Title: An Orchestra of Minorities
Author: Obioma, Chigozie
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Pages: 448
Date Read: 08 October 2019
Bookshelves: read, favorites
My Rating (out of 5): ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Let me begin by saying that I am neither a stranger to Obioma nor to his work. In fact, I read his first novel: The Fishermen, a couple of years ago at a time when words meant less than they mean to me now. And even then, I was impressed by the author’s capacity for storytelling. So when I picked up this book, you can understand why I did so with high expectations.
An Orchestra of Minorities (a beautiful, poetic title, I have to say) was a linear read. It was not a story that thrived on the complexity of its characters. At its core, the story was about a poor man, Solomon, who found love with a rich woman, Ndali. But as their love progressed, the reality of their class difference became a problem that would not go away. Solomon eventually sought to bridge this imbalance by acquiring university education in a strange land, and it was here that life dealt him a heavy hand.
A basic plot, perhaps. But plot intricacy is not where this book shines. The magic here is how the author weaves a tapestry of brilliance from a storyline so mundane. In my experience, this is a feat only the most gifted writers can pull off because half the task is getting the reader to completely trust the writer for guidance; and more importantly, to do so in as few pages as possible. Chigozie Obioma understands this delicate game of trust and plays it to perfection on every page in this masterpiece.
Because this story is told by Solomon’s guardian spirit, we are allowed more than an introduction into the beautiful space of Igbo cosmology. i saw the powers and limitations of guardian spirits in the life of their hosts. I also understood from the book that guardian spirits are able to exist for extended periods of time, sometimes spanning centuries as they move from one host to another. This makes them living reference to history and it makes me happy that the author used this avenue to briefly discuss historical events like the trans-atlantic slave trade and the European colonization of Africa.
For a long time, my list of favourite contemporary African writers comprised of mostly women like Yaa Gyasi, Ayobami Adebayo, Tracy Nwabiani and Chimamanda Adichie. Today, I add Chigozie Obioma to this list. And I do this with no shame. No shame at all.