave them a new level of freedom. With their new liberty and money they decide to buy fishing supplies, and travel to a nearby river called Omi-la, which was once a sacred river, but has devolved into a sewer as time has progressed. At the river they meet a local mad man named Abulu who is known for his prophecies, and his ability to avoid death. Abulu calls Ikenna by name and tells him that he will die by the hands of one of his own brothers. Ikenna then begins to unravel as he struggles with the prophecy and his love for his own brothers. Despite his brother's constant reassurance that they would never kill him he begins to stop eating and suspect them, in particularly Boja. Eventually the two are torn apart and they get into a fight in front of the younger brothers. The brothers flee in search of an adult to ameliorate the conflict, but when they return Ikenna is found dead, and Boja goes missing. A few days later his body is discovered and it is assumed he took his own life. Obembe, now being the oldest, takes responsibility into his own hands and decides in order to avenge his sibling's death he must murder Abulu. The two brothers, Obembe and Ben, then go out and take the prophet’s life, but afterwards the body was located and Obembe leaves town while Ben was arrested.
The book, as the back proclaims, is an epic novel of brothers. The conflict that arises is something that is expected, since the book explains that it will happen on its back, but Obioma masterfully weaves in metaphors and shifts in character, which changes the connection between characters and reader consistently. He takes every event in his story and he shows how that changes the family dynamic, how it changes the characters, and how it changes who the reader can relate too. Obioma did not sell his story short by any means, and despite how little major plot points are spread out over the 300 pages, they serve as food for thought the entire time. When asked to compare this book to another I have read, I thought it would be criminal, since this book does such an amazing job at separating itself from others despite it being a Cain and Abel story. Its Nigerian setting adds depth to its world and character, its characters add depth to its plot, and its plot adds to its message. Which is simply a house divided cannot stand and that Nigeria has to unite.

Set in Nigeria in the 1990s, The Fishermen details the unravelling story of 4 brothers who go fishing without the consent of their parents and receive a dangerous prophecy from Abulu, the madmen and soothsayer who predicts the future and always seems to be right about his predictions. As the story unfolds with each layer of chapters using each character as the main premise and characterizing them with a certain type of animal such as Ikena being like a Boa undergoing metamorphosis, each of the characters relations impact one another in their thoughts and actions. For instance, Mr. Eme Agwa, the strict but loving father, lays on his beliefs of their future professions and punishes them for going fishing thinking it is a savage and barbaric activity. Ikenna gets the harshest punishment, and he starts to become increasingly distant while Boja becomes agitated by this separation. It is up to Obembe and Benjamin to try and mend their family together. With the detail and anecdotes with the story, Obioma weaves through these characters and their actions by unveiling reasons for why they performed those actions and the outcomes of these actions having a domino effect on others.
A good book has emotions and relatability. With the setting of Nigeria, there is going to be the theme of clashing between the cultures of the traditional culture and the Westernized culture, and this book related this battle with the family and the brothers especially. The family of the Agwa have a father who believes that Western education is the only answer that his sons has to go through in order to fulfill their own lives even going to the extent of assigning them all professions such as Ikenna being the family’s doctor, and when he hears about his sons fishing, he views them as savages even though it would have been totally normal to be fishermen before the Westernization in Nigeria. Meanwhile, Abulu, the one who prophesied the unfortunate events, represents the underlying culture of Africa through superstitions and prophesies. These kinds of differences in cultures relate to me since I have to fight through wanting to remain with my Vietnamese heritage but also conforming to America. Furthermore, the relationships between the characters, even after death, that are developed through the flashbacks create a sense of mourning such as when Benjamin reminisces on how Boja never complained when Boja had to run out of the classroom to help his brother go to the bathroom even though Boja would get punished for it. These flashbacks makes Benjamin question his Catholic beliefs of doing good while there is the option of joining Obembe’s insatiable thirst for revenge. The weaknesses of this book is that it’s hard to follow. The insertion of ideas and random anecdotes makes a jolted interruption in between the readings which made it seem really disconnected.
This novel was similar to Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe because of the undertones since they were both fictional and dealing with the functions of native culture. Religion plays a huge role in both books, but because Arrow of God is more spiritual and The Fishermen was more about just going to church and praying as a part of daily life. However, the themes of the colonization is present in The Fishermen subtly because of the mentioning of the importance of the western education. My expectations grew for this novel as it progressed by how Benjamin would become more hardened and have a change just like how Ikena would go through. With the lightheartedness of fishing, the prophecy of Abulu changed this activity into a more deadly and mistrustful outcome. I would recommend this book to read for people who want to become connected with characters who are part of this African culture being introduced to American culture and learn more about the state of Nigeria.

