A review by faintgirl
Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe

3.0

It's about 15 years late, but we just got round to watching the Sopranos after all these years. Bizarrely, this was good companion viewing for reading Arrow of God. In both we have aging Patriarchs coming to terms with their own mortality, while trying to bring up their families traditionally in the face of a rapidly changing world. Tony is head of one of the five families, while Ezuela is the Chief Priest of the Six Villages. People all around them are disregarding their heritage, welcoming the new (The Russians, drug dealing vs the White Man and Christianity) and disrespecting the old. After months of minor turmoil, Ezuela tries to pull off one grand final coup, and ends up losing almost everything. Does the same happen to Tony? (I don't know yet, sssh, though I know what happens, I don't know how!). While Ezuela is a little less of an anti hero than Tony, you get the impression he's done some things that would be seen as pretty nasty in the name of Ulu over his lifetime.

I enjoyed Arrow Of God perhaps more than I would have done given this helpful timing.