Foreign Gods Inc. tells the tale of Ike, an over-educated middle-aged Nigerian man who drives a taxi in New York, loathes and adores America in the same breath and has decided -- in an attempt to alleviate the debt he has incurred over the years, especially after a bitter divorce -- to steal a war deity from his home town in Nigeria and sell it to a gallery for a handsome price.
I found the novel dry and sluggish. Ndibe's writing style is tedious, drawn-out, almost too detailed; often times one scene lasts several chapters, making it pedantic and tiresome. The plot took so long to pick up and when it finally did I was ready to put the book down, out of boredom, especially because I disliked the protagonist, who I found mean-spirited and pathetic.
Honestly, I don't know what all the hype about this book is.