The four major characters in The Fishermen are Ikenna, Boja, Obembe, and Benjamin Agwu, and one minor character is Abulu, the madman. Each character differentiates in characteristics through the on-going process of the novel. Ikenna is the oldest of the siblings, so he takes a role as a leader; however, as the novel progresses, Ikenna pushes himself away from his family, which causes him to lose the position as a role-model. Boja is Ikenna’s follower, but soon replaces Ikenna’s leadership position. The leadership that Boja obtained was not as strong as Ikenna’s and it does not last that long upon Boja’s living. Obembe and Benjamin are closest of the siblings. Both Obembe and Benjamin come off as shy characters; however, it changes towards the end of the novel. Obembe grows some sort of want of revenge, so his characteristics becomes dull. On the other hand, Benjamin steps up as a stronger character and “protects” his other siblings. Abulu is shockingly seen as a protagonist, but plays into an antagonist throughout majority of the novel.
The Fishermen is taken place in Akure, Nigeria in the 1990s, when General Sani Abacha was the military dictator. The Agwu family is introduced with terrible news, which is the father leaving home for work. The father puts Ikenna as the man of the house and hopes for no trouble while he is gone. However, the brothers goes fishing, and it soon becomes a hobby. They were fishing at Omi-Ala river, which is a known-cursed area. The brothers encounter Abulu, a madman, and their whole lives changes; however, Ikenna and Boja are affect the most. Abulu throws prophecies at Ikenna, which mentally affects him throughout the rest of his and his family’s life.
The whole novel itself is a difficult read. One reason is ethics; the amount of tragic events that took place in the novel could make the reader too distraught to finish continuing the novel. For example, each scene that includes Abulu raping another individual is provided with specific details, which could interrupt the reader’s mind and cause them to have difficulty to finish the novel. Obioma writing style is strong enough to emotionally connect with his readers, rather than his writing style being off-putting. The information that he provides is very insightful and detailed. For example, every wrong-doing action that Abulu performs is provided with specific details. In Chapter 6, Obioma supports his writing with insight as he writes a step-by-step background on Abulu and how he became a madman.
Beloved by Toni Morrison and The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma are both fictional novels that incorporates African American characters. A difference between both of the novels is how the antagonists from both novels affected the other characters. Beloved from Beloved haunted the family directly by physically being with them. Abulu from The Fishermen mentally affected the Agwu family with verbal prophecies; therefore, Abulu affected the family indirectly. A similarity between both novels is one of the main characters in each novel--Abulu from The Fishermen and Beloved from Beloved. Both of the characters affect the lives around them in negative ways. They share characteristics, which is being an antagonist, controlling (in their own way), sinful, and bogus. The action that they share in common is being ghostly.
After reading the epigraph by Mazisi Kunene provided before the first chapter of The Fishermen, expectations of the outcome of the story grew as the novel progresses. Each line in the epigraph is slightly incorporated into the novel’s message in different scenes. The epigraph sort of plays as a foreshadow of the whole novel itself.

