To be honest, it took me a while to get into this book. The first chapter put me off a few times but I’m so glad I persevered as this is an important work that deserves credit. Set in the very real historical context of the Biafra war, it charts the coming of age of Kunle as it deals with the horrors of war in intense detail. Our young, lost hero gets swept up in a conflict that he doesn’t support at first but as time goes on the experiences make him mature into the man he needs to be. Themes of romance, family, found family, trauma sometimes make this a regular coming of age novel but the war is always there to put things in a wider perspective. The writing is excellent if a bit dense for this reader. I got a bit jaded reading the lengthy description of battle and injury and yearned for a faster pace to the plot. At times, it felt like a nonfiction read but then the seer appeared. The interspersed chapters from that perspective seemed a bit repetitive but I understand their value. I’m just not sure I really understood all the author was trying to give this reader. I did learn a lot and, as the mother of three sons, related to Kunle’s journey to adulthood most of all. Thanks to NetGalley and Chigozie Obioma for the ARC.

This is definitely an award-winner. I wasn't really in the mood for an all-encompassing war novel, but I couldn't stop reading because it was so well-written and I had faith that the main character would make it through. I've read Obioma's other books, and it had a similar feel of sadness, but I think this one ended with more hope than his others.

It was hard to read--the terror, the hunger, the war. But necessary and important.

Centered around a main character-Kunle and the Biafran civil war. Historical fiction, guilt, friendship, love, survival all set against the background of the Biafran civil war. Beautifully written and with descriptions of the horrors and wounds of war so vivid that at times I was so overwhelmed I had to stop reading. I recall the Nigerian-Biafran war as a far removed historical event but Obioma brings it to light and hits you square in the face with it. Beautifully written -a phrase that seems impossible to use when describing the horrors and ravages and brutality of war. Quite a book.

The Road To The Country is a powerful, explosive read that should not be missed. Readers will say that they don’t like magical realism, war, blood and guts, sad stories, etc. put on your big person pants and read this book! A seer has gone up a mountain and for eight hours is provided with the life story of an unborn child who it is said will die and come back. The events have not taken place yet but you get so wrapped up in the story you forget, or want to forget, that this story will happen ”for real.” The inevitably of repeating the past is one of the lessons the book points out. Humans fail to recognize or fail to change by not embracing people for who they are and by an innate need to be superior.

Kunle, the unborn child of an Igbo mother and Yoruba father living in Nigeria, had a carefree existence until a fateful accident left his younger brother wheelchair bound. Nine year old Kunle is forever changed, believing he was the cause. After his first year in college, Kunle learns his brother has accompanied Kunle’s first love, an Igbo girl, to the eastern part of the country. It is at this time, due to ethnic cleansing, economic disparity and the Nigerian hatred of those they found inferior in the East that Biafra chose to secede from Nigeria and fight a war for independence. Kunle devises a plan to go to Biafra to bring his brother home.

Kunle gets captured, because he is half Igbo, he is forced to join the army and pledge his life to Biafra’s fight for freedom. The thought of finding his brother is constantly in his thoughts. Kunle, now Peter, does not know the language nor does he understand why the people of Biafra are being targeted. In the army he has developed strong bonds with a few soldiers and has found love. The battles are fierce. You feel the fear, loss, death, despair and desolation together with the will to survive, brotherhood, friendships and love. It is a journey of introspection and self-forgiveness.

Fortunately, most people reading this book will not have lived in a war zone. Here you will find a startling story set during the short existence of a country where a people are fighting for a peaceful existence and a road to life and hope. Obioma has created a masterpiece. The writing is brilliant. The story is incredible and will stay with you. This is award worthy.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House/Hogarth for this incredible ARC.

The topic of this book is something I knew nothing about, so that was fascinating. A very brutal conflict, narrated by one on the ground with a big heart. The main character ends up fighting for the other side while searching for his brother, falling in love and fathering a child. Not an easy book to read but gripping. I do wish that the translations were provided for the non-English passages.

