Not only is this an outstanding narrative of conflict, but it also stands as a remarkable portrayal of history, a masterpiece of global literature, and a fusion of realism with the supernatural elements of culture—truly a timeless work. It's a genuine marvel, vividly present and waiting to be devoured on the page. While traditional classics often conclude with either a funeral or a wedding, Obioma ventures into uncharted territory, crafting something even more captivating and extraordinary.

This year, and perhaps for many to come, this is the pinnacle of my reading experience. It delves into the intimate intricacies of war, illustrating its profound impact on individuals uprooted from their lives and thrust into its chaos. Think of it as the literary equivalent of the film 1917, set amidst the Biafran/Nigerian Civil War—an immersive journey through the harsh realities of conflict, seldom explored in mainstream media but deserving of attention beyond the realms of bookish social media.

A fantastic new novel from Chigozie Obioma that has all the ingredients of a classic. A seer in Nigeria has a vision about the country descending into civil war and chaos around the time our main character Kunle is born. Nigeria, at the time, is still under British Rule and over a decade away from Independence. The seer tries to warn the family about the prophecy but he is unceremoniously shunted out. Fast forward 20 years into the future, our main character Kunle, a University student in Lagos, returns to his hometown Akure, Nigeria because his disabled brother Tunde has eloped with his female friend to Eastern Nigeria where the rebel state of Biafra has been established and civil war is raging, Kunle has been suffering a lifetime of guilt over Tunde's accident which left him disabled. He ventures into the East on a mission to bring his brother back but gets unwittingly and forcefully recruited into the Biafran Army. This is a classic novel of war and its devastating cost of human life. The author, through his haunting prose and eye for detail, literally transports you to the front. Much like two classics I read recently: War and Peace and Stalingrad. This is also a novel of human resilience in the face of adversity and human relationships and what it means to be a family. Kunle, though he joins the war against his wishes, soon makes intimate friendships with his comrades at arms and finds that he can empathize with their pain and their fight. The book makes several thought-provoking points about war in general which resonate especially when you think of the unnecessary wars ongoing today and how we repeatedly fail to learn from history . It demonstrates how the unceasing quest for power among so-called world leaders only results in death and destruction down the line. I loved everything about this book - the magical realism, the poignant relationships, even the mundane descriptions of life at the front. I can safely say that this is one of the best books of 2024 and may just end up being my most favorite. I read the ARC and also listened to the Audible Audiobook and the experience was surreal. Totally recommend as hybrid.
Thank you NetGalley, Random House -Hogarth books and Chigozie Obioma for the ARC.

Author of two Booker Shortlist novels, The Fisherman and An Orchestra of Minorities, Chigozie Obioma has gifted readers with The Road to the Country, the heart-wrenching story of an older brother’s efforts to find his younger brother and redeem himself for a past decision that had left his brother crippled many years earlier. This redemptive search could be story enough for a novel, but Adekunle (“Kunle”) Akaromire sets out to find Tunde during the Nigeria’s civil war, and to do so Kunle must journey into separatist Biafra.

Out of guilt for what happened to Tunde and having grown up with his mother’s notion that he is cursed, Kunle has immersed himself so completely in his university studies that he remains oblivious to Nigeria’s escalating violence until his family summons him home. Feeling his only salvation is to find Tunde, who has left with the family of the girl who contributed to causing Tunde’s disability, Kunle joins a Red Cross team delivering supplies to Biafra. Sneaking away from his fellow Red Cross workers one night, he tries to reach his younger brother but is captured by Major Amadi of the Biafran rebel forces.

Amadi needs soldiers for the rebellion, and Kunle’s alternative to death is joining the cause. Through Kunle, readers meet Biafran soldiers and foreign mercenaries, experience the brutality of war, and witness Kunle’s nightmarish descent into the underworld. Amid the horrors, Kunle holds fast to his determination to save himself by finding his brother.

Throughout the novel, Obioma intersperses brief Interludes featuring a Seer, whose visions allowed him to know Kunle’s life even before he was born and to see Kunle’s future life events as well as events that will befall Nigeria. The Seer’s recurrent visions contribute a mystical or folkloric element to the novel, contrasting with the all-to-real picture of the Nigerian civil war’s brutality.
An opening map and cast of characters help readers unfamiliar with Nigerian geography and names. Since these aids are included in the contents list, even ebook readers can easily navigate to them as needed.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hogarth/Random House for an advance reader egalley of Obioma’s contribution to historical/war fiction. Despite the bleak portrayal of war, Obioma finds brotherhood and hope in the worst of times.

