An Orchestra of Minorities

Summary

The title of this novel stems from the unique sequence of sounds that birds make in the aftermath of being attacked by a predator. This orchestra is said to be a rendition of the sadness of their fate.

This book narrates the tale of Chinonso Solomon, a semi-illiterate poultry farmer who fell in love with an elite woman he cannot have due to his Educational limitations. In a frantic effort to prove himself worthy, he sold all that he had to secure a university admission in Cyprus. A Series of unfortunate events happened to him in the strange land that estranged him from his lover for years. When he got back to Nigeria, he could not get over the fact that she had moved on with another. In an obsessive fit of self-seeking justice, he committed an act that necessitated his chi to intercede on his behalf before Chukwu(God) and in the midst of the Ancestors.

Style and themes

Although the style followed the footsteps of classical African writers like Achebe, it is still in a class of its own. The narration from the perspective of a higher consciousness that transcends space and time, and yet remains less intrusive as an agent of cause and effect in the life of the host, to me, is where the brilliance of the book emerges. The work is rooted in Igbo ontology and folklore.
Some of the themes explored in the novels are;
The idea of destiny, fate, pre-knowledge, or pre-ordination as seen from Igbo cosmological belief.
Reincarnation of events and things; As depicted in the parallel and metaphoric echoes of Chinonso’s love and loss of the gosling and then of Ndali.

My Take away

I really enjoyed reading this magnificent book. Aside from the multiple layers to the story, what enchanted me the most is how the Author incorporated observation of minute details which on the surface seems not to have any noticeable contribution to the narrative flow but gives more substance to the story. For example, how everything seems to be against Chinoso at the barbershop when he was grooming for his first date. How after telling Ndali what he had done in the effort to go to school, she told him that he has destroyed his life and he responded “I did not destroy my life anything”. It felt like I was right here with them in that fast food restaurant. The part where Nonso was talking to himself in the middle of the night and suddenly realized that he was shouting. He startled himself at his “sudden descend to insanity”. The vehement utterance of the GSM phone card seller; “God punish you” after their anticlimactic sexual experience. These and so much more are what makes the story very immersive for me. I find myself thinking about it when I am away from it. Even though the end of the story left us hanging about the fate of Ndali, I think it is safe to deduce that she finally died. Maybe not immediately but perhaps at the hospital given that that was what happened to the gosling- a clear allegory of Nonso’s life. Also, the undertone of Fate runs through the length of the pages only to become pronounced at the end as “something that has happened a long time ago that he is just noticing”. This I take to be the death of the gosling by the stone hurled from the bitterness of his heart.
Also, I really enjoyed the description of the spirit realm and how the ethereal is teeming with them.
The importance of letting go of resentment and all aspect of revenge is a lesson that is reinforced in this book.
In all, I think it is a work of genius and it deserves not just multiple rereads but prestigious Awards.

Olateru Bobolawal

Bobolawal Olateru is an Electrical Engineer and a Storyteller. He is a committed lover of both the sciences and art and often refers to himself as a ‘Scienartist’.