THE TWICE BOOKER-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR 'Obioma is truly the heir to Chinua Achebe' New York Times 'Incredibly moving and hopeful' Nadifa Mohamed 'Remarkable' Alice Walker 'A major voice' Salman Rushdie 'A wondrous novel' Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah At first the vision is grainy but slowly it clears, and there appears the figure of a man. When a country is plunged into civil war, two brothers on either side of it are divided. They will try to find their way back to each other. Kunle's search for his sibling Tunde becomes a journey of atonement which sees him conscripted into the army to fight a war he hardly understands. Once there, he will forge friendships to last a lifetime, and he will meet a woman who will change his world forever. But will he find his brother? The story of a young man seeking redemption in a nation on fire, Chigozie Obioma's novel is an odyssey of brotherhood, love and unimaginable courage set during the Biafran War. Intertwining myth and realism into a thrilling, inspired and emotionally powerful novel, The Road to the Countryis a masterpiece. ***MORE PRAISE FOR THE ROAD TO THE COUNTRY AND CHIGOZIE OBIOMA*** 'Chigozie Obioma brings the Biafran War to life in a visceral yet mystical way. Loss, pain and grief are etched onto a canvas that seems timeless and endless. I grieve for those lost in that doomed declaration of independence but celebrate those, such as Chigozie, who carry their torches' Nadifa Mohamed 'This powerfully evocative and intimate book is unarguably Obioma's finest. Through subtle, piercing, and gripping language, he renders those seemingly simple but unforgettable moments when our lives intertwine with history, anchoring you to the pages until the end. The Road to the Countrywill remind you that our existence is the histories of past, present, and the future-and the importance of understanding that. This is among the best books I've read in a while and is certainly destined to be a classic' Ishmael Beah 'A spectacular blend of realism and mysticism, The Road to the Countryis Chigozie Obioma at his finest. He is a novelist in a league of his own' Imbolo Mbue 'A remarkable talent' Independent 'Chigozie Obioma is a gifted and original storyteller' Jennifer Clement 'Few contemporary novels achieve the seductive panache of Obioma's heightened language' Guardian 'One of the most exciting voices of modern African literature' Financial Times 'A truly gifted writer, Obioma has proven yet again that he's a literary treasure' Nicole Dennis-Benn

NUBClub had a long and detailed conversation about The Road to the Country and we were largely split between two different takes, even as individuals. We felt Obioma's intent was to give a picture to the reality of the Nigerian Civil War and how young soldiers were recruited into it. On this theme, Obioma paints a compelling and enlightening picture. His depiction of battles as very local to Kunle (the protagonist) and without broader context, the limited resources and even clothing the soldiers have, the accidental way they travel and get promoted, and the way they engage with the enemy with almost camaraderie shows a complex reality that none of us had really understood before. Obioma also shows thoughtfulness giving us a moment to recognize the dead from that war and how much deprivation and suffering there was. But the book was marred by the plot that Obioma employed to show these themes. Kunle is not a very fleshed out character. His motivations in the beginning boil down to finding his brother and thinking about a crush from his childhood and he constantly returns to the same thoughts over and over in the novel. His counterparts in the army are very thinly sketched (the political poet, the chill one, the religious one) and even though they are Kunle's deepest relationships, there's no nuance or complexity to them. And Kunle's romantic journey with Agnes is almost laughably unbelievable. Our sense is that Obioma was using these elements to make the book readable, but he just didn't put enough color to them to make them compelling. The Seer frame perhaps exemplifies this issue. It's not really clear what the Seer is for in the book -- he doesn't have any motivation and he shows no interesting perspective as the voice that's giving us the story. However, at the very end of the novel, we realize that he violated his religious beliefs to warn people about the war, only to no avail in stopping it. That is an interesting and poignant message about war -- why didn't Obioma do more with the Seer the whole time if he's that important to the themes? Ultimately, The Road to the Country is a mixed bag and your mileage will vary here. Obioma has tackled an important topic and has written some very insighting and moving ideas about it. You just have to decide if suffering through two-dimensional characters and a really thin plot is worth it to find those gems.