The Fishermen, written by Chigozie Obiama, is a wonderful novel about the relationship between four brothers, where the good, the bad, and everything in between is exposed. It’s murderous, familial, and revenge filled plot keeps you on your toes and wanting to read more. Because of this, I highly recommend this book. Not only are the characters well developed, but the plot takes you on an adventure like none other. It’s a great read and anyone who decides to read it will be glad that they did.
**Spoiler Alert** Throughout the entirety of The Fishermen, the reader gets to know eight characters: the four brothers (Ikenna, Boja, Obembe, and Ben), the youngest brother (David) their little sister (Nkem), their mother, and their father. The four brothers are the closest of the siblings. They did everything together from playing with their neighbors to fishing. They were inseparable. It wasn’t until later on, when Ikenna heard Abulu’s prophecy, that everything changed.
Abulu’s prophecy resonated in Ikenna’s thoughts. He was obsessed and scared. So, he started to distance himself. His relationship with his mother fizzled out as well as his relationship with his brothers. In the end, Ikenna died at the hands of a fisherman, Boja.
After Ikenna’s death, Boja became consumed with guilt. He hated himself for what he did. At first, he ran away. But then, he decided to face his fears. So, he killed himself by going into his family’s well. His body wasn’t discovered until a few days after the incident. Everyone was devastated. Their mother went crazy, their father disappeared for days at a time, and Obembe and Ben wanted to get revenge on Abulu. Eventually they succeeded, resulting in Ben’s incarceration and Obembe running away. At this point, their mother also got better and so did their father.
This novel couldn’t have been written more perfectly. It had drama and a little bit of history shown through African culture. It was phenomenal. Although it was unlike any other book I’ve read, it was definitely one of my favorites. I couldn’t put it down!

The prose in this debut novel is certainly exquisite and is the absolute strength of this interesting book. A tale of a family growing in Azure, Nigeria. We follow the family as their children come of age and are suddenly stricken by a double tragedy that forever alters the dynamics of what once seemed a solid household. Author does a tremendous job of laying out the story, although it did tend to drag a bit towards the conclusion. And that use of language, simply majestic.

I won this book in a goodreads.com giveaway...thank you!
This was one of the most amazing books I have ever read. Kirkus Reviews described it best: "The talented Obioma exhibits a richly nuanced understanding of culture and character.... A powerful, haunting tale of grief, healing, and sibling loyalty."
I used my hands to turn the pages but then my heart took over and I was totally engrossed in this incredible book and I don't think I will ever forget Ikenna, Boja, Obe, or Ben. I highly recommend this intense and mythical novel. Thank you Chigozie Obioma!!!

Chigozie Obioma’s incredible debut novel is one of the most important and influential texts in shaping African culture and history. I think it has a great value to be included in the literary canon. I am certain that it will be considered as one of the main texts in the comparative and postcolonial literature courses. I am sure it will be widely studied and respected by academicians.
Although Chigozie’s characters did not fulfilled their dreams, but they challenged and struggled a lot to achieve it. They violated the traditional taboos unconsciously and experienced every difficult situation to gain it….“The thing you caught and brought home with you in a can, but which, despite being kept in the right water, soon died. Father’s hope that we would grow up into many great people, his map of dreams, soon died despite how much he guarded it. My hope that my brothers would always be there, that we’d all give birth to children and have a clan, even though we nurtured it in the most primal of waters, also died. So did the hope of our immigration to Canada, just as it was close to being fulfilled.”

I won this book in a goodreads.com giveaway...thank you!
This was one of the most amazing books I have ever read. Kirkus Reviews described it best: "The talented Obioma exhibits a richly nuanced understanding of culture and character.... A powerful, haunting tale of grief, healing, and sibling loyalty."
I used my hands to turn the pages but then my heart took over and I was totally engrossed in this incredible book and I don't think I will ever forget Ikenna, Boja, Obe, or Ben. I highly recommend this intense and mythical novel. Thank you Chigozie Obioma!!!

Epic. Masterpiece. Classic. The great new African Classic is here - and it's called the Fishermen. I absolutely loved this book. I cried and I laughed. The best piece of fiction I've read in five years.. Great in the vein of the great Chinua Achebe. Chigozie Obioma is a name to watch, and I cannot wait to read more of his work. I smell a MAN Booker Prize - at least a longlist.