Starred review from December 2, 2019
This haunting and inspiring novel from Booker winner Okri (The Famished Road) follows a man’s search for a woman who goes missing in a dystopian world. An oppressive and faceless “Hierarchy” dominates the world, in which people move through their days in a state of near-catatonia, sensing but helplessly fearing their subjugation. The citizens are largely numbed, but some, such as young woman Amalantis, dare to speak out. After Amalantis courageously asks, “Who is the prisoner?” she is abruptly arrested for posing a taboo, revolutionary question, and her lover, Karnak, embarks on a quest to find her. He roams the streets seeking answers from whoever dares to speak with him. Karnak watches the populace grow increasingly resistant to the Hierarchy’s oppression, first through ubiquitous screams in the night, and then through an epidemic of nervous breakdowns that occur randomly among the public, which can only be resolved by a transcendental awakening. Karnak’s search is juxtaposed against the spiritual trials of a man named Mirababa, who travels through mystical, otherworldly realms, where he meets beings who offer perplexing guidance on his quest to understand true freedom. In this story of political abuse and existential angst, Okri employs a powerful and rare style reminiscent of free verse and evoking a mythical timbre. This is a vibrantly immediate and penetrating novel of ideas. Agent: Georgina Capel, Georgina Capel Associates.
Starred review from January 1, 2020
In an unspecified time and place, a persistent young woman, Amalantis, is arrested for asking too many questions about a society in which myths, books, and art have all been eliminated. Citizens have long succumbed to the Prison, a loss of imagination and curiosity in the name of equality and conformity. Karnak, Amalantis' lover, goes in search of her and the truth she sought. He searches for the question-askers, who spray paint provocative messages throughout the city and are hunted by the authorities. Karnak goes deeper into a world in which bookstores have been vanishing for decades and where there is massive suspicion about both authorities and citizens and even the self. In alternating chapters, Mirababa, a young boy, is initiated on a quest to understand layers of self-awareness and the truth about imprisonment by authorities versus self-imprisonment. These parallel internal and external journeys explore threats to freedom when truth is commodified. Man Booker-winner Okri's modern allegory specifies and beautifully renders the impact on the human spirit when people are deprived of history and truth. Written with a striking simplicity that belies the significance of its message, Okri's tale is especially resonant in our current post-truth environment.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)