From a disciple of the late Chinua Achebe comes a masterful and
universally acclaimed novel that is at once a taut, literary thriller
and an indictment of greed's power to subsume all things, including the
sacred.
Foreign Gods, Inc., tells the story of Ike, a New York-based Nigerian
cab driver who sets out to steal the statue of an ancient war deity from
his home village and sell it to a New York gallery.
Ike's plan is fueled by desperation. Despite a degree in economics from
a major American college, his strong accent has barred him from the
corporate world. Forced to eke out a living as a cab driver, he is
unable to manage the emotional and material needs of a temperamental
African American bride and a widowed mother demanding financial support.
When he turns to gambling, his mounting losses compound his woes.
And so he travels back to Nigeria to steal the statue, where he has to
deal with old friends, family, and a mounting conflict between those in
the village who worship the deity, and those who practice Christianity.
A meditation on the dreams, promises and frustrations of the immigrant
life in America; the nature and impact of religious conflicts; an
examination of the ways in which modern culture creates or heightens
infatuation with the exotic, including the desire to own strange objects
and hanker after ineffable illusions; and an exploration of the shifting
nature of memory, Foreign Gods is a brilliant work of fiction that
illuminates our globally interconnected world like no other.
