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ყველაფერი ნაცარტუტად იქცევა ბოლოს
(The African Trilogy #1)
by
„ყველაფერი ნაცარტუტად იქცევა ბოლოს“ ეპოქალური ნიგერიელი მწერლის, ჩინუა აჩებეს მიერ ინგლისურ ენაზე შექმნილი უმნიშვნელოვანესი რომანია, რომელსაც მთელ მსოფლიოში დიდი აღიარება ხვდა წილად. ეს ნაწარმოები დღემდე აუცილებელ სასწავლო ტექსტადაა მიჩნეული როგორც აფრიკის კონტინენტის, ისე ინგლისურენოვანი ქვეყნების სკოლებსა და უნივერსიტეტებში. წიგნი თარგმნილია ორმოცდაჩვიდმეტ ენაზე და ამ დრ
...more
Paperback, 229 pages
Published
December 19th 2018
by ინტელექტი
(first published 1958)
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Start your review of ყველაფერი ნაცარტუტად იქცევა ბოლოს

“The drums were still beating, persistent and unchanging. Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village. It was like the pulsation of its heart. It throbbed in the air, in the sunshine, and even in the trees, and filled the village with excitement.” - Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart
This is a book of many contrasts; colonialism and traditional culture, animism and Christianity, the masculine and the feminine, and the ignorant and the aware (although who is who depends on who ...more
This is a book of many contrasts; colonialism and traditional culture, animism and Christianity, the masculine and the feminine, and the ignorant and the aware (although who is who depends on who ...more

My son and I had a long talk about this novel the other day, after he finished reading it for an English class.
Over the course of the study unit, we had been talking about Chinua Achebe's fabulous juxtaposition of different layers of society, both within Okonkwo's tribe, and within the colonialist community. We had been reflecting on aspects of the tribe that we found hard to understand, being foreign and against certain human rights we take for granted, most notably parts of the strict hierarc ...more
Over the course of the study unit, we had been talking about Chinua Achebe's fabulous juxtaposition of different layers of society, both within Okonkwo's tribe, and within the colonialist community. We had been reflecting on aspects of the tribe that we found hard to understand, being foreign and against certain human rights we take for granted, most notably parts of the strict hierarc ...more

This review is now on my blog: https://www.skylarb.com/single-post/2...
...more

Achebe’s protagonist isn’t a very nice man. In reality he is an asshole. I don’t like him. I don’t think anyone really does. He is ruthless and unsympathetic to his fellow man. He grew up in a warrior’s culture; the only way to be successful was to be completely uncompromising and remorseless. His father was weak and worthless, according to him, so he approached life with an unshakable will to conquer it with his overbearing masculinity.
”When Unoka died he had taken no title at all and he was h ...more
”When Unoka died he had taken no title at all and he was h ...more

In this classic tale Okonkwo is a strong man in his village, and in his region of nine villages. At age 18 he beat the reigning wrestling champion and has been an industrious worker all his life, a reaction to his lazy, drunkard father. He lives his life within the cultural confines of his limited world, following the laws that govern his society, accepting the religious faith of his surroundings, acting on both, even when those actions would seem, to us in the modern west, an abomination. While
...more

Written in 1958, this is the classic African novel about how colonialism impacted and undermined traditional African culture. It’s set among the Igbo people of Nigeria (aka Ibos). A key phrase is found late in the book: “He [the white man] has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.” Wiki calls the book the most widely read book in modern African literature.
The main character is a strong man, the village wrestling champion. He has three wives and many children, ...more
The main character is a strong man, the village wrestling champion. He has three wives and many children, ...more

How to attempt a balanced review of Things Fall Apart:
1. The book is serious. Themes and issues dealt in the book are far more serious than many other books written by the contemporary authors of Achebe.
2. The colonial abstract takes an altogether different turn as Achebe explores that colonisers not only colonised the land and properties but also the minds and hearts of the native people.
3. Racism has been dealt very aptly and also religious hypocrisy - different churches for the people who ...more
1. The book is serious. Themes and issues dealt in the book are far more serious than many other books written by the contemporary authors of Achebe.
2. The colonial abstract takes an altogether different turn as Achebe explores that colonisers not only colonised the land and properties but also the minds and hearts of the native people.
3. Racism has been dealt very aptly and also religious hypocrisy - different churches for the people who ...more

The act of writing is strangely powerful, almost magical: to take ideas and put them into a lasting, physical form that can persist outside of the mind. For a culture without a written tradition, a libraries are not great structures of stone full of objects--instead, stories are curated within flesh, locked up in a cage of bone. To know the story, you must go to the storyteller. In order for that story to persist through time, it must be retold and rememorized by successive generations.
A book, s ...more
A book, s ...more

I read this novel in an almost constant state of rage. First of all, I disliked the main character for his behavior. In our modern society his husband and parenting skills would be considered appalling. I know, I know, the guy was a member of an Nigerian tribe some time ago but the abuse of women and the psychological scarring of children does not sit well with me. Later, the Christian missionaries appeared and the rage scale went to the roof.
The novel is the story of Okonkwo and his tribe befo ...more
The novel is the story of Okonkwo and his tribe befo ...more

Okonkwo achieved success at an early age .. 18, the wrestling champ of his tribe the Ibo in colonial Nigeria, fame did not bring riches the hard work on his farm accomplished that . His lazy flute playing father Unoka embarrasses him, neglects his wives and children (the son Okonkwo determines never to be poor) dying with a vast amount of debts . He on the other hand becomes an important
man in the village marries three women, having numerous children, however times are changing a new religion ...more
man in the village marries three women, having numerous children, however times are changing a new religion ...more