Set in the late 1960's during the Nigerian war for freedom, this is probably the most vivid war novel I've ever read. A young apolitical university student gets caught up in the war while trying to save his crippled brother, and finds his life path changed forever. While the descriptions of life in wartime are not for the faint of heart, they bring an immediacy to the plot, not at all gratuitous.

Wow - I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This was my first book by Obioma, but it definitely won’t be my last.

This is a beautifully-written book about horrible things. It is dreamlike and brutal (be prepared for more rotting and destroyed bodies than you can count and also for a bewildered narrator who stumbles through reality like it's a nightmare). Kunle, a university student who is isolated from both people and politics, finds himself accidentally fighting for Biafra in Nigeria's civil war. His isolation stems from his guilt about his younger brother's paralyzing accident when they are both children, and it's that same guilt that tugs him further and further into the war when his brother Tunde disappears with the neighbor family into Biafra. His rescue attempt blunders lead him right to the Biafran army, where he's forced to enlist in a war that he doesn't even understand (let alone understand the horrors of what he's marching towards), his identity erased as he become Peter (to hide his own Yoruba background). Through it all, there's the mysterious sections with the seer, who has been seeing visions of Kunle's life from the day he is born--visions that add to the confusion and detached experience (the seer may have more knowledge but he doesn't know where the visions are headed either, and he's possibly even more confused by the events than Kunle is). The end result is a novel that's fascinated with our relationship with the past (it is historical fiction after all) and the future (through the seer) and well aware of the obscurity of our vision in every direction. I found it harrowing (like Kunle, I had no idea what I was getting into), but worth it.

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my free earc in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are all my own.

Adekunle “Kunle” Aromire is college student at the University of Lagos in 1967 when his uncle reports that there is a war in the Eastern Region. Kunle, who has lived a hermitic life, is oblivious. When his uncle tells Kunle that his younger, wheelchair-bound brother, Tunde, has vanished in the war zone, Kunle hitches a ride with the Red Cross to the Eastern Region to bring Tunde home and to “do something of so great a consequence that it would cause his brother to forgive him and compensate for what he did.”

When they were children, Tunde had been hit by a car while under Kunle’s care and Kunle is burdened by guilt, particularly when he overheard his mother tell his father that the accident occurred because Kunle was “cursed.” Kunle had stayed away from home after he started university for fear of being “faced with the reality of what he did.” So, instead, he would write letters “that always ended with the plea that Tunde forgive him.”

When Kunle arrives in the Eastern Region to collect Tunde, he is conscripted in the Biafran military and is sent to a training camp. Initially, Kunle is preoccupied with how to escape and save himself from heading into the war but, as he becomes bound to his comrades, he considers that the cause that he had unwillingly been roped into may actually be a good one. Kunle begins to think he could find redemption on a larger scale if he helped fight to save his people.

Biafra’s 30-month war with Nigeria was a failed and notoriously brutal affair, killing two million civilians, and Obioma’s rendition of it viscerally and emotionally describes the battles, injuries and deaths. Kunle faces shocking violence, is wounded more than once, comes close to death (where he enters a kind of purgatory inhabited by the dead of war), and falls in love with Agnes, an Igbo woman. Obioma enhances the story with a supernatural element, the Seer, a former Lagos businessman who had recurrent visions of his wife in a wrecked blue car. When his wife dies in an taxi cab incident he, like Kunle, “costumed himself with the guilt of her death and resolved that he would seek out the source of these visions and devote his life to diving and interpreting them.” The Seer sees Kunle as an unborn man who fights in a war against his will. As the story unfolds, Kunle discovers Tunde’s fate and learns why a pregnant Agnes is determined to continue to fight. With heartbreaking realism, Obioma captures the essential elements of a war novel — the despair, the determination, and the fleeting moments of grace. Thank you Hogarth and Net Galley for an advanced readers’ copy of this intense and empathetic war epic.

Chigozie Obioma’s THE ROAD TO THE COUNTRY is a powerful, harrowing novel set against the brutal backdrop of Nigeria’s Biafran War in the late 1960s. Following Kunle, a young man driven by guilt and love for his brother, the story takes readers through the grim realities of civil war, disease, famine and loss. When Kunle was 9 years old, his neglect caused an accident that nearly killed his younger brother, Tunde. In 1967, Kunle, now a recent college graduate, learns that Tunde has fallen in love with a woman and followed her to the new separatist state of Biafra. Guilt-stricken and fearing for his brother’s safety, Kunle volunteers with the Red Cross to enter the region in search of his brother. However, he is separated from the group, captured by Biafran soldiers, almost executed but saved by his mother’s Igbo heritage, and hence forced to join the Biafran army.

