The Famished Road
The Famished Road is a novel by Nigerian author Ben Okri, the first book in a trilogy that continues with "Songs of Enchantment" (1993) and "Infinite Riches" (1998). Published in London in 1991 by Jonathan Cape, the story of "The Famished Road" follows Azaro, an "abiku" or spirit child, living in an unnamed African, most likely Nigerian, city. The novel employs a unique narrative style incorporating the spirit world with the "real" world in what some have classified as Animist Realism. Others have labeled it African Traditional Religion realism, while still others choose simply to call the  novel fantasy literature. The book exploits the belief in the coexistence of the spiritual and material worlds that is a defining aspect of traditional African life. "The Famished Road" was awarded the Man Booker Prize for Fiction for 1991. Background. Okri has spoken of writing the novel during the three years from 1988 that he lived in a Notting Hill flat (rented from publisher friend Margaret Busby): "I brought the first draft of The Famished Road with me and that flat was where I began rewriting it... Something about my writing changed round about that time. I acquired a kind  of tranquillity. I had been striving for something in my tone of voice as a writer — it was there that it finally came together... That flat is also where I wrote the short stories that became Stars of the New Curfew." In the introduction to the 25th-anniversary edition of "The Famished Road", he said: "The novel was written to give myself reasons to live. Often the wonder of living fades from us, obscured by a thousand things. I wanted to look at life afresh and anew and I sought a story that would give me the right vantage point . It is also meant to be a humorous book – from the perspective of the spirits, the deeds and furies of men are tinged with absurdity. Poverty compelled me to break off writing the novel in order to shape another, different book which would help keep me alive. This was a book of short stories and it forced compression on me." Plot synopsis. Azaro is an abiku, or spirit-child, from the ghetto of an unknown city in Africa. He is constantly harassed by his sibling spirits from another world who want him to leave this mortal life and return to  the world of spirits, sending many emissaries to bring him back. Azaro has stubbornly refused to leave this life owing to his love for his mother and father. He is the witness of many happenings in the mortal realm. His father works as a labourer while his mother sells items as a hawker. Madame Koto, the owner of a local bar, asks Azaro to visit her establishment, convinced that he will bring good luck and customers to her bar. Meanwhile, his father prepares to be a boxer after convincing himself and his family that he has a talent to be  a pugilist. Two opposing political parties try to bribe or coerce the residents to vote for them. Legacy. The novel was the inspiration behind the lyrics to Radiohead's single "Street Spirit (Fade Out)".