cover image The Reverend’s Apprentice

The Reverend’s Apprentice

David N. Odhiambo, . . Arsenal Pulp, $17.95 (383pp) ISBN 978-1-55152-242-5

The linguistically playful third novel from Odhiambo follows the picaresque adventures of an African grad student in Pennsylvania imperiling his inheritance—and sanity—with lustful exploits. Jonah Ayot, a minister’s son from the African country of Liwani, attends Dingham University and lives with the kindly, upstanding Reverend Tusker, who holds the power of attorney in Jonah’s inheritance. Although Reverend Tusker hopes Jonah will marry Clementine Pinkston, a saintly young woman from the church choir, Jonah takes up with an exotic dancer/prostitute, Babycakes, and hopes to help straighten out her life. Jonah’s internal struggle to do what’s right is undermined by the other characters’ mercenary manipulation of the young man. Everyone has an angle and a plan, it seems, for Jonah’s money. The novel is framed as a “true account” of poor sin-ridden Jonah’s exploits and is a mishmash of experimental writing, camp, coming-of-age and social commentary. It can be both frustrating and invigorating on the same page; readers into edgier, out-there work will want to take a look. (Oct.)