Kunle’s journey from a student to a soldier is marked by brutality and bloodshed, unexpected camaraderie, near-death experiences, an unlikely but touching love story, and an unyielding hope for reunion and reconciliation. Obioma weaves mysticism into the narrative, using a Seer in the past to prophesy events in the future, and, unfortunately, I found the Seer chapters somewhat awkward compared to the seamless blend of myth and history in The Fishermen, a Cain and Abel-esque story of childhood. The novel succeeds in its vivid portrayal of the horrors of civil war, but it occasionally falters in pacing and some prosaic storytelling (there’s a great deal of “then this happened and then this and then this” compared to the more lyrical storytelling of his previous work).

Nevertheless, Obioma’s vivid imagery and deep empathy makes this a compelling read for fans of historical fiction and magical realism. It may not have affected me as much as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun, but THE ROAD TO THE COUNTRY is a significant, unflinching and heartbreaking addition to the literature on the Biafran War and war fiction in general.

Many thanks to Hogarth Books and NetGalley for the advance ebook.

The Road to the Country by Chigozie Obioma was a really interesting and immersive story.
Beautifully written and very powerful I devoured this book.
My first time reading this authors work and now I’m looking at his previous titles.

Thank You NetGalley and Random House | Hogarth for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

How do we navigate life amidst the shadows of death? This is the profound question at the heart of ROAD, a powerful narrative following Kunle, a Nigerian university student, on an impossible mission to rescue his younger brother as his country breaks into a civil war (the Biafra War).

This sweeping historical fiction has all the hallmarks of a classic in the making. Obioma's writing is not just extraordinary; it's a revelation. It's a reminder that there's writing (my silly little book reviews), and then there's WRITING—rich, immersive, and transformative. ROAD's thesis on finding humanity among violence is incredibly timely and handled with a sensitivity that avoids exploiting the trauma of others, reminiscent of PROPHET SONG (Paul Lynch). The hint of magical realism adds a layer of enchantment to the narrative, bringing to mind THE SEVEN MOONS OF MAALI ALMEIDA (Shehan Karunatilaka).

Obioma's unflinching portrayal of the brutalities of war is both harrowing and compelling. Reading it felt like a visceral gut punch, yet I could not look away. His prose, akin to art, strikes the perfect balance between raw emotion and lyrical beauty, keeping me engaged even as my heart shattered into a million pieces. This emotional rollercoaster is sure to keep you captivated.

Amidst the darkness, however, there is beauty. Kunle finds camaraderie among his fellow fighters and even discovers love. Obioma excels at vividly portraying a main character we can all see ourselves in—an ordinary person facing the extraordinary pressures of war and death. ROAD explores how, without superpowers, we find the courage to live under such crushing weight.

The ending is a poignant culmination of the narrative, where themes of death and rebirth converge, and everything comes full circle. Without giving too much away, it's a testament to the theme that where there is death, there is also rebirth. I burst into tears reading the final scenes, and they will definitely stay in my mind for a long time.

I split my time evenly between reading on my Kindle and listening to the audiobook. While both formats offer a great experience, I highly recommend reading a physical copy to fully appreciate Obioma's phenomenal writing style and reference previous chapters. ROAD is my first Obioma, and I can't wait to read his backlists and immerse myself in his gorgeous writing.

The road to the country by Chicozie Obioma, The story starts with Kunle, he is the first year law student in Lagos when his uncle Matt comes to tell him about his brother who has left home to join the Civil War between the north and the south. This plagues Kunle, because his brother is disabled and then a wheelchair and it’s something that he blames himself for. When he arrives home his mama and papa or beside their self with worry when he leaves to find his brother Toondei however nothing goes to plan and life will never be the same again. Before Kunle’s birth a sear came to the village and throughout the book we see the seer watching Kunle. When he gets closer to where his brother is he cannot believe what is happening in his country it is truly war but when he leaves the Red Cross medic camp early he gets lost in the next thing he knows he is in the army and fighting a war he wants no part of. When he does see his brother again everything will be different including his brother and his own viewpoint of the Civil War. I do want to say this book was so sad… I mean truly a sad story I felt so bad for Kunle, I mean even when he thinks he may have found a slice of happiness that also gets interrupted and torn apart by the war and I haven’t even put the most horrible things he went through. Will he find any happiness or even see home again and if so will his brother be with him? You need to read the book to find the answers to these questions and that is so worth reading. Oh yes I almost forgot the book is set in the 1960s it is a really good book I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and others set in Nigeria war is a bitch and Mr.Obioma does not hold anything back. If any book deserves an award it is definitely this one it is true gritty heartbreaking and just so good a real true masterpiece of literary fiction. I am not a person who cries over books but more than once when he started crying I also wanted to cry my heart broke for him he is truly a character to root for and what makes it even more sad is it was based on a real Civil War so I’m sure the details of the war part is absolutely true. I want to thank Random house for my free arc copy via NetGalley please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

A young man goes in search of his brother and ends up getting unwillingly conscripted as a soldier in this violent and unflinching look at the Nigerian Civil War.

