The Fishermen
Nigeria

The Fishermen

by Chigozie Obioma

Family & Heritage Literary Fiction Family Saga 2015

Summary

In 1990s Nigeria, four brothers— Ikenna, Boja, Obembe, and Benjamin—enjoy a close bond until their father leaves their hometown of Akure for work. Taking advantage of his absence, the boys skip school to fish at a forbidden river. There, they encounter Abulu, a local man believed to be mad, who delivers a terrifying prophecy: the eldest brother, Ikenna, will be killed by one of his own siblings.

The prediction plants a seed of suspicion that gradually poisons the brothers’ relationship. As Ikenna becomes increasingly consumed by fear and paranoia, the family struggles to understand the forces tearing them apart. Narrated by nine-year-old Benjamin, the novel follows the devastating consequences of a single prophecy, exploring how belief, fear, and resentment can transform love into violence.

Blending Nigerian folklore, biblical allusions, and the structure of Greek tragedy, The Fishermen is both an intimate portrait of a family in crisis and a broader meditation on fate, brotherhood, and the fragility of human relationships.

Reviews

Login to leave a review.

No reviews yet. Be the first!

You might also like

The Road to the Country
The Road to the Country
Chigozie Obioma
Hafsatu Bebi
Hafsatu Bebi
Fatima Bala
The Lies We Tell
The Lies We Tell
Fatima Bala
The Road to the Salt Sea
The Road to the Salt Sea
Samuel Kolawole
Country
Nigeria
Africa
About the author
Chigozie Obioma
Chigozie Obioma

Chigozie Obioma is a Nigerian novelist born in 1986 in Akure, Nigeria. He is internationally recognised for fiction that combines Nigerian history and culture with folklore, mythology, and philosophical questions about fate and human responsibility. His debut novel, The Fishermen (2015), was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won several awards, including the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. His second novel, An Orchestra of Minorities (2019), was also shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Obioma’s work has been translated into numerous languages and has established him as a prominent voice in contemporary African literature. The Road to the Country (2024), his third novel, revisits the Nigerian Civil War through the experiences of a young man searching for his missing brother. Alongside his literary career, Obioma has taught creative writing at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and the University of Georgia.

View author page
Details
Published
2015
Author
Chigozie Obioma