The Reverend's Apprentice

by D. Nandi Odhiambo

A powerful, tragicomic novel about power, culture, and identity politics in contemporary America, as seen through the eyes of an African student. Jonah Ayot is a graduate student from a fictional central African nation, studying in a fictional American city some time after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003; the novel mirrors Jonah’s own struggle as a newcomer to American life, trying to organize his perceptions around an identity that is global rather than parochial.

But those perceptions become muddied in the reality of the new war zone—on American soil, where the foreign becomes familiar, and the familiar is no longer what it used to be.

David N. Odhiambo is a novelist, poet, and playwright and the author of two previous novels, Kipligat’s Chance and Diss/ed Banded Nation. Born in Nairobi, Kenya, he now resides in Honolulu, Hawaii.

384 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

D. Nandi Odhiambo is the author of four novels: Smells Like Stars (Book*hug Press, 2018), The Reverend's Apprentice (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2008), Kipligat's Chance (Penguin Canada, 2003; St. Martin's Press, 2004), and diss/ed banded nation (Polestar Press, 1998). He is the recipient of the 2018 Elliot Cades Award for Literature and serves as a Professor of English at the University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu. His most recent book, The Minoritarian and Black Reason: A Philosophico-Literary Investigation, a work of literary criticism, was published by Lexington Books in 2021. His next novel, Amapiano Eyes, is scheduled for publication by Book*hug Press in Spring 2026.

Reviews

[Eric Shaffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn fine sentences fill this book, and I love sentences, especially those that flare and spangle and make me think about more sentences of equal arc. Most fun was the ongoing argument of the novel with itself as the characters break, the settings reset, and the themes kaleidoscope into jangly patterns that are fun to observe and anticipate. This volume is reading for the pleasure of reading with just the right spice of looking over someone's shoulder and seeing through another's eyes. Enjoy.