The Fishermen

A Novel

By: Chigozie Obioma

Narrated by: Chukwudi Iwuji

In a Nigerian town in the mid-1990s, four brothers encounter a madman whose mystic prophecy of violence threatens the core of their close-knit family.

Told from the point of view of nine-year-old Benjamin, the youngest of four brothers, The Fishermen is the Cain and Abel-esque story of an unforgettable childhood in 1990s Nigeria, in the small town of Akure. When their strict father has to travel to a distant city for work, the brothers take advantage of his extended absence to skip school and go fishing. At the ominous, forbidden nearby river, they meet a dangerous local madman who persuades the oldest of the boys that he is destined to be killed by one of his siblings.

What happens next is an almost mythic event whose impact - both tragic and redemptive - will transcend the lives and imaginations of its characters and its listeners. Dazzling and viscerally powerful, The Fishermen never leaves Akure, but the story it tells has enormous universal appeal. Seen through the prism of one family's destiny, this is an essential novel about Africa with all of its contradictions - economic, political, and religious - and the epic beauty of its own culture.

With this bold debut, Chigozie Obioma emerges as one of the most original new voices of modern African literature, echoing its older generation's masterful storytelling with a contemporary fearlessness and purpose.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2015 Chigozie Obioma (P)2015 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"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 Welsh Girl)

"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 Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness)

"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, author of The Luminaries [Man Booker Prize])

really paints a picture with his words

the most unusual and creative writing I've read. writing like speaking only better. very colorful , every word like watching different colored threads moving through weaving machine. as moving and sometimes depressing as Precious yet satisfying and delightful to immerse one's self in. this book makes me want to find more African authors.

Love2Read97

Wow! This is a deep and powerful story made even better by the outstanding narration. I couldn’t stop listening because I had to know what happened to the brothers.

I'm grateful it's fiction

Chapter after chapter, this story left little but deep incisions in my heart, but in the same spot, so that the wound got deeper and more painful as I listened on.

Until the last chapter when, emotionally battered, physically tired and needing to lie down to continue, ChigoIe mercifully let my bloodied heart start to heal.

This one touched my soul.

A very compelling read

I could not put this down. There are so many lessons to be learned in this story. So much about it was relatable. Two thumbs up.

Incredibly Written - Had me gasping constantly

I couldn’t stop listening. The reader is fantastic. He brought the characters to life for me. The author describes scenarios so amazingly. If you like a straight forward story, the way this one is told might be frustrating but I think it’s what made it such a great project of literature. The story took so many twists and turns that left me gasping trying to figure out how I didn’t see things coming. You learn so much about African culture. I look forward to listening to his other book.

So much to enjoy

I think all of us who are avid listeners or readers think that we have a book inside ourselves - and then along comes a book like The Fisherman and whoosh!, all of those ideas of writing our own story go out the window. That is because the beauty of this story is so elegantly written with analogies that are like poetry, so wonderfully drawn out (you never know where it is going), that you think to yourself why not just sit back and leave the driving (writing) to someone who really knows what they are doing, give up all ideas of writing and just enjoy something that could not be done better.

Pretty Dark

I really liked the first half of the book - it kept me interested and the narrator is exciting and light-hearted. Then the book takes a turn and it becomes one distressing, tragic event and description after the other. Personally, I can’t deal with distressing media. I think the story was great, but for people like me, it’s kind of a lot; I wish I knew it was so dark. From the book description, it doesn’t seem like it’s a very dark story - but it is. Great narrator! So engaging.

Powerful story

Shows how one incident can change your life forever. It was griping to the end. Really enjoyed the narrator's voice.

Like fine art

I can't even explain how well written this book is; i appreciated the depth of the storyline and the circularity of the narrative. Really engaging!

Great book matched by great narrating

Fantastic narrating by Chukwudi. And of course, masterful writing by Chigozie. Cheers all around.