(ThyBlackMan.com) The art of storytelling is ever changing and evolving. Avid readers, and writers, are always looking for new ways to experience a story. Whether we realize it, or not, we don’t just read to get away or be entertained. We read to work out the chaos & confusion of life without looking at self directly. Ben Okri re-defines how he look at storytelling and its effect on the reader in his book, “Astonishing the Gods”. This book is finally making to the Unites States after having been available for over thirty years in the United Kingdom. Upon reading this book, which could be taken as a fantasy fiction for young reads, one can begin to contemplate the middle passage, slavery, or the state of visibility and invisibility being Black in America. However, the revelation could be simpler.
“Behind this novel, which seems clear and innocent, there is an abyss. The best disguise for an abyss is beauty. It is perhaps why works of beauty haunt us. They hint at something too troubling to face. With the veneer of beauty, they bypass our minds and work at the deepest levels of our beings in ways unknown to us.”
“Astonishing The Gods” will be introduced to a new audience, and it will be interesting to see how it’s received. I admit reading this book was refreshing because it was different in narrative, and layout, then most books I’ve encountered. Furthermore, while the imagery is absolutely beautiful, and the words create a world that is pure magic, I was left pondering not only the fate of the main character but of myself. This is the kind of story that can force one, through the main character, to question exactly how authentic are you to self. What do you really want? More importantly, what is the cost of knowledge…of knowing mentally and in oneself?
“The hero of this novel finds what he did not seek and goes where he did not intend to go. As I did writing it, I set out to find one thing, but found another. Maybe what seeks us is better than what we seek. Maybe accidental discoveries constitute the magic heart of creativity.”
This book would be wonderful as a bedtime story, if you want to return to the read before bed routine, or for a book club. It would be great to see teachers introduce the book in classrooms where the theme of invisibility and visibility can be expounded on with students. The bottom line is this book is simply amazing for so many reasons. This is a book I will read with my children and share with as many in our family as possible.
“I am travelling to know why I am invisible. My quest is for the secret of visibility.”
Growing up in America I have often wondered why must black people endure an existence that renders us both invisible and visible? Mind you, the visible was often negative. Reading the book gave me a different perspective on invisibility that I never anticipated. As more read this book, they just may find themselves facing themselves, and that is just a beginning.
“Astonishing The Gods” can be found at your local bookstore, Amazon, and anywhere books are sold.
Staff Writer; Christian Starr
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