An Orchestra of Minorities
| Category: | Book |
| By (author): | Obioma, Chigozie |
| Subject: | FICTION / Coming of Age |
| FICTION / Cultural Heritage | |
| FICTION / General | |
| FICTION / Literary | |
| Audience: | general/trade |
| Publisher: | Little, Brown and Company |
| Published: | October 2019 |
| Format: | Book-paperback |
| Pages: | 464 |
| Size: | 0.00in x 0.00in |
- Our Price:
- $ 22.99
- Availability:
- Available to order
Additional Notes
| From The Publisher* | A heart-breaking story about a Nigerian poultry farmer who sacrifices everything to win the woman he loves, by Man Booker Finalist and author of The Fishermen, Chigozie Obioma. "It is more than a superb and tragic novel; it's a historical treasure."-- Boston Globe Set on the outskirts of Umuahia, Nigeria and narrated by a chi, or guardian spirit, AN ORCHESTRA OF MINORITIES tells the story of Chinonso, a young poultry farmer whose soul is ignited when he sees a woman attempting to jump from a highway bridge. Horrified by her recklessness, Chinonso joins her on the roadside and hurls two of his prized chickens into the water below to express the severity of such a fall. The woman, Ndali, is stopped her in her tracks. Bonded by this night on the bridge, Chinonso and Ndali fall in love. But Ndali is from a wealthy family and struggles to imagine a future near a chicken coop. When her family objects to the union because he is uneducated, Chinonso sells most of his possessions to attend a college in Cyprus. But when he arrives he discovers there is no place at the school for him, and that he has been utterly duped by the young Nigerian who has made the arrangements.. Penniless, homeless, and furious at a world which continues to relegate him to the sidelines, Chinonso gets further away from his dream, from Ndali and the farm he called home. Spanning continents, traversing the earth and cosmic spaces, and told by a narrator who has lived for hundreds of years, the novel is a contemporary twist of Homer's Odyssey. Written in the mythic style of the Igbo literary tradition, Chigozie Obioma weaves a heart-wrenching epic about destiny and determination. |
| Review Quote* | Named a 'Most Anticipated Book of 2019' by Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, Hello Giggles, PureWow, Literary Hub, and Fast Company Named one of '11 Writers to Watch in 2019' by the Los Angeles Times |
| Review Quote* | "Gorgeously written, with a twist of magical realism and a heavy dose of sad reality, this is your big novel of the winter."-Washington Post |
| Review Quote* | "Transcendent . . . Chigozie Obioma's second novel is a rare treasure: a book that deepens the mystery of the human experience."-David Takami, Seattle Times |
| Review Quote* | "Igbo and Greek mythology are braided into this heartbreaking and utterly unique novel"-Boris Kacka, Vulture |
| Review Quote* | "Obioma's frenetically assured second novel is a spectacular artistic leap forwards . . . [it is] a linguistically flamboyant, fast-moving, fatalistic saga of one man's personal disaster . . . Few contemporary novels achieve the seductive panache of Obioma's heightened language, with its mixture of English, Igbo and colourful African-English phrases, and the startling clarity of the dialogue. The story is extreme; yet its theme is a bid for mercy for that most fragile of creatures - a human" -Eileen Battersby, Guardian |
| Review Quote* | "A mystical epic...confirms his place among a raft of literary stars." -Time |
| Review Quote* | "Obioma writes with an exigent precision that makes AN ORCHESTRA OF MINORITIES feel at once timely and speculative. The novel aches with Chinonso. His triumphs are rare and hard-won. Obioma compels the reader to root for him, to see the poor chicken farmer's story as an epic."-The Atlantic |
| Review Quote* | "It is more than a superb and tragic novel; it's a historical treasure." -Boston Globe |
| Review Quote* | "It's a story as old as the epic."-New York Times Book Review |