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“A wondrous novel.”—Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Chain-Gang All Stars, finalist for the National Book Award
“Chigozie Obioma is that rare thing: an original. His world is a mix of the real and the folkloric, and his writing sounds like no one else’s.”—The Wall Street Journal
Longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and the New American Voices Award • Named a Best Book of the Year by The Boston Globe, The Economist, and Kirkus Reviews
The first images of the vision are grainy—like something seen through wet glass. But slowly it clears, and there appears the figure of a man.
Set in Nigeria in the late 1960s, The Road to the Country is the epic story of a shy, bookish student haunted by long-held guilt who must go to war to free himself. When his younger brother disappears as the country explodes in civil war, Kunle must set out on an impossible rescue mission. Kunle’s search for his brother becomes a journey of atonement that will see him conscripted into the breakaway Biafran army and forced to fight a war he hardly understands, all while navigating the prophecies of a local Seer, he who marks Kunle as an abami eda—one who will die and return to life.
The story of a young man seeking redemption in a country on fire, Chigozie Obioma’s novel is an odyssey of brotherhood, love, and unimaginable courage set during one of the most devastating conflicts in the history of Africa. Intertwining myth and realism into a thrilling, inspired, and emotionally powerful novel, The Road to the Country is the masterpiece of Chigozie Obioma, a writer Salman Rushdie calls “a major voice” in literature.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
June 4, 2024 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593908099
- File size: 397222 KB
- Duration: 13:47:32
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from June 10, 2024
Obioma (An Orchestra of Minorities) explores the complexities of Nigeria’s civil war in his masterful latest. Kunle Aromire, a university student in Lagos, returns to his family’s village in 1967 to help find his brother, Tunde, 17, who disappeared after entering the secessionist territory of Biafra. Tunde, who’s been in a wheelchair since he was hit by a car when he was six, made the risky border crossing to protect a friend facing persecution for being Igbo. Kunle follows, and upon entering the territory, he’s arrested and conscripted into the Biafran army, with whom he feels “the sense of being trapped in a burning house.” After trying and failing to escape, he grows close to his comrades, including a Shakespeare-quoting poet and a devout Catholic, though he remains terrified of combat, especially given that he’s fighting on the poorly equipped losing side. He also serves alongside an Igbo woman named Agnes, whom he’s immediately attracted to. Twists and turns ensue as Kunle discovers Tunde’s fate and learns of the horrible reasons behind Agnes’s determination to fight. With heartbreaking realism, Obioma captures the dizzying atmosphere of despair, determination, and chaos surrounding the Biafran soldiers. This live-wire war story is not to be missed. Agent: Bill Clegg, Clegg Agency. -
Junior Nyong'o's low-key narration is exactly what this mystical story demands. In the 1960s, during the brutal Biafran-Nigerian civil war, Kunle, tormented by guilt over an accident that nearly killed his brother years ago, learns that his brother is now in Biafra. Kunle volunteers with the Red Cross since only they can cross the Nigerian blockade into Biafra. There he is captured by the Biafran army and forced to fight. Nyong'o illuminates both the grim reality of war and the mystical nature of Obioma's lyrical prose, especially when the focus shifts to a seer who has prophesized the horrific events ahead. With incredible care, Nyong'o presents a clear-eyed look at the devastating cost of war for both the combatants and the innocents caught in the maelstrom. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
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