“The Famished Road” by Ben Okri: For some readers, this Booker Prize-winning novel was “a long nightmare”

I still plan to finish the last third of this long, prize-winning, novel, but certain, seemingly trivial, omissions have begun to bother me.

The protagonist is a schoolboy. He has often mentioned having gone to school that day. But he is never described as going to and from school. He rarely or never socializes with friends from his neighborhood or school. And there have not been any scenes at his school.

He lives with his mother and father. But I don’t recall any other relatives in the story.

These seemingly trivial omissions are beginning to strike me as bizarre, not magical.

1. Sam Jordison. https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2011/jan/20/booker-club-famished-road