The Road To The Country by Chigozie Obioma
BOOK REVIEW
“After a war life catches desperately at passing hints of normalcy like vines entwining a hollow twig”
- Chinua Achebe
About The Author
Chigozie Obioma is a critically acclaimed writer hailing from Akure in Nigeria. Currently serving as an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Nebraska. His first two novels The Fishermen (2015) and An Orchestra of Minorities (2019), were shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize. His latest release The Road to the Country is published by Hutchinson Heinemann (UK).
The Nigerian Civil War
The Road to the Country expounds Obioma’s body of work depicting life in South-Eastern Nigeria. He explores different facets of his Igbo heritage at different periods of time, in this iteration the story is set in during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 -70.
The Road to the Country’s cover depicts the vivid green, red, and yellow motifs of the Biafran flag.
In the aftermath of pogroms against the Igbo ethnic group in the Northern regions and following a military coup, merely seven years into its independence the newly formed nation of Nigeria descended into a brutal civil war in July 1967. The eastern region where most of the Igbo ethnic group resided, led by General Chukuemeka Ojukwu, broke away from the rest of the federation to form the new nation of Biafra. The Biafra War was and continues to be (principally) conceived as an ethnically based conflict.
Map of the Kingdom of Biafara, John Speed [1676]
History As Literature: A Not So Distant Past
This is not a grand scale retelling of a civil war, The Road to the Country is the story of a young man from Akure called Kunle (Adekunle) Aromire. The aloof main character has receded into himself in the years following a devastating accident which left his younger brother Tunde a wheelchair user. At the opening of the novel we find Kunle in a haze of isolation. Despite attending university in the capital city he is unaware of the civil unrest that is unfolding in the country. Kunle is forced out of this fugue state when his Uncle informs him that Tunde has absconded to the Eastern region, with their neighbours the Agbanis (an Igbo family), to their hometown in Nkpa now in newly seceded Biafra. Compounding Kunle’s anguish is his lingering longing and resentment for the Agbani’s eldest daughter Nkechi, whom he has felt connected to since childhood. Prompted by his parents concerns over Tunde’s safety and feeling responsible for his defection, Kunle embarks on the precarious journey into the newly formed nation to retrieve his brother.
Lt Colonel Ojukwu, ©Time Magazine, [23 August, 1968]
The story of war can only be fully and truly told by both the living and the dead
- Igbo Proverb
The ingenuity of historical fiction as a genre in literature is its (potential) ability to bring period pieces to down to a proximate intimate level. The road to Tunde amidst war, promptly descends into an imperilled journey. Kunle who is conscripted as a soldier, must survive in the midst of chaos in order to redeem himself.
Ethnicity and identity are central themes in this story. Obioma’s exploration prompts the reader to contemplate these complexities:
What is to be Igbo?
What is to be Yoruba?
What is to be Biafran?
What is to be Nigerian?
Kunle is born to a Yoruba father and Igbo mother. The cast of characters aid in deconstructing multi-layered realities in the burgeoning nation. Diverse groups such as Ijaw and Ibibio, must all find a way to survive in Biafra in circumstances which take no heed of their personal feelings about the secession.
“There is in this war an urgency about the present that is all-consuming and leaves no room for reflection. The next thing beckons, tugs at you with inviolable hands, until what was only yesterday a great cause of sorrow is relegated today into silence. And even when they speak in the aftermath of a tragic event, a crowd of unsaid things seems to limn behind their words.”
The Vagaries of War
Biafra War protests in London, United Kingdom.©Getty Images [1968]
French filmmaker François Truffaut once opined 'there is no such thing as an anti-war film’. The act of recreating military action into the visual form inherently entails a glorification of conflict. Cinematic productions must have protagonists to engender in audiences some form of fanfare incited by the glorification of violence. In her essay collection Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag considered the utility of imagery depicting human pain and suffering:
‘Heartlessness and amnesia seem to go together. But history gives contradictory signals about the value of remembering in the much longer span of a collective history. There is simply too much injustice in the world. And too much remembering (of ancient grievances) embitters.’
Can Truffault and Sontag’s assertions extend to the written form? Kunle’s mounting disillusionment is reflected in the moments he steps outside survival mode to contemplate the impact fighting has taken on himself and his comrades.
It seems the war has made his mind an impaired eye, able to see things only within a circumscribed space: confined to the present.
Considering the devastating estimated death toll of the Biafran War of up to 1 million people, wherein starvation, malnutrition, and ethnic cleansing were amongst the most frequently cited causes of death. Whether The Road to the Country can be categorised a “war” or “anti-war” novel is arguably inconsequential. There is a visceral, almost voyeuristic depiction of the vagaries of war Obioma compels the reader to partake in. Historical events are often related in impersonal academic or statistical terms: dates, leaders, maps, battle locations... Obioma has a commendable ability to personalise war. The common soldier is no longer rendered faceless nor nameless, they attain the capacity to dream, to cajole, to feel hopeless and hopeful. Obioma permits the reader to feel compassion that is as tangible as the bruitality depicted within his narrative.
The Journey Of A Star
A Star is born under the auspices of a diviner of the Yoruba deity Ifá. Seer Baba Igbala has anticipated this birth in tandem with Kunle’s. As The Road to the Country unravels, is this obscured vision legitimate predestination? Will Kunle survive? Will Kunle perish? Not even The Seer seems certain.
The inciting dispute of ethnic tensions depicted in The Road to the Country is one many Africans readers can identify with. Tragically, tribal tensions and anti-Igbo sentiments were widely reported during the 2023 Nigerian general elections, highlighting the legacy of the Biafran War remains a contemporary concern. That is not to say those from outside of Nigeria or the continent cannot enjoy nor relate to the book. Obioma’s narrative voice and characters are strong enough to breakthrough such barriers.
While I do appreciate the author’s efforts, as the novel progresses the length of the tale does stretch on. The portions relating to The Seer and divinity though interspersed most fascinating me. Albeit there is an inherent self-indulgence in relating visions and prophecies - if they come to pass as predicted does it negate the intrigue of the story?
Undoubtedly a commendable submission from Chigozie Obioma, The Road to the Country is my favourite of his works.
Further Reading On The Nigerian Civil War
Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Sunset In Biafra: A Civil War Diary, Elechi Amadi
Sozaboy, Ken Saro Wiwa
Sunset In Biafra: A Civil War Diary, Elechi Amadi
There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra, Chinua Achebe
Under The Udala Trees, Chinelo Okparanta
Copies of The Road to the Country are available for sale here.
Thank you to Penguin Random House UK for providing Harare Book Club with a reviewer’s copy.
Written by - Tondi Mudambo
