The Freedom Artist

By Ben Okri

One of 2019's most anticipated novels in THE TIMES, IRISH TIMES and GUARDIAN.

'Where fiction's master of enchantments stares down a real horror, and without blinking or flinching, produces a work of beauty, grace and uncommon power' MARLON JAMES, winner of the Man Booker Prize 2015.

An impassioned plea for freedom and justice, set in a world uncomfortably like our own, by the Man Booker-winner Ben Okri.

In a world uncomfortably like our own, a young woman called Amalantis is arrested for asking a question. Her question is this: Who is the Prisoner?

When Amalantis disappears, her lover Karnak goes looking for her. He searches desperately at first, then with a growing realization. To find Amalantis, he must first understand the meaning of her question.

Karnak's search leads him into a terrifying world of lies, oppression and fear at the heart of which lies the Prison. Then Karnak discovers that he is not the only one looking for the truth.

The Freedom Artist is an impassioned plea for justice and a penetrating examination of how freedom is threatened in a post-truth society. In Ben Okri's most significant novel since the Booker Prize-winning The Famished Road, he delivers a powerful and haunting call to arms.

'Ben Okri is that rare thing, a literary and social visionary, a writer for whom all three – literature, culture and vision – are profoundly interwoven' ALI SMITH.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Feb 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9781788549585

Ben Okri

Ben Okri was born in Minna, Nigeria. His childhood was divided between Nigeria, where he saw first-hand the consequences of war, and London. He has won many awards over the years, including the Booker Prize for Fiction, and is also an acclaimed essayist, playwright, and poet. In 2019 Astonishing the Gods was named as one of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'.

Reviews for The Freedom Artist

[pomo58 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Freedom Artist from Ben Okri is an interesting hybrid of an allegorical novel with parallel stories told with the flow and rhythm of free verse. This is a work that will likely hit or miss with most of the reading public.Like the Wall Street Journal comments, this has a strong link to Plato's Allegory of the Cave as well as a vein of dystopian fiction including The Handmaid's Tale and Fahrenheit 451. Anyone familiar with these will easily see the similarities. The issue will be how well Okri succeeds in his addition to the literature.The writing is, as I have come to expect, quite good. There is a spareness that both propels the narrative while also highlighting the sense of helplessness in the face of an evil regime (similar to the US under the current regime but not nearly so helpless). There is what seems like a lot of repetition but it didn't bother me as much as it did some other readers. I think because I expect repetition in both allegorical work and free verse, so I took it in stride. That said, it is not what we have become accustomed to and can put some readers off.Because of the nature of the work and what Okri is doing politically and socially with the work, characters are going to be less fleshed out since they are there to promote thought and analysis about the big picture rather than simply about the plight of one or two people in that picture. Again, off putting to some but part of the style Okri chose.Of the stories, I personally found more enjoyment, such as it is, in the more abstract story, the one that might, to some eyes, resemble magical realism.This is a quick read (though, like with many such books, I recommend slowing down) and I do believe that it can speak volumes even to those who may not care for the work as a novel. This is not a long slog that you might hope has an important message, this can be a quick think piece. Bracket whatever you have come to expect and even desire in a novel and give this one a chance on its own terms, it will be well worth the effort. Having said that, if you know you don't like works that don't conform to whatever your usual reads do, then maybe this won't appeal to you regardless of the message. Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

[psychomamma · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received an early review copy from Library Thing's Early Reviewers program. This book was not my cup of tea, although I did finish it. The book is basically a fable about society and the ways in which we live unconsciously. I like the idea and the theme, but doing it through a fable just isn't my thing. I didn't and couldn't connect with the characters, and found the tiny short chapters really choppy.

[over.the.edge · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Freedom Artistby Ben Okri2019/2020Akashic Books4.5 / 5.0Thanks to LibraryThing and Akashic Books for sending this ARC.A dystopian novel, set in an un-named city, living in a time where human life and human communication are so censored, societies mindset is that everyone must say they are happy. Complacent and happy, happiness as defined by The Hierarchy. Anyone found not enforcing the forced happiness could be instantly killed. Books have become illegal.The premise is absolutely amazing, mind-bending and incredibly thought provoking. To evoke change, we must start over. We cannot afford to be complacent. We must start asking questions, like, Who Is Really The Prisoner? Upwake! Upstart!Suggested reading.

[banjo123 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This Early Reviewers book is very allegorical and metaphorical, with limited plot. The book centers on the idea that the whole world is a prison, and that people don't exactly know that they are imprisoned. I found it thought-provoking, but not a quick read. It was full of interesting sentences and images:"Not long afterward, on a cold and silent night, a cry was heard. Someone had escaped the prison of the world. The cry announced the extraordinary life beyond. This was not a cry of lamentation, but of exultation. It was heard on the edge of the desert. It was heard once and never again. That one cry was enough to infect the world with unease."

[dianeham · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I agree with many other reviewers- loved it in the beginning but then I lost interest. It just didn't hold my attention. I really wanted to like this book but not so much.

[dreesie-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This novel is a dystopia with two very separate storylines.Karnak, Ruslana, and others live in city. People are screaming at night, the non-screamers are being taken away, and more. Karak's girlfriend has been taken. The city is ruled by the heirarchy, and has been for generations. It is very dystopian but also clearly an allegory for something--sometimes it seems to be referencing the current world (especially the dumbing down of society), but I could never quite figure it out.The second storyline involves the boy Mirababa. After his grandfather's death he is next in line to replace him, and is being trained by the bards. In the end these two stories seem to connect, but I really didn't get it.I've read some reviews of this online, looking for clues, but either no one is dropping spoilers or no one else understands it either.