Media Reviews
Chigozie Obioma's first novel, laced Greek tragedy and African folklore into a withering allegory of contemporary Nigeria. The best debut of the year by some distance * Observer (Book of the Year 2015) on THE FISHERMEN *
This year's most promising African newcomer may well prove to be Chigozie Obioma . . . The political implications of The Fishermen are obvious, though never -overstated . . . In his exploration of the mysterious and the murderous, of the terrors that can take hold of the human mind, of the colors of life in Africa, with its vibrant fabrics and its trees laden with fruit, and most of all in his ability to create dramatic tension in this most human of African stories, Chigozie Obioma truly is the heir to Chinua Achebe * New York Times Book Review on THE FISHERMEN *
A lyrical retelling of the Cain-and-Abel story in which four Nigerian brothers play truant from school, go fishing and meet a soothsayer who predicts that one brother will kill another. Not yet 30, Chigozie Obioma is a writer to watch * The Economist (Best Books of the Year 2015) on THE FISHERMEN *
If African literature ever got a book that represented the careful realities of being African without necessarily portraying Africa within the specifics of the western stereotype, it was definitely Chigozie Obioma's The Fishermen * The Afrodiaspora List: The Best African Novels of 2015 on THE FISHERMEN *
Chigozie Obioma's debut novel combines reminiscence, recent history and the supernatural, with dazzling results . . . * Observer, Paperback of the Week on THE FISHERMEN *
I just finished reading Chigozie Obioma's astonishing first novel . . . The writing is so crisp, the story so unusual, that I couldn't put the book down even though it disturbed me. It was written to disturb. Four brothers, conceived by their parents to become happy and successful men, become instead harbingers of immense torment and grief. Someone must have observed that it is our children who can break us, when all other systems of oppression have failed. That is part of the tidings of this remarkable, mythic, book * Alice Walker *
[A] startling and auspicious debut [with] echoes of past masters [and a] myriad of literary influences . . . I felt at times like I was reading Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Marquez . . . leaps off the pages * Mariella Fostrup, BBC Radio 4 Open Book on THE FISHERMEN *
This promising debut spins a simple, almost mythological conceit into a heartbreaking elegy to Nigeria's lost promise . . . The book works on many levels. It is, at an obvious level, a Bildungsroman . . . a metaphorical allusion to the struggles of Nigeria's failed leaders...and yet it remains hopeful about the redemptive possibilities of a new generation * Helon Habila, Guardian on THE FISHERMEN *
The mysterious, mercurial nature of folklore is potently displayed in Chigozie Obioma's debut novel, The Fishermen . . . Mr. Obioma's long-limbed and elegant writing is shot through with strikingly elevated phrasings . . . The Fishermen is full of recent history, and it can be read as an allegory of the civic disarray in Nigeria under military rule. But it's also rich with ancient themes of filial love, fratricide, vengeance and fate. Its lessons may be slippery, but its power is unmistakable * Wall Street Journal on THE FISHERMEN *
Part Bildungsroman, part Greek tragedy, The Fishermen may be the most interesting debut novel to emerge from Nigeria this year . . . In a first novel full of deceptive simplicity, lyrical language and playful Igbo mythology and humour, he uses the madman's apocalyptic vision for the family as a way of conjuring up Nigeria's senseless body politic . . . This is an impressive and beautifully imagined work * Economist on THE FISHERMEN *
In its ambition to give a polyvalent, multiple account of Nigeria in the years before and after the millennium, The Fishermen establishes Obioma as a writer to be taken seriously * Stuart Kelly, TLS on THE FISHERMEN *
A striking, controlled and masterfully taut debut * Carl Wilkinson, Financial Times on THE FISHERMEN *
Obioma writes with gorgeous restraint reminiscent of the intricate prose in a Tolstoy novella. Every sentence delivers a precise and heartfelt blow. Hardly anyone writing today is delivering this level of intricacy, lyricism and control. Add to that, the urgency and importance of his message. It just doesn't get better than this. Get used to the name: Obioma is here to stay * Alexandra Fuller, author of DON'T LET'S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT on THE FISHERMEN *
Awesome in the true sense of the word: crackling with life, freighted with death, vertiginous both in its style and in the elemental power of its story. Few novels deserve to be called 'mythic', but Chigozie Obioma's The Fishermen is certainly one of them. A truly magnificent debut * Eleanor Catton, Man Booker Prize-winning author of THE LUMINARIES on THE FISHERMEN *
Obioma's remarkable fiction is at once urgently, vividly immediate, yet simultaneously charged with the elemental power of myth * Peter Ho Davies, author of THE WLESH GIRL on THE FISHERMEN *
The guileless Ben is a well-chosen conduit for Obioma's frank and lyrical prose * The New Yorker *
One of the many delights of The Fishermen is how deeply multi-layered the narrative is . . . The Fishermen is a strikingly accomplished debut, hailing Chigozie Obioma as a bold new voice in Nigerian fiction. It comes as no surprise it's made this year's Man Booker Dozen, and I for one would be surprised and disappointed if it doesn't make the shortlist next month * Lucy Scholes, Independent on THE FISHERMEN *
A mighty fry-up of pop-culture, fable and verbal invention * New Statesman on THE FISHERMEN *
In its exploration of the murderous and the mysterious, the mind's terrors and a vibrant Africa, this debut novel is heir to Chinua Achebe * New York Times, 100 Notable Books of 2015 on THE FISHERMEN *
Obioma's masterly debut novel was shortlisted for the Man Booker and won the FT/OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices Award for Fiction * Financial Times, Best Books of 2015 on THE FISHERMEN *
It is brimming with life and buzzing with emotion but at the same time it carries a deeply poignant quality: Obioma has a deep understanding of recent Nigerian history * Nick Barley, Director Edinburgh International Book Festival in The Herald, Best Books of 2015 on THE FISHERMEN *
As dark as Obioma's prose is, though, it's also beautiful. His use of language is rich and hypnotic, and nearly every page is filled with an unexpected and perfectly rendered description . . . an excellent debut that does a very good job wrestling with some extremely difficult themes. Chigozie Obioma writes with sophistication and inventiveness; he's obviously deeply in love with the English language, and it shows. This is a dark and beautiful book by a writer with seemingly endless promise * NPR.org on THE FISHERMEN *
Chigozie Obioma truly is the heir to Chinua Achebe * New York Times Book Review *
I just finished reading Chigozie Obioma's astonishing first novel . . . The writing is so crisp, the story so unusual, that I couldn't put the book down * Alice Walker *
[A] startling and auspicious debut [with] echoes of past masters [and a] myriad of literary influences . . . I felt at times like I was reading Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Marquez . . . leaps off the pages * Mariella Frostrup, BBC Radio 4 Open Book *
FREE UK DELIVERY 
Global shipping from £2.99
FREE UK DELIVERY
30 Day Refund Guarantee
