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taleswithtrix 's review for:
An Orchestra of Minorities
by Chigozie Obioma
The words of Chigozie Obioma in this book flowed so eloquently, however, this book just didn’t do it for me all in all. It’s quite a heavy book emotionally (and physically).
It is told from the perspective of the main character’s chi. For me at times this was really enjoyable and made me really think about human life; one of my favorite lines the Chi says is “A person lives because of the accumulation he comes to know. This is why, when he is alone, when all else has peeled away from him, a man delves into the world within himself.” But other times I felt the chi was rambling and I just wanted to know what was going to happen next in the story, without the chi’s intellectual commentary.
I really loved how intertwined the title was throughout the book. Usually there’s one moment in a book when you have that aha moment of that’s where the title came from, but this was sooo much more than that. I won’t spoil it but it relates to so many different aspects within the book...Chinonso’s farm animals, the division between poor/rich/social classes, unwarranted and unexpected loss of people close to you, etc.
Speaking of loss, this book is truly about love and sacrifice. The rollercoaster that is life is overly exaggerated in my opinion but it is a fiction novel. I did enjoy a few unexpected turns that I did not at all see coming in the story, but I felt some things were too dramatic and unnecessary.
Since about one third of the story takes place in Cyprus, I was feeling nostalgic at times which I love when books bring about. I studied abroad in Cyprus and lived there for a few months! Although most of this takes place in the North and I was in the South, and only visited the north several times, Chigozie hit the nail on the head in his descriptions. (Except for that he said they were punctual people..maybe in the North it’s different, but Greek Cypriots always show up about 20-30 minutes late.) Regardless, I hope that other readers being exposed to Cypriot history and culture would want to learn more about such an interesting and divided country from Chigozie’s words.
A major pitfall for me is that part one of three in the book just seemed excessively long. The book is almost 450 pages as it is and although many book beginnings need to have a lot of detail to really understand a character and their history, I felt certain parts were unnecessary and I had to really push myself to keep reading.
My last pitfall was that Chinonso called Ndali Mommy. She also thought this was weird since she was his love and I know it meant she was very important to him, but it really bothered me for some reason!
In the end there were things I really did love about this book but it wasn’t a real page turner for me.
It is told from the perspective of the main character’s chi. For me at times this was really enjoyable and made me really think about human life; one of my favorite lines the Chi says is “A person lives because of the accumulation he comes to know. This is why, when he is alone, when all else has peeled away from him, a man delves into the world within himself.” But other times I felt the chi was rambling and I just wanted to know what was going to happen next in the story, without the chi’s intellectual commentary.
I really loved how intertwined the title was throughout the book. Usually there’s one moment in a book when you have that aha moment of that’s where the title came from, but this was sooo much more than that. I won’t spoil it but it relates to so many different aspects within the book...Chinonso’s farm animals, the division between poor/rich/social classes, unwarranted and unexpected loss of people close to you, etc.
Speaking of loss, this book is truly about love and sacrifice. The rollercoaster that is life is overly exaggerated in my opinion but it is a fiction novel. I did enjoy a few unexpected turns that I did not at all see coming in the story, but I felt some things were too dramatic and unnecessary.
Since about one third of the story takes place in Cyprus, I was feeling nostalgic at times which I love when books bring about. I studied abroad in Cyprus and lived there for a few months! Although most of this takes place in the North and I was in the South, and only visited the north several times, Chigozie hit the nail on the head in his descriptions. (Except for that he said they were punctual people..maybe in the North it’s different, but Greek Cypriots always show up about 20-30 minutes late.) Regardless, I hope that other readers being exposed to Cypriot history and culture would want to learn more about such an interesting and divided country from Chigozie’s words.
A major pitfall for me is that part one of three in the book just seemed excessively long. The book is almost 450 pages as it is and although many book beginnings need to have a lot of detail to really understand a character and their history, I felt certain parts were unnecessary and I had to really push myself to keep reading.
My last pitfall was that Chinonso called Ndali Mommy. She also thought this was weird since she was his love and I know it meant she was very important to him, but it really bothered me for some reason!
In the end there were things I really did love about this book but it wasn’t a real page turner for me.