This was a great book! I very much enjoyed it and I look forward to reading the author’s next work! Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.

.i enjoyed the book. There are a few things that I wished the author added to the book. The ending felt rushed and there were too many secondary characters that did not add to the book enough to justify their existence. I liked the focus on the tribal part of the book.

"The Road to the Country" centers on the perspective Adekunle Aromire, or Kunle - a young Nigerian man who grows up on the precipice of the Biafran War. He has a lengthy, strained relationship with his younger brother Tunde, who was an a car accident as a child and became confined to a wheelchair, and has blamed himself for the incident ever since. When he returns home from university to visit his parents, he finds out that Tunde and his childhood friend Nkechi have disappeared in the middle of the violence, and sets on himself the harrowing task of finding them and bringing them back. Joining of small Red Cross convoy, Kunle tries to make a quick leave - only to find himself completely lost and conscripted into the Biafran Army against his will.

Despite his best attempts to avoid the battlefront, Kunle is eventually trained and forced into the ravages of war - the daily bombings and shootings, the omnipresence of death, and the grotesque and brutal injuries and casualties that it brings. However, even in the midst of such destruction, he's able to find camaraderie and friendship in his fellow soldiers despite the blurring of allegiances and sides, love, and a chance at finding his own identity and voice. Kunle's story is a complex, multi-faceted one as he is forced to face grief and loss, war, and redemption in a place he never expected.

This novel is a brutal and graphic look at the Biafran War that wracked Nigeria in 1967, and the political machinations that ultimately led to so many casualties and deaths - both directly and indirectly. It's a testament to the strength of the human character and the ability to adapt and succeed even in the most trying and painful of situations, and we follow Kunle as he ultimately carries through in his prophecy. Obioma's writing is poetic and descriptive, painting the scene for such a desolate period and the individuals that Kunle encounters and comes to know as the war drags on. I have to say that I struggled with a few aspects of the novel, including the pacing and progression of the storyline as much of the first half of the novel is mired a ceaseless barrage of battle; while these have their purpose, they felt less impactful the more they occurred. I also didn't fully appreciate the injection of the Seer's passages as they interrupted Kunle's storyline and forced the reader to switch between different time periods.

I think some readers will appreciate this more than others, but I encourage anyone curious about the Biafran War to give this novel a try when it's published in June 2024.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A wonderful depiction of brotherly love set in literal hell on earth.

What can I say. I did not expect such a powerful novel. This book exceeded my expectations by 10 fold. I was blown away.

Gripping. Emotional and brutal. I could not put it down. Although at point I was sobbing.

You so do not want to miss this one. I predict a number on best seller!

A huge, huge thank you to NetGalley and the.publiser, Hogarth, for this amazing book. Expected publication: June 4, 2024.

This book is beautiful in its descriptions and in its rich history. The story, though, was plodding and confusing. I finally out it down over halfway through with finishing it. I am probably just not in the right frame of mind for this book at the moment so will not be reviewing it in any other location.

Absolutely amazing writing—so many quotable thoughts and phrases. The story of the Biafran war was front and center and very hard to read because of the emotional impact on its participants. I loved the structure of the novel as the author weaved a bit of magical realism throughout. This reads like an award-winner which it deserves to be.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hogarth Press for the ARC to read and review.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this story and do a review. Everyone has written on what it is about - but it is a stiry that takes place in Biafra. It is an extremely emotional story.

The Road to the Country is one of the most brutal yet beautiful books I have ever read. I'm grateful to have gotten a copy through NetGalley--otherwise, I would not have finished it. But I'm so glad I did.

Kunle is a young Nigerian man, at the beginning of his career in university. He is haunted by an accident to his brother that happened years earlier, for which he blames himself. His brother is staying with friends when war breaks out. The Yorubi people are killing the Igbo people. The Igbo people want to secede from Nigeria, forming the nation Biafra and the powerful Nigerian army is determined they will not. Kunle sets off to bring his brother home but is caught by Biafran forces. He lies, to save his life, saying he is Igbo, and is then drafted into the Biafran army.

