'Timely, portentous and powerful, Obioma's second novel confirms his remarkable talent' Independent
'Chigozie Obioma truly is the heir to Chinua Achebe' New York Times Book Review
'A deeply empathetic, complex and gut-wrenchingly human narrative' Nicola Dennis-Benn
'A spectacular artistic leap forwards' Guardian, Eileen Battersby _****___*__*__****____
FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED NOVEL, *THE FISHERMEN*
Umuahia, Nigeria. Chinonso, a young poultry farmer, sees a woman attempting to jump to her death from a highway bridge. Horrified by her recklessness, Chinonso joins her on the roadside and hurls two of his most prized chickens into the water below to demonstrate the severity of the fall. The woman, Ndali, is moved by his sacrifice.
Bonded by this strange night on the bridge, Chinonso and Ndali fall in love. But Ndali is from a wealthy family, and when they officially object to the union because he is uneducated, Chinonso sells most of his possessions to attend a small college in Cyprus. Once in Cyprus, he discovers that all is not what it seems. Furious at a world which continues to relegate him to the sidelines, Chinonso gets further and further away from his dream, from Ndali and the place he called home.
In this contemporary twist of Homer's Odyssey, in the mythic style of the Igbo literary tradition, Chigozie Obioma weaves a heart-wrenching epic about the tension between destiny and determination.
**
Amazon.com Review
An Amazon Best Book of January 2019: In 2015, Nigerian writer Chigozie Obioma’s debut, The Fisherman, was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize and announced the arrival of a talented new author. There is no drop-off in his sophomore effort, An Orchestra of Minorities, about a young farmer who, having fallen in love with a woman from a wealthy family, risks everything to prove his worth. As he did in his first novel, Obioma merges African and western storytelling traditions—in this case, the tale is narrated by the young man’s chi, or guardian spirit, and the story is patterned after The Odyssey—to create a dramatic, character-based novel. Readers will become immersed in his main character Chinonso’s journey, but it will leave them thinking about bigger themes as well—like the balance between self-determination and fate (or luck); and about the capacity for some to take advantage of others, and how that sort of mistreatment gets paid forward. --Chris Schluep, Amazon Book Review
Review
Obioma's novel is electrifying, a meticulously crafted character drama told with emotional intensity.
-- "Publishers Weekly (starred review)"
Will have readers laughing at, angry with, and feeling compassion for a determined hero who endeavors to create his own destiny.
-- "Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"
A multicultural fable that her-alds a new master of magical realism.
-- "BookPage (starred review)"
Obioma overwhelms readers with a visceral sense of Chinonso's humanity, his love, his rage, and his despair as he struggles between fate and self-determination.
Description:
'Timely, portentous and powerful, Obioma's second novel confirms his remarkable talent' Independent
'Chigozie Obioma truly is the heir to Chinua Achebe' New York Times Book Review
'A deeply empathetic, complex and gut-wrenchingly human narrative' Nicola Dennis-Benn
'A spectacular artistic leap forwards' Guardian, Eileen Battersby
_****___*__*__****____
FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED NOVEL, *THE FISHERMEN*
Umuahia, Nigeria. Chinonso, a young poultry farmer, sees a woman attempting to jump to her death from a highway bridge. Horrified by her recklessness, Chinonso joins her on the roadside and hurls two of his most prized chickens into the water below to demonstrate the severity of the fall. The woman, Ndali, is moved by his sacrifice.
Bonded by this strange night on the bridge, Chinonso and Ndali fall in love. But Ndali is from a wealthy family, and when they officially object to the union because he is uneducated, Chinonso sells most of his possessions to attend a small college in Cyprus. Once in Cyprus, he discovers that all is not what it seems. Furious at a world which continues to relegate him to the sidelines, Chinonso gets further and further away from his dream, from Ndali and the place he called home.
In this contemporary twist of Homer's Odyssey, in the mythic style of the Igbo literary tradition, Chigozie Obioma weaves a heart-wrenching epic about the tension between destiny and determination.
**
Amazon.com Review
An Amazon Best Book of January 2019: In 2015, Nigerian writer Chigozie Obioma’s debut, The Fisherman, was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize and announced the arrival of a talented new author. There is no drop-off in his sophomore effort, An Orchestra of Minorities, about a young farmer who, having fallen in love with a woman from a wealthy family, risks everything to prove his worth. As he did in his first novel, Obioma merges African and western storytelling traditions—in this case, the tale is narrated by the young man’s chi, or guardian spirit, and the story is patterned after The Odyssey—to create a dramatic, character-based novel. Readers will become immersed in his main character Chinonso’s journey, but it will leave them thinking about bigger themes as well—like the balance between self-determination and fate (or luck); and about the capacity for some to take advantage of others, and how that sort of mistreatment gets paid forward. --Chris Schluep, Amazon Book Review
Review
Obioma's novel is electrifying, a meticulously crafted character drama told with emotional intensity.
-- "Publishers Weekly (starred review)"
Will have readers laughing at, angry with, and feeling compassion for a determined hero who endeavors to create his own destiny.
-- "Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"
A multicultural fable that her-alds a new master of magical realism.
-- "BookPage (starred review)"
Obioma overwhelms readers with a visceral sense of Chinonso's humanity, his love, his rage, and his despair as he struggles between fate and self-determination.
-- "Library Journal (starred review)"