The Last Pagan

This is a very fine book. I read it soon after reading Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart." And like that amazing novel, "The Last Pagan" vividly describes life in Africa while also exploring critical issues of religion, society, corporate greed, corruption, and environmental destruction. Rich in detail and description, this book paints an evocative portrait of life in the village of Oguta mostly through the eyes of a young character, Onyije, who struggles to reconcile his more urban, Christian upbringing in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, with a more tribal Oguta lifestyle that still practices "pagan" ancestor worship - to a diminishing degree. As Plato did, the author uses the simple device of having his characters question and debate the book's major themes through dialogue and discussion (and sometimes in dreams). He does so with a very generous and loving writing spirit. I gained a lot of insight reading this book and was transported to a world rather foreign to me. For that I am grateful. Review by Joseph Kaminski.