{"id":991,"date":"2016-01-07T18:38:51","date_gmt":"2016-01-07T13:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fableandi.com\/?p=991"},"modified":"2020-04-04T19:15:59","modified_gmt":"2020-04-04T13:45:59","slug":"book-review-the-fishermen-by-chigozie-obioma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebooksatchel.com\/book-review-the-fishermen-by-chigozie-obioma\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Fishermen<\/em> is the story of four brothers coming to terms with a prophecy about the death of the eldest by the local mad man Abulu. Abulu, though ridiculed by the residents of the village is feared too because of the strangeness with which all of his predictions come true. Will rationality be eroded by superstitious beliefs is the question that looms around this Man Booker prize 2015 shortlisted novel.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Picture this \u2014 A large middle class African family, a very stern father who has big dreams for his sons and four brothers who are very close to each other. What would happen if the brothers were to hear a prophecy about the harm that may befall one of them? And what if the cause of the harm would be one among them? Thus begins Obioma\u2019s debut novel The Fishermen <\/em>– the story of four brothers, Ikenna, Boja, Obembe, and Benjamin, who live in the village of Akure. <\/p>\n The underlying currents of political references to MKO Abiola, a millionaire politician, give a glimpse of the political situation of Nigeria in 1990s. Obioma himself has said that the novel can be seen as a political allegory to foreign occupation of Nigeria that forced the country to be \u2018British idea of a nation\u2019 rather than what it should be for the better hood of its citizens (Read the interview here<\/a><\/em>).<\/p>\n <\/p>\nReview<\/h3>\n
\nWhen the novel opens, their strict father is transferred to the city of Yola by his employer, and the eldest brother is fifteen. Their mother is busy with their younger siblings (Remember, I said \u2018large\u2019 family) and doesn\u2019t have time to supervise them. The brothers devour the pleasure of their newly found freedom by ignoring their studies and sneaking off to fish in the Omi-Ala river, which is considered a cursed place.
\nDuring one of these trips that the brothers encounter Abulu, a local madman, known for his eerily accurate prophecies, public masturbation and garments of filth and waste. He predicts that Ikenna would be murdered by a \u2018fisherman\u2019. And hence begins a battle of right and wrong in the minds of the brothers. Ikenna fears that the prophecy points towards one of his brothers as they have been fishing for a few weeks. The brothers try to convince Ikenna to be logical but the fear that engulfs him eats into their relationship as well as his approach to his mother, about whom he was very protective earlier.<\/p>\n