Kundenrezensionen

The Famished Road

5 Sterne:		(21)
4 Sterne:		(3)
3 Sterne:		(2)
2 Sterne:		(1)
1 Sterne:		(4)

 

 

Hi!

The Famished Road is frankly one of the best books I have read to date. Okri paints with emotions straight on to the page, facilitating an osmosis of perceptions in the readers mind, from one character to the next, enabling one to imagine with perfect clarity the motivation, response and cognitions of each individual character. The story told, is one which could relate to anywhere, but the vision and simplicity of the way it is told left me sheer. A thrilling, depressing, hope embodying, perspective challenging and promising jewel of a book. Please read this book and help it change you.

This wonderfully written book was a joy to read for the quality of the prose and the stunning visual images Okri extracts from every sentence. Almost any random paragraph from this novel could be taken in isolation as a work of art. Beneath this veneer of technique, the story begins involvingly and promises to develop into a profound allegorical tale. And for me this is where it all rather fell apart. Aside from the beauty of the writing, the story goes nowhere, and fails both as a modern day fairy story and as a commentary on modern Africa; the scenes referencing the destruction of the environment or the corruptness of African politics are very clumsily done. When compared to the depth of V.S. Naipul's writing (try 'In A Free State' if you haven't already - another Booker winning novel), you realise that Okri's work is very, very pretty, but that's about it.

For those of us who don't have time to read everything (ie. everyone) it is tempting to rely on awawrds and honors to point us in the right direction. Once again the "literary" folk who dole out prizes point us towards an artful book with little substance. I found this book to be long and tedious with no redeeming qualities. Surely there are better book on Africa and its rich character(s) and sensibilities.

This is one of the best books I have ever read! I carry the images with me all day and dream of them at night. You cannot help but be touched by the spiritual writing of Ben Okri and the experiences of the spirit-child Azaro. Just like the book "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" exposed the world of a mentally ill girl in a beautiful and horrible way, The Famished Road shows poverty and the struggles of a Nigerian community in a way you will never forget. This book changed the way I view the world.

The dentist's chair was a welcome relief from this festering root canal therapy substitute.

The cover sucked me in. How was I to know that the title was secretly warning me I had been lured on a journey that would turn me off literature for over a year. I've gotten over relationships in less time.

Use your time more wisely and read "The God of Small Things" for the second time, instead.

This book is so bad that I stopped reading it half way through (something I never do). The begining is intriguing, only to let loose on page after page of confusing, tedious nonplot. The story goes nowhere. This book is not easy reading.

Considering how highly acclaimed this book is I am utterly astounded at how impenetrable I found it to be. I am a huge fan of the genre and yet I think this novel is one of the weakest and most unendurable I have ever encountered.

This guy is on a different planet. The story is impossible to follow. Everytime you think you are getting it, he shoots off on some other phantasmic sub-plot. Perfect to test out English majors, but not much else

"The Famished Road", and its companion "Songs of Enchantment" are among the best examples of the magic-realist tradition, and belongs on the shelf with Marquez and Allende. The birth of an African nation -- a thinly veilled Nigeria -- is seen through the eyes of a spirit-child, Azaro. His parents are poor and represent the common people. The angelic/ demonic Madame Koto is a personification of the the two-fold plight of the emerging black bourgeoise. But that's just one reading of it. The sheer scope of the novel -- over 500 hundred pages -- is drenched in imagery so rich, bejewelled and dreamlike, that you never want to leave. Such things as plot, character, and structure are meaningless in Okri's hands. This is a political fable and a mythological treatise at the same time. Echoes of the brilliant African author Amos Tutola can be glimpsed here as well: Okri Africanizes the language of imagination. You will never see things the same way after reading this brilliant novel

I was amazed by the exquisite intricacy of this novel--Ben Okri takes the reader on a journey where the lines blur between the spirit world and the "living" world, richly described. At times, I had to put the book down to stop and absorb the world described, which I had never before explored, but that certainly wasn't due to lack of interest! I highly recommend this book, but warn that if you're looking for a fast-moving plot, this probably isn't the best choice...exquisite character, place, and realm sketch is more like it.