Magic realist or animist realist.. that is the question
When I was at my sister’s on Saturday, I managed to raid her library and borrow one my favourite books, Songs of Enchantment by brilliant Nigerian poet and novelist Ben Okri.
Some call it magic realism, others say it’s animistic realism, but whatever you call it, Songs of Enchantment is an incredibly written story that blurs reality with the dream world.
Songs of Enchantment is a follow-up to Okri’s 1991 Booker Prize winning book, The Famished Road, and continues the story of Azaro the spirit child and his street vendor and laborer parents in a small rural Nigerian town. Politics, greed, poverty and violence intersperse with dreams and spirits, as Azaro does his best to live his life, while fighting the spirits constantly who try to keep him in the spirit world.
The story is rich and graphic, with awesome imagery and lots and lots of beautiful words. Okri has an incredible style, which has the same whimsical dream-like quality that Murakami has, even though the writing and stories are totally different. I love books that make me think, and I particularly enjoy books which don’t just tell a basic tale but use clever devices to get the story told, and have hidden meanings and metaphors.
It’s probably best to start with The Famished Road, but Songs of Enchantment can also be read on its own – it just doesn’t have the background, so can get a bit confusing at times. I read Famished Road many moons ago, and Songs of Enchantment almost as long ago, and remembered bits and pieces, but could still get into it easily. For such an intense book, it’s very easy to read, which helps.
Funny, I had just been wondering what on earth I could find to read that could live up to Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore, which I had recently finished, and Ben Okri is possibly one of the few writers that could fill that gap, so pretty stoked I found Songs of Enchantment.
Think I’ll take myself down to Serendipity Books on Long Street after payday, and see if I can stock up on some suitable classics – William Burroughs and John Irving, and perhaps even some Carlos Castaneda if my mind is ready to go back down that literary rabbit hole.
Or maybe I shall give my over-worked imagination a break and get some mindless pulp fiction or bodice rippers. Will have to see.
I read the famished road many moons ago, I think I was too young to understand it. I’m thinking I should read it and songs of enchantment. I have decided that 2009 will be my year of the reader. I am going to red everything in sight. I think I should start a list!
Funny, I was also thinking of making a book list. I did a post on the ‘big book list’ but it didn’t really have a lot of books that I like, so reckon I shall adapt it and make my own ‘to read’ list too.
I found that reading this book the second time is much easier, I was also a bit young when I first read Ben Okri, so a lot of it went over my head. Admittedly, some of it still goes over my head – but overall I’m really getting into it, hehe.