"The Road to the Country" is a literary masterpiece. Chigozie Obioma writes a story of epic proportions. It's a tale that begins with innocence and unfolds into a rich journey of personal growth and discovery through the horrors of war. The characters, fully realized and dynamic, propel the story forward, each with their own distinct voice contributing to the novel's depth and authenticity. "The Road to the Country" offers an opportunity to explore themes of identity, resilience, and the human spirit's capacity to evolve and survive extreme adversity..

I full-heartedly recommend "The Road to the Country" to anyone who loves great literature and in particular to those woh are interested in learning more about Nigeria's history or one of its most powerful voices writing today.

Other early reviewers have said, and I agree, that this book reads like a masterpiece. An instant classic. I will not be surprised if it wins a major award, like the Booker Prize, in 2024. I requested this on NetGalley because I had read and loved one of the author’s previous works, The Fishermen. Little did I know what I was getting into. This is a visceral, immersive novel about war and the individual war experience. Set in Nigeria during the civil war between northern Nigeria and the Igbo people in southeastern Biafra (between 1967 and 1970), it’s a great war novel, but also a deeply personal work of historical fiction. It doesn’t quite fit to say I enjoyed reading the book…it’s too gut-wrenching for that. But I did appreciate it as one does a first-class work of art. Obioma’s writing is beautiful and heartbreaking all at once. His prose is instantly identifiable, blending, as it does, the real with the magical. I loved it even as my heart was breaking. Highly recommended.

“At one point these men liked the war. They’d fallen in love with the veiled princess only to find, one year in, that there is no beauty in her. Nothing worthy of poetry or comfort – only hunger, danger, sorrow, and violent death. And now they want none of her. But they have to fight.”

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for providing this ARC for my early review. This publishes soon – June 4; make sure you get your hands on it fast.

There is no doubt in my mind that the author, Chigozie Obioma is a literary genius. He has written a sweeping historical novel centered around one man, Kunle, who through happenstance, becomes a soldier during the Biafran War for independence vs Nigeria in the 1960s. I remember the heart rending tv stories of the time, in which Biafra was a land of painful death by starvation, and so was curious to read the why and how of this long ago memory.

This is primarily a war story, which is not my favorite kind of read. Kunle , now a young man, sets out from his home in Nigeria as war breaks out, to find and bring home his brother who has been disabled by an accident in his younger years. Kunle thinks he has caused his brother’s condition and so feels a responsibility to rescue him from war torn Biafra and return him to the safety of his Nigerian home. En route to accomplish this onerous task, Kunle is captured by Biafran forces. Because his mother is of Biafran ancestry, Kunle survives by , speaking the Igbo language, padopting a new identity and fighting for the opposite side in a war he doesn’t want to fight in at all.

Yet, in addition to gruesome battlefield description and action, Kunle, his friends, family and war buddies are carefully depicted as perfectly imperfect human beings simply seeking the serenity of home and a warless existence. Kunle’s disabled brother, his nurse/ warrior sweetheart, and his Biafran new found comrades in arms, form a myriad of complex relationships for a misplaced young man who has entered an unexpected crisis.

Surrounding the action is a mythical Seer who by magical powers, prior to the child’s birth, has predicted Kunle’s life journey to be one of a man who dies and comes back to life. The Seer appears in the story to watch as the baby grows into a man and becomes a soldier. Since the prediction had to be made before Kunle’s birth, the Seer’s observations are off sequence of the rest of the plot. This character added a sort of folk tale like dimension to the story and although I don’t usually care for magical realism, I make an exception in this case . I just wish the time sequencing were easier to follow.

Rating this book is quite difficult for me. The writing is beautiful but very complex and difficult to read.
I had to proceed slowly and at times speed read through cumbersome spots to get to the passages that flowed with meaning and emotion. June 4, 2024 is the publication date. I recommend this book for reader’s who like a challenge; who seek knowledge ; and who enjoy a novel that is magnificently crafted, with much to think about afterward.I thank NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read a prepublication copy of this book in exchange for my review.

