Praise for Okey Ndibe’s Foreign Gods, Inc.

“Okey Ndibe’s novel is dramatic and wonderfully detailed, and his prose is absolutely beautiful—he’s a deeply generous writer with an excellent ear for dialogue.”      

—Michael Schaub, NPR

“A hard look at the American dream, which seems to be receding further and further into the distance these days.”  

—GQ Magazine

“Captures the character of the intelligent yet deluded Ike, whose trip to Nigeria puts him face to face with the yawning need of nearly everyone he knows. And where there isn’t need, there is greed.”  —The Chicago Tribune

“A morality tale for our time . . . With subtle hints at moral turmoil, a gift for dark humour, and characterization that is perceptive and neatly observed, Ndibe manages to persuade the reader to root for Ike, even as his haphazard plans begin to unravel.” —The Guardian (UK)

“Brims with warmth, vibrancy and color . . . Just about perfect.” —Paste Magazine

“Foreign Gods, Inc. reads like the narrative of a taxi-driving Faust in modern Nigeria and America. With Molière-like humorous debunking of religious hypocrisy and rancid materialism, it teems with characters and situations that make you laugh in order not to cry.” 

—Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, author of Wizard of the Crow

“Foreign Gods, Inc. is a blistering exploration of the contemporary African immigrant experience in America. Ndibe tackles tough questions: from the shifting notions of home and identity to the nature of greed. In prose which is fresh and often funny, Ndibe draws the reader into the heartbreaking story of Ike Uzondu’s attempt to survive in a world which seems determined to crush him.”       
—Chika Unigwe, author of On Black Sisters Street

“A freshly and heartbreakingly recast tale of American immigration, with all its longings, disappointments, effacements and reclamations.”  

—The Cleveland Plain Dealer 

“The best-laid plans often go awry. But they can certainly make for an entertaining read.”  —The New York Post 

“Bitter, sweet, pulpy, and rich in flavor, Okey Ndibe’s second novel Foreign Gods, Inc. reads like the uncracked innards of a strange fruit. Each sentence a carefully crafted, holistic expression of Ndibe’s eloquence, smacks of a master at work.”   —New York Daily News

“Ndibe writes of cultural clash in a moving way that makes Ike’s march toward disaster inexorable and ineffably sad.” 

                —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

“Neither fable nor melodrama, nor what’s crudely niched as ‘world literature,’ the novel traces the story of a painstakingly crafted protagonist and his community caught up in the inescapable allure of success defined in Western terms.”   

—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review