I am old enough to remember the horrors of the Biafran war. My memories of the conflict, the pictures we saw of the children, are vivid so I knew this was going to be a difficult book to read. But I was unprepared for just how difficult. Obioma depicts the terrible suffering of not only the soldiers but of all the innocent people who were slaughtered and starved.

The famine in Biafra is well-known (although with our penchant for a new disaster after 15 minutes, I don't know how many young people even know about this tragedy) but it is hard to take in the enormity of this suffering, deliberately caused by the stronger forces. Not that it's news that people deliberately cause horrendous pain to each other--or that similar tactics are not still used--but it still felt like I was being punched in the gut repeatedly. That's how powerful Obioma's writing is.

There is no happy ending possible in this rendering of historical truth but as a reader I was continually drawn to the small moments of, if not happiness, then of at least relief, of comaraderie, even of love. Obiamo seems to detect and be able to portray every nuance of the human heart and experience.

The book also has the mystical dimension of a seer who sees this future, who follows the path of the young man not yet alive, the war and suffering not yet begun.

As I think I've already repeated several times, the writing is amazing and carried me through the extreme ugliness of man-perpetrated horrors. And in that suffering, how hope, how life, insistently appears despite everything. Because we have to have some moments of relief or we couldn't go on. And in addition to my obligation to NetGalley, I felt compelled to keep reading--to find out the fates of the characters I came to care deeply about, and to be a witness to a suffering that should not be forgotten.

Thank you to NetGalley for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and to Chigozie Obioma for writing it.

Okay here’s the deal, I didn’t understand half this book but I sure did like the writing and the way the story unfolded! There’s a war, a seer that sees a man who died and came back to life, Kunle (our protagonist) and just family strife.

I loved it, and realized that sometimes, the understanding comes with just not knowing a damn thing. WELL DONE. I don’t know if I’d tell a lot of my friends to read this one but I will say it was compelling, beautiful and in some ways gave me hope in humanity.

The story involces a seer and a war in Africa. The characters are very believable. I was hoping the main character would succeed, but had my doubts. Overall, it is a war story and not really my genre. It that is the genre you enjoy, then this is well written and you'll enjoy this story.

Posted to my book club page on Instagram - @sistahtosistahbookclub
Kunle, is a university student in Lagos burdened with a guilty conscience and who sets out to rescue his missing brother from Biafra, a country at war, only to find himself conscripted to fight in one of the most devastating and under-examined conflicts of the 20th century.

I did not expect to even like this book! I cracked this one open the same way I did the first BIG novel I read…with dread. My grandfather handed me a pretty big read when I was quite young…too young to even comprehend most of what I read at the time. I recall he told me that it would all make sense one day..and boy was he right!!! To kill a mockingbird at 8 years old was a heavy read, much of which went over my head, but would later prove to be the reason I aced my high school literature course!!

Ok, back to Chigozie Obioma’s book. i felt like I was trapped in some sort of 1960 Nigerian portal by page 2. Each character had their own distinct voice that clearly came through page after page. The writing is incredible, and I can literally say that after only a few days of finishing it, my heart continuously weeps for the protagonist. Kunle is a young man who was so haunted by guilt, he risks it all and ends up fighting a war he hardly understands.

Absolutely no spoilers, but if you read this one, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

This is a compelling story about conflict in Nigeria and a family that is caught in the throngs of it. Kunle, the protagonist, unwillingly gets pulled into the conflict as the short lived country of Biafra seeks independence from Nigeria. The narrative describes the contrast between the harsh realities of conflict and the hope in humanity. The author does a great job of mixing reality and mysticism when he describes Kunle’s journey of self-discovery and search for identity and purpose.

"The Road to the Country" is a powerful book about the Biafran war where Kunle, the main character, gives the reader insight into what it was like during that time. The author's writing is phenomenal and brings the story to life. Would highly recommend.

Could not finish. That’s a first for me! Very difficult to keep up with what was going on. The rich history was portrayed well, but it felt like the story dragged on and on.