It took a few decades, but Dangerous Love, the second novel by Ben Okri (Prayer for the Living; The Freedom Artist; The Famished Road), makes its way to American shores. The book began life in 1981 under the title The Landscapes Within; Okri rewrote it in 1996. As he describes in the U.S. edition preface, his goal in writing about the "aftermath of the Nigerian Civil War" was to show "an artist trying to depict, with a single image, the state of the nation." The novel, set in 1970s Lagos, is about Omovo, a young Nigerian man with "a mindless job in a hostile office" who yearns to be an artist. This dream prompts taunts from people like the abusive husband of Ifeyiwa, the woman he secretly loves. The story charts Omovo's journey, from the painting that government officials seize for being reactionary to the sight of a dead girl in a park, an event that proves disturbingly meaningful.
Okri and others have called this novel one of his most accessible. That's a nice way of saying his books grew in complexity as he matured as a writer. It's no surprise, however, that the sophomore effort of a future Booker Prize-winner has a lot going for it. Even early in his career, Okri wrote devastating passages about the horrors of war; and scenes that depict old-fashioned codes of conduct that lead many men to mistreat women are chilling in their effectiveness. The novel isn't perfect, but readers will bask in the opportunity to watch a great writer's development. --Michael Magras, freelance book reviewer