![]() ![]() He has built his faith on the lure of riches in America, of cashing in on the house of wealth that is Foreign Gods, Inc. What Ike fails to see is that he, too, is under a spell. He feels loyalty toward Osuakwu and recalls the stories about Ngene that kept him spellbound as a child, but this connection is undermined by his impending betrayal. Likewise, Ike is quick to ridicule the pastor for exploiting the faith of his mother, and yet his goal is exactly what this pastor wants: to rid the village of its deity. But once in Utonki, his family and friends implore him for money, believing he possesses it because, naturally, he lives in America. Though he has a university degree in economics, with its promise of lucrative employment, businesses won’t give him a chance-mostly, and maddeningly to Ike, because of his accent. Ike is a Nigerian returning to his home country from America, and he belongs to both and neither places. Such rich contradictions are Foreign Gods, Inc.’s strength. When Ike enters this battle, he chooses sides with his uncle, the very person he plans to betray. ![]() ![]() Uncle Osuakwu, meanwhile, presides as chief priest over a different sort of service, holding court in the shrine of the village god, Ngene. Christianity has come to Utonki, and Ike’s mother has become a fervent follower of the new pastor, throwing herself into a God-be-praised hysteria. Ike’s father died over a decade ago, and his mother and sister insist that the main culprit behind his death is Ike’s Uncle Osuakwu. So begins an odyssey from the streets of New York to the village roads of Utonki, where Ike (pronounced Ee-kay) travels to steal the god and contend with the crisis that has split his family. Ike has a god he can sell: Ngene, the god of war from his village. Not to mention the money he promised to send his mother in Nigeria, and the emails from his sister pleading with him to come back to his home village, Utonki.Įnter Foreign Gods, Inc., a store that deals in tribal deities for the affluent, with gods bought and sold for prices that can solve Ike’s problems. Ike Uzondu is desperate: stripped of money by his ex-wife, scraping together a living as a cab driver in New York City, taking relief-too much relief-in whiskey, and falling deeper into a gambling addiction. ![]()
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