Review of ‘An Orchestra of Minorities’

(Sidharth Vardhan’s review of

Chigozie Obioma's 'An orchestra of Minorities'

Got nominated for Booker Prize in 2019

Review first written on November 28, 2019

🌟🌟🌟🌟☆ (4 / 5))

It really had an idea of great potential with the concept of narration by Chi - the guardian angel who accompanies all humans according to Igbo mythology. The relation between a Chi and his host could have been really strong - like that of ego and superego, or conscious and unconscious, etc, or even the romantic notion that a person is never really alone. Instead, we have nothing so subtle here. The relationship seemed to built at random. Chi ironically could be eliminated from the story without affecting the events of his host at all because he never really manages to 'guard' him into a better sense.

Chigozie Obioma

Igbo Mythology described in the book though with artistic liberty still formed most of what was best in the book.

The story itself is a love story and not a particularly strong one at that. And Obioma seems to have a bad habit of inserting unnecessary details and explanations which seems to slow the book down and won't let the tension build. Igbo culture has people using proverbs a lot when trying to be eloquent, but there were so many instances when metaphorical examples given by Chi to talk about emotion seemed too obscure and unnecessary. There are little things that Chi says that his listener probably would already have known and so detailing them was neither realistic nor good to the aesthetic of the book. The book could have been cut in half and would have been better for it.

Even the ending though delayed by at least a couple of unnecessary chapters seemed to me inadequate - especially given the fact that story is being narrated as a defense by a Chi and such a defense probably won't end in mid-scene.

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Copyright – Sidharth Vardhan