The narrator, Azaro, is an
abiku, a spirit child, who in the Yoruba tradition of Nigeria exists between life and death. The life he foresees for himself and the tale he tells is full of sadness and tragedy, but inexplicably he is born with a smile on his face. Nearly called back to the land of the dead, he is resurrected. But in their efforts to save their child, Azaro's loving parents are made destitute. The tension between the land of the living, with its violence and political struggles, and the temptations of the carefree kingdom of the spirits propels this latter-day Lazarus's story.
Quote: The main characters of Ben Okri's novel The Famished Road move back and forth between the human and spirit worlds with the ease of urban commuters changing subway trains.
This novel, a winner of the 1991 Booker Prize, is a classic of magical realism with a distinctively African twist. Yet, departing from the more fanciful examples of this genre that we have encountered from South America and elsewhere, Okri offers his readers a ghost story in modern garb, with details that are more likely to unsettle than delight.
