The Fishermen (Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize): Chigozie Obioma - Softcover

'Astonishing... 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, author of The Color Purple

'It's like being in a Zola or Theodore Dreiser novel... The Fishermen is an elegy to lost promise [...] and yet it remains hopeful about the redemptive possibilities of a new generation' -- Guardian

Obioma's beautiful, quasi-biblical allegory-like debut The Fishermen...is set to be one of the novels of the year' -- Irish Times

'A passionate, jostling and flamboyant piece of work' -- Daily Telegraph

'A mighty fry-up of pop culture, fable and verbal invention' -- New Statesman

A striking, controlled and masterfully taut debut...The tale has a timeless quality that renders it almost allegorical and it is the more powerful for it' -- FT

'Full of deceptive simplicity, lyrical language and playful Igbo mythology and humour...an impressive and beautifully imagined work' -- Economist

'Equal parts supernatural fable, rip-roaring schoolboy adventure and period re-enactment' -- Observer, Paperback of the Week

'There is much to recommend in this debut, not least the insights into Nigerian culture and history...The novel excels in its depiction of the tribal landscape and the townspeople' -- Irish Times

Suffused with an air of legend and the supernatural... The Fishermen establishes Obioma as a writer to be taken seriously...ingenious, subtle, ambitious and intriguing' -- TLS

'Reveals Nigeria's historical, political and cultural complexity' -- Big Issue

'A debut that is packed with power and tragedy' -- Shortlist

'A novel with an intimate canvas but also an undercurrent of something larger, more primal' -- We Love This Book

'Terrific' --Irish Examiner

'A startling debut...auspicious...leaps off the pages' -- Mariella Frostrup, Open Book

'Nowhere is the mythic quality of The Fishermen felt more than in its...vivid images, often drawn from the natural world, through which its narrator recalls his childhood' -- Financial Times

'An exciting new voice in African literary fiction...astonishingly vivid...beautifully written...read it slowly, savour the writing, enjoy' -- Bookbag

'Skilfully building the atmosphere from light and innocent to ominous and mysterious, gradually becoming claustrophobic and ultimately tragic...engrossing' -- Curious Animal Magazine, Book of the Month

'[A] strange, imaginative debut...A convincing modern narrative and... a majestic reimagining of timeless folklore' -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

'[A] lively, energetic debut novel...the talented Obioma exhibits a richly nuanced understanding of culture and character. A powerful, haunting tale of grief, healing, and sibling loyalty' --Kirkus

'Darkly beautiful and strikingly original' -- The Lady

'Steeped in African culture [The Fishermen] takes you on a journey that is simultaneously heart-warming and heart-wrenching' -- Cub Magazine

'[An] elegantly near-mythic debut novel..a deeply personal story that mirrors the larger social and political tensions in Africa... All fiction readers will enjoy' -- Library Journal

This book is astonishing...The writing is perfectly tuned, lyrical in places and bracing in others' -- BookRiot

An entrancing modern-day legend... Mr. Obioma's long-limbed and elegant writing is shot through with strikingly elevated phrasings... rich with ancient themes of filial love, fratricide, vengeance and fate... its power is unmistakable' -- Wall Street Journal

'Storytelling at its most captivating... The Fishermen is a must-read - Brittle Paper

'Chigozie Obioma truly is the heir to Chinua Achebe' - The New York Times

'Darkly mythic...a kind of African Cormac McCarthy, committed to a stark vision of life in which our pretensions to civilisation are forever held up and exposed as skin deep' -- USA Today

'[A] confident début novel... frank and lyrical' -- New Yorker

'Obioma brings terrific authorial dexterity to the family's story and its small place in Nigeria, and evokes a worldview which brings with it a terrible tragedy. This is the best novel I have read so far this year, and that, I can assure you, is saying plenty' -- Christian Science Monitor

'Outstanding... sits finely balanced on the cusp between myth and reality' -- Intelligent Life

'The Fishermen is compelling stuff, acute and remorseless' -- Literary Review

'Lyrical... a writer to watch' -- Economist

'The best debut of the year by some distance' -- Observer

'In contemporary Nigerian literature, muscular heroes of postcolonial independence have lost their swagger... Chigozie Obioma's debut novel, The Fishermen, recuperates this toothless archetype with superb grace' --Guardian

Chigozie Obioma was born in 1986 in Akure, Nigeria, and currently lives in the United States. He graduated from the University of Michigan with an MFA in Creative Writing, and is now an assistant professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His first novel, The Fishermen, was published by ONE in 2015, and his second novel, An Orchestra of Minorities, will be published by Little, Brown in 2019.