This is a tragic family story set in Nigeria in the 1990s. It follows a similar arc to traditional Greek tragedy in that events are set on an inexorable trajectory following a prophecy made during an innocent, if mischievous, boyhood adventure.

I lived in Africa for almost twenty years and am aware that many families follow a Christian ethic mixed with some traditional beliefs and strong paternal leadership. This is the case with the close and loving Agwu family. Mr Agwu is a successful civil servant and a strong father figure who wants each of his six children to succeed. He is very much the head of the family, and something of a disciplinarian.

The story is narrated after the fact by Ben, who was nine years old at the time, and focuses on himself and his three older brothers. They are typically adventurous young boys and, against the will of their father, start secretly fishing in a nearby river which, according to local lore, is cursed. On one of these trips they come across Abulu, a local madman who prophesies that Ikenna, the eldest, will be killed by a fisherman, and the brothers begin to believe this means one of them. At about the same time Mr Agwu is promoted and moves to another town for work and is only able to return home for a few days each month.

The prophecy allows Obioma to explore the tension between fate and free will, and how the brothers begin to fulfil it simply because they believe it. Watching their mutual love give way to suspicion and guilt is unsettling and is the main theme of the novel.

The book also explores the prophecy’s ramifications on the rest of the family. In doing so it examines what happens in the absence of paternal influence, while also examining the role of masculinity, loyalty and inherited violence.

Ultimately there is some redemption but it’s small in relation to the damage that innocence, uncertain beliefs and the lack of a father figure can cause.

The plot makes for compulsive reading, and I particularly enjoyed Obioma's use of language. Through Ben, he shows how the family switches naturally between Ibo and English, choosing whichever language best captures the situation. Sometimes the characters directly translate Ibo into English, and this gives a depth and rhythm that English alone could not have done, and the sentence structure and use of words becoming at times almost lyrical. Occasionally Obioma leaves a sentence entirely in Ibo without explanation and together, these language effects immersed me in the family's world instead of making me feel like an observer looking in. Because he uses these techniques sparingly, they added authenticity without making the novel difficult to follow.

Reading this book has encouraged me to reattempt “Things Fall apart” by Chinua Achebe, another Nigerian author who examines the collision between colonialism and traditional society about a century earlier. Second time around, this book didn’t disappoint either.

Colin Hall (Darwin Chapter)