"A writer's task is not merely to describe the world but to deepen our way of seeing it." — Ben Okri

"Writing is a way of paying attention to life."

What if by sheer repetition we become the person we most often pretend to be? Does that mean there is no authentic self? Are we made of habits, compressed by time, like layered rocks?

The Famished Road is essentially a novel about the spirit child, Azaro (the main character of the novel). In Nigerian, a spirit child is known as Abiku. This is a child that keeps on being born, dying, and born again. So it is a cyclical child, that does not like reality/existence. The child does not like reality because it sees reality as being very difficult, filled with suffering and pain. Abiku comes from the world of spirit, which is a land of light, joy, rainbow, possibilities, and freedom. A place of eternities, silence, and music. Therefore, if they have this other land why would spirit children want to come into reality to suffer pain, bereavement, and mourning. They do not like this world. However, Azaro is a unique kind of hero because in having a choice between eternity and mortality, he chooses mortality. So here is a child that could live a more beautiful existence but chose this difficult one. Azaro not only choose to live but to be born into a poor family that experiences a great deal of suffering! The hardest possible life.