Product Description

This is a story for all ages, set in a time and place best known to lovers of fairytales and myths. It is a modern fable, a way of understanding who we are now and how our search for identity affects our perceptions and actions, shot through with the gentle magic of Ben Okri's imaginative prose. 'Astonishing the Gods is properly worked and exact, and fulfils Calvino's prescription for lightness - being like a bird rather than a feather' New Statesman & Society

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #308706 in Books
• Published on: 1999-07-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 158 pages

About the Author
Ben Okri was born in Nigeria and now lives in London. He has published fiction (short stories and novels), poetry and essays. He has won numerous prizes for his work.

Customer Reviews

Understaning Comes Beyond Trying
This book is not just the story of a boy's voyage to an enchanted and magical land; it is in essence a journey of the soul to self discovery. Human condition by its very nature seeks always to desire more, and through our own desire we suffer. We journey towards perfection without any hope of reaching it. Happy are those who are still, and to whom things come.

Ben Okri has that rare ability to give silence a melody; colours a warmth; air a fragrance and invisibility a radiance. Written with the charm of a fairytale, yet full of paradoxes and philosophical illusions. The power of this book owes much to the exuberant and poetic text; further refined by its Borgesian style. Reading this book is like wandering through the spacious fields of time until happening upon the discovery that time remains still. Everything else changes. The truth lies within us all - yet how many see it? Stop looking, for then we shall see; stop thinking, for then we shall comprehend; stop trying to make sense of things for then we shall find the truest grace. Understanding comes beyond trying. When you stop inventing reality you see things as they really are.

Read this book to regenerate your dreams and tune into the secrets of wisdom.

Another captivating novel from Okri
I was hooked from the first line that Okri wrote. The book follows one man's search for visibility on a mystical island, you travel with him through the city and onwards to his final destination. A well written novel that i found hard to put down, but could also pick up and read anytime. Okri weaves a wonderful tale full of emotion and courage in a search for visiblity and life.

Can't help the comparisons to Garcia Marquez
This book is fantastic. I've been a fan of Ben Okri's for a while, but this one is awesome. Both in the fantastic and soaring imagery and the use of language. I see a Nobel Prize in this man's future. Buy it, read it, and best of all, give it.