From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

The Fishermen

Chigozie Obioma

Start date: August 15, 2016

Finish date: September 1, 2016

Discussion: Reading List

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 428 topics — 16,892 comments total

Reading List

* The Schedule for July through Dec. 2025
By Lynn · 1 post · 40 views

last updated Jun 20, 2025 08:37AM

Circe - discussion with spoilers
By Jane · 17 posts · 23 views

last updated Sep 06, 2025 04:48PM

showing 7 of 7 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Sep 06, 2015 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it really liked it

Shelves: around-the-world, read2015, booker-winners-and-listed, location-nigeria

I had put this book on hold, but when it was named as a finalist (shortlist) for the Man Booker Prize, I went ahead and finished it. I think it got better after I went back to it. I liked the amount of cultural elements added (the differences in languages spoken in Nigeria and how Yoruba-speakers were the outsiders, the use of mythology, the meeting of traditional religion with Christianity.) I like that while moving to Canada is mentioned as an imagined escape, this isn't a novel about Nigerian ...more

15 likes · Like · see review

Sep 11, 2015 Sheila rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook

The best of this year's Booker longlist that I have yet read. A must for all lovers of good stories, African storytelling and Nigerian Literature. My Review ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 21, 2015 Wendyb rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015-read, booker

Before the scourge of colonialism and its accompanying Christianity overtook the continent, many African rivers were viewed and worshiped as gods, including the river Omi-Ala, which runs through the Nigerian city of Akure. By the 1990s, however, Omi Ala has lost its holy status. Now a dangerous and almost forgotten place, the people of Akure avoid the river and the evils that are said to take place there. It is especially off limits to children of respectable families, like that of nine year old Before the scourge of colonialism and its accompanying Christianity overtook the continent, many African rivers were viewed and worshiped as gods, including the river Omi-Ala, which runs through the Nigerian city of Akure. By the 1990s, however, Omi Ala has lost its holy status. Now a dangerous and almost forgotten place, the people of Akure avoid the river and the evils that are said to take place there. It is especially off limits to children of respectable families, like that of nine year old Benjamin and his three older brothers. The forbidden river turns out to be the perfect place for rebelling against their very strict but absent father. The boys take up fishing, and are soon spending every afternoon in the company of a few other boys, the river, and their meagre catches. Brothers Ikenna, Boja, Obembe, and Benjamin have always done everything together, and fishing is no exception. And when their secret visits to the river are discovered, the brothers also share the harsh punishment of their father, a severe beating.
Afterwards, the father exhorts his sons to become fishermen of a different sort; to catch not fish but dreams, and to not settle for anything less than the biggest reward. The boys promise, but their fishing days have set a trajectory in which survival, never mind reward, may be impossible to achieve. Ikenna begins to avoid his brothers and to accuse them of wanting to kill him. His fear and paranoia take over his life and those of his family. Comparisons to the story of Cain and Abel are valid here, but symbols of the Igbo people of Nigeria are also woven throughout the story. In Igbo tradition, four is the most sacred number. The name Ikenna means “father’s power” in the Igbo language. Young Benjamin describes most people as sharing the traits of animals; his father is an eagle, whereas Ikenna, descending into madness, is descrihed as a python, both animals of significance in Igbo folklore.
As narrator, Benjamin’s story switches between his current, adult perspective and his perspective as a nine year old child. Through the child’s eyes, we are introduced to horrific acts of violence with the short sentences and honest words of a nine year old relating what he sees in front of him. Eventually, young Benjamin’s views are overlaid with the explanations and musings of adult Benjamin. The seamless integration of the young and the adult Benjamin’s voices draw us even further inside the nightmare from which this family cannot awake. Obioma’s precise, spare sentences are well deployed in this grand family tragedy, saving it from the sentimentality it might have suffered in the hands of a less skilled and lyrical writer. Highly recommended. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 10, 2019 Loretta rated it really liked it

Shelves: reading-for-craft, iceland-workshop

This isn't an easy book to read. Hard and awful things happen. But the portrayal of family bonds, brotherhood, parents, love and loss, was really compelling and powerful.

I took a workshop with Obioma at the Iceland Writers Retreat 2019 called "Character as Plot" - it was only a two hour class and we focused mostly on short stories. I hadn't finished reading this at the time of the workshop, but I really wish we had talked about it more. Because the interesting thing is that while many who don't ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 06, 2015 Dree rated it liked it

Shelves: africa, 2016-reads

The Fishermen are the 4 oldest brothers in a family of 6 children. They live in 1990s Akure, Nigeria (where the author is from, originally). They live in house with a compound, and their father works for the Bank of Nigeria. When he is transferred to a less-safe city a 15-hour drive away, the family stays put while he visits regularly. And it is at that point that the family begins to come apart, as narrated by the youngest of the Fishermen, Ben. The local madman makes a prophecy, and the oldest ...more

Like · see review