The Fishermen cover art

The Fishermen

A Novel

Preview
Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Fishermen

By: Chigozie Obioma
Narrated by: Chukwudi Iwuji
Try Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $30.02

Buy Now for $30.02

About this listen

In this striking novel about an unforgettable childhood, four Nigerian brothers encounter a madman whose mystic prophecy of violence threatens the core of their close-knit family

Told by nine-year-old Benjamin, the youngest of four brothers, The Fishermen is the Cain and Abel-esque story of a childhood in Nigeria, in the small town of Akure. When their father has to travel to a distant city for work, the brothers take advantage of his absence to skip school and go fishing. At the forbidden nearby river, they meet a madman who persuades the oldest of the boys that he is destined to be killed by one of his siblings. What happens next is an almost mythic event whose impact-both tragic and redemptive-will transcend the lives and imaginations of the book's characters and readers.

Dazzling and viscerally powerful, The Fisherman is an essential novel about Africa, seen through the prism of one family's destiny.
Coming of Age Family Life Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction World Literature Destiny Fishing Africa

Critic Reviews

Winner of the 2016 Los Angeles Times Book Prize (The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction)

Winner of the 2016 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work (Debut Author)

Winner of the 2015 FT/Oppenheimer Emerging Voices Award for Fiction

Finalist for the 2015 Man Booker Prize

Finalist for the 2015 Guardian First Book Award

Finalist for the 2015 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

Longlisted for the 2016 International Dylan Thomas Prize

Longlisted for the 2015 Etisalat Prize for Literature

Named a Best Book of the Year on more than a dozen lists, including the New York Times Book Review, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and NPR

"Entrancing.... Its rising tension and poetic grace make this one of the finest novels to come from Africa in years."--Wall Street Journal "Best Books of 2015"

"In its exploration of the murderous and the mysterious, the mind's terrors and a vibrant Africa, this debut novel is heir to Chinua Achebe."--New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice

"Engrossing.... [Obioma's] language is rich and hypnotic, and nearly every page is filled with an unexpected and perfectly rendered description.... This is a dark and beautiful book by a writer with seemingly endless promise."--Michael Schaub, NPR

"The most frustrating thing about THE FISHERMEN is that the author has no other books for the reader to devour once the final page is reached."--Trine Tsouderos, Chicago Tribune
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.