Outstanding writing!!! A Nigerian rescue mission in the 1960s. My heart was racing during parts of this book, highly recommend this book but am too overwhelmed to write about it. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Chigozie Obioma's "The Road to the Country" is a work that does not flinch from challenges, taking his raw and blunt style to another level. Obioma's writing is always raw and blunt, but in this book, his prose goes beyond words, holding the reader's curiosity seamlessly, without artifice or gimmickry. He simply paints images of life and death that surround his characters in a deeply personal way.
The novel chronicles the details of a larger war, the Biafran/Nigerian civil war, and its emotional and physical effects on those uprooted from their lives and thrown into it. The brutal look at the Biafran war is mixed with a touch of magical realism, creating a dark and heavy, but worthwhile read.
The graphic depictions of war and death are hard-hitting and, although considered fiction, seem grounded in the reality of the real Biafran War. The brutality of the scenes Obioma writes throughout this book is astounding. Kunle's story is complex and multifaceted, dealing with grief and loss, war and redemption in a place he never expected.
However, I found some aspects of the novel overdone, such as the pace and progression of the plot, as much of the first half is wrapped up in a relentless barrage of battles, which, while there is a point to them, become less impactful the more they occur. Despite this, The Road to the Country is a journey of introspection and self-forgiveness that, while at times brutally real, results in a valuable and deeply moving work.

"The Road to the Country" de Chigozie Obioma es una obra que no se acobarda ante los retos, llevando su estilo crudo y contundente a otro nivel. La escritura de Obioma es siempre cruda y contundente, pero en este libro, su prosa va más allá de las palabras, manteniendo la curiosidad del lector sin fisuras, sin artificios ni trucos. Simplemente pinta imágenes de la vida y la muerte que rodean a sus personajes de una manera profundamente personal.
La novela relata los detalles de una guerra mayor, la guerra civil biafrana/nigeriana, y sus efectos emocionales y físicos en aquellos desarraigados de sus vidas y arrojados a ella. La mirada brutal a la guerra de Biafran se mezcla con un toque de realismo mágico, creando una lectura oscura y pesada, pero que vale la pena.
Las descripciones gráficas de la guerra y la muerte son muy impactantes y, aunque se considera ficción, parecen basadas en la realidad de la verdadera guerra de Biafran. La brutalidad de las escenas que Obioma escribe a lo largo de este libro es asombrosa. La historia de Kunle es compleja y polifacética, enfrentándose al dolor y la pérdida, a la guerra y a la redención en un lugar que nunca esperó.
Sin embargo, algunos aspectos de la novela me resultaron excesivos, como el ritmo y la progresión de la trama, ya que gran parte de la primera mitad está envuelta en un incesante aluvión de batallas, las cuales, aunque tienen su razón de ser, resultan menos impactantes cuanto más se suceden. A pesar de ello, "The Road to the Country" es un viaje de introspección y autoperdón que, aunque a veces brutalmente real, resulta en una obra valiosa y profundamente conmovedora.

Although the writing was excellent, and I learned a bit more about the Biafran War, this book is very much a war book. The detailed descriptions of war were not of interest to me so this book was a chore to read. For readers who like to read war stories, this should be of great interest.

A young man carries with him guilt for a prank that resulted in the disability of his younger brother. A few years later when war breaks out between Biafra and Nigeria and his brother is in Biafra, he tells his mother and father he is going there to bring his brother home, a trip that he believes will take about three days. On his journey, when he gets caught in the middle of the war and is conscripted to fight for Biafra, his quest for his sibling is postponed.

The author’s description of life as it unfolds on the battlefield, of new found friendship and unexpected love, accounts of battles that go on for more than a hundred pages, is as moving as any battle life written in literature. The descriptions of men and women at war fighting to protect their homeland is followed by descriptions of the destruction of Biafra, the atrocities against civilians and the famine that attracted worldwide attention.

While the protagonist is engaged in the Biafra war, his journey is observed by a seer of the Ifa deity and religion in 1947 as he looks twenty years into the future. Like the Greek goddess Cassandra, no one believes what he sees about the bloody future of Biafra. The seer can give his young voyager warnings which postpone fate while unable to change fate, similar to a guardian angel.

On its own merits, this is a masterwork. As a work of world literature, it is rooted in Nigerian literature, classic Greek literature, Dante’s Inferno, and twentieth century western war literature.
No mistaking, Chigozie Obioma is a major writer.

My thanks to the Random House Group and NetGalley for an ARC

This book reminded me of a blockbuster movie that is historical in three hours long. Typically those are not the types of movies that I like and so it is not surprising that I ended up not finishing this book. I do think, however, that it is probably an award-winning book and it is importantand its topic. I think And it’s topic. I think I probably just don’t like books like that. But I think that if you do, you should give us a try.