Oil on Water

Name: Oil on Water
Brand: Dreamscape Media
Availability: InStock
Rating: 5 (1 reviews)
Author: Helon Habila
ISBN: 9781611201239

Author: Helon Habila

Narrator: Richard Allen

Unabridged: 8 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC

Published: 05/16/2011

Categories: Fiction, Literary Fiction

Synopsis

In the oil-rich and environmentally devastated Nigerian Delta, a British oil executive's wife has been kidnapped. Two journalists - a young upstart, Rufus, and a once-great, now disillusioned veteran, Zaq - are sent to find her. In a story rich with atmosphere and taut with suspense, Oil on Water explores the conflict between idealism and cynical disillusionment in a journey full of danger and unintended consequences. As they navigate polluted rivers flanked by exploded and dormant oil wells, they must contend with the brutality of both government soldiers and militants. Assailed by irresolvable versions of the 'truth' about the woman's disappearance, dependant on the kindness of strangers of unknowable loyalties, their journalistic objectivity will prove unsustainable, but other values might yet salvage their human dignity.

About Helon Habila

Helon Habila is the author of the novels Waiting for an Angel, Measuring Time, Oil on Water, and Travelers, as well as a nonfiction book, The Chibok Girls. His writing has won numerous awards, including the Caine Prize, the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, and the Windham-Campbell Prize. He is professor of creative writing at George Mason University and lives in Virginia with his wife and three children.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Lena on February 27, 2025

Postcolonial heart of darkness. A meditative journey of the two journalists in search of a kidnapped white woman is more than just a vivid ecological message. While poignantly describing how oil drilling turns beautiful wild nature into an uninhabitable wasteland, the book also reveals hypocrisy and......more

Goodreads review by Trish on April 29, 2014

This novel deserves all the kudos heaped upon it. The clarity of the writing, the construction of the central mystery, the steady buildup of tension, the detailed character development—all are remarkable and accomplished. The story is simple and straightforward, but becomes nail-bitingly tense as th......more

Goodreads review by Marion on July 14, 2024

Erzählt wird die Geschichte zweier Journalisten, Rufus, gerademal 25 Jahre alt, und dem alkoholkranken Zaq. Zusammen machen sie sich auf die Suche nach einer entführten Britin, der Ehefrau eines Ölingenieurs. Rufus ist der Ich-Erzähler dieser Geschichte. Nigeria wird überrannt von den großen Ölgesel......more

Goodreads review by Nancy on April 12, 2013

a stunning novel, one I highly recommend it to people who want to be enlightened about human and environmental conditions in other nations. Maybe some people think it's not cool to be reading fiction about the damage caused by "big, bad corporations" but really, I don't care about opinions -- I want......more

Goodreads review by Makayla on February 26, 2023

I was floored by the honesty of this book — it unveils the scope of how disastrous oil companies are for Nigeria, in both environmental and political ways. You can't read this book without contemplating the impact on humans that such a devastating corporation has. However, as a piece of literature,......more