Customer Reviews

Songs of Enchantment

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Ben Okri's writing is magical, enthralling and captivating. He takes English writing to new heights. He is one of the greatest writers ever, and one sees it throughout the book. I was enchanted by the English which is delivered with an African flavor. Almost like a new language. This book is spiritual and out of this world on one level and yet down to earth in its portrayal of Nigerian village life. It's a must read for those who enjoy reading foreign authors. I read it over and over again.

Songs of Enchantment is a sequel to Booker Prize winning The Famished Road--one of the best novels I've ever read. But Ben Okri's attempt to outdo his first novel with this sequel had a disastrous result. He gives the readers an overdose of magic and supernatural. He describes one strange event after another (and almost in every succeeding sentence), distracting the readers and leaving them no time to savor one magical event at a time. (The Famished Road just has an amount of magic just enough for the readers to enjoy.) Ben Okri's prose has always been beautiful to read, but this time it didn't work. I couldn't find patience to finish the entire book.

"Songs of Enchantment" is the second novel in the series about the spirit child Azaro.

The election campaigns in Nigeria are under way and a stupendous fight between the Party of the Rich and the Party of the Poor is taking place in the neighbourhood around Madame Koto's public house. Azaro has the gift of being able to see through the facades of the partyfollowers and reveal their intentions by showing us the spirits that are connected with the political parties. His father "Black Tyger" continues his fight for better living conditions in the slum area, and he is also gradually drawn into the world of spirits which feeds him with knowledge. At one time everyone turn blind and Black Tyger is the first to regain his sight after acknowledging that you have to pass a painful process just to be able to interpret what you have already seen.

This is not a linear story as we are used to from European litterature. Ben Okri circles about his themes and hence follows a more traditional African circular and enriching way of thinking. The first novel in the series ended with: A dream can be the highligt of life. This second part of the series ends with: Action can be the most noble act of dreams.

Azaro, the spirit child, is a reluctant traveler in the realities of this world. In this moving story of love and transformation, his adventures begin with the depiction of his family. Under the pressure of poverty and myth, his mother departs to follow the legendary Madame Koto. An obsession for a beautiful beggar girl snares his father into forbidden visions. Set in an age of enchantment, their story takes place among the uphevals of a nation struggling to be born. There are mass political hallucinations, battles of contending forces in the realm of dreams, myserious disappearances, and the rise of the Jackal-headed Masquarade.
The tale dazzles with a picaresque temerity that bewilders with a concoction of folk-tale lyricism and the metaphysics of the heart. The human spirit prospers when best attuned to the forces of nature, the dignity of love and the strength to fashion oneself in spite of the overwhelming distress the decrees of social power force upon individuals. Morality is here on the side of the brave, the honest and those who appreciate beauty even when the ugly devours everything in sight.
With humor and wisdom, Okri tells of Azaro's father and how, drawing on the magic of courage, he undergoes the great penance of love. Through the unique experiences of this family we see that life lived with compassion and fire and serenity can vanquish the forces of oppression. At the end of this absorbing fable we feel it to be true when Azaro's father says, "stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make th eheart bigger".

Yes, the prose is marvelous, but the magic of story that sustained The Famished Road is lacking here. Still, it was a pleasure to read. If you fell in love with The Famished Road, you will enjoy it.