Sep 10, 2014
Barry Pierce
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
20th-century,
read-in-2014
Y'know when you read a novel that is just so stark and bare and depraved that you know it's going to stay with you for a very long time? Yep, it's happened guys. It's happened. This novel ruined me. Ugh it's so great and so horrible. It's what Yeats would describe as a "terrible beauty". Read it, let it wreck you, and bathe in its importance.
...more

I 'finally' read this book - the 50th Anniversary Edition- THANK YOU for the book Loretta!!! I'm sorry it took me so long to read it!!!!
Interesting timing for me, too, having just read "NW" by Zadie Smith, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie- and a couple of
James Baldwin books recently---plus, yesterday was Martin Luther King's day.
African identity, nationalism, decolonization, racism, sexism, competing cultural systems, languages -and dialogue, social political issues have been in my space!!
I didn't kn ...more
Interesting timing for me, too, having just read "NW" by Zadie Smith, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie- and a couple of
James Baldwin books recently---plus, yesterday was Martin Luther King's day.
African identity, nationalism, decolonization, racism, sexism, competing cultural systems, languages -and dialogue, social political issues have been in my space!!
I didn't kn ...more

472. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
Things Fall Apart is a novel written by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. Published in 1958.
Its story chronicles the pre-colonial life in Nigeria and the arrival of the Europeans during the late nineteenth century.
It is seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, one of the first to receive global critical acclaim. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and is widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. The titl ...more
Things Fall Apart is a novel written by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. Published in 1958.
Its story chronicles the pre-colonial life in Nigeria and the arrival of the Europeans during the late nineteenth century.
It is seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, one of the first to receive global critical acclaim. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and is widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. The titl ...more

4 Stars from what I remembered from reading this in high school
3 Stars from rereading it now
This book is a classic that is on a lot of required reading lists. I can understand that as it gives a fictional glimpse into the Westernization of Africa. A topic like this is very heavy, controversial, and important – because of this, a tale in this genre is going to have a big impact and will easily make its way to must read status.
When I read it in high school, I think I enjoyed it more than now becau ...more
3 Stars from rereading it now
This book is a classic that is on a lot of required reading lists. I can understand that as it gives a fictional glimpse into the Westernization of Africa. A topic like this is very heavy, controversial, and important – because of this, a tale in this genre is going to have a big impact and will easily make its way to must read status.
When I read it in high school, I think I enjoyed it more than now becau ...more

1959. Love it or hate it, Achebe's tale of a flawed tribal patriarch is a powerful and important contribution to twentieth century literature.
Think back to 1959. Liberation from colonial masters had not yet swept the African continent when this book appeared, but the pressures were building. The US civil rights movement had not yet erupted, but the forces were in motion. Communism and capitalism were fighting a pitched battle for control of hearts and minds, for bodies and land, around the world ...more
Think back to 1959. Liberation from colonial masters had not yet swept the African continent when this book appeared, but the pressures were building. The US civil rights movement had not yet erupted, but the forces were in motion. Communism and capitalism were fighting a pitched battle for control of hearts and minds, for bodies and land, around the world ...more

A real tour de force; but a plain tale simply told. Achebe illustrates and explains rather than judges and provides a moving and very human story of change and disintegration. Set in Nigeria in the nineteenth century it tells the story of Okonkwo and his family and community. He is a man tied to his culture and tradition and fighting to be different to his father. He is strong and proud and unable to show his feelings. His courage and rashness get him into trouble with his community and traditio
...more

Maybe the best thing about Achebe's, Things Fall Apart, is that it give us a look at African culture from the inside, from their perspective, how they viewed the world around them and their place in it. Most of the African novels I've read give the outside view, the colonial or Christian view, which unfairly judges a people and a culture they couldn't possibly understand.
The story is set in the Nigerian village of Umuofia in the late 1800's. Since their culture is based on history and tradition, ...more
The story is set in the Nigerian village of Umuofia in the late 1800's. Since their culture is based on history and tradition, ...more

Achebe's classic is a quick and interesting read albeit with a depressingly realistic end. My curiosity will most likely lead me to more of his work and I enjoyed the narrative style. The ambiguities of cultural clash with an obvious misbalance of power and the two different kinda of brutality in the conflict were thought-provoking and painful to read because they were surely even worse in real life.
...more

Sep 05, 2016
Whitney Atkinson
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-in-2016,
for-class
I really enjoyed this book! It was the first book we read in my contemporary world literature class and it stirred some really good discussion. I'm all about any conversation in which I can discuss dismantling the patriarchy, and this book definitely dealt a lot with sexism, which is a topic I find infuriating yet interesting. The writing style was simple and quick to read, and although there wasn't an abundance of imagery, some of the similes/comparisons were really pretty! I thought this was a
...more

I wondered for a while why this book felt more like a fieldwork than a guided mind tour, but the answer is obvious. It lays in the fact that the novel has little of that character building I'm used from reading mainly Western literature. The surroundings are not put in the background to serve only as a reflection of one's thought process, but form an organism of its own. Here, in the middle of an African village on the verge of white people's arrival, the rhythm of living is dictated by weather,
...more

Feb 18, 2013
Roy Lotz
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
novels-novellas-short-stories,
africana
In a word, I disliked this book. But before my criticisms I should start with some positives.
Achebe is a solid writer. As a result, Things Fall Apart is never painful to read—at least in terms of prose. And it must be said that there are occasional moments in this book which are very strong. Achebe has a talent for vignettes, and there are a few episodes in this book that are exciting, engaging, and stay with you.
Yet if Achebe is good at vignettes, he is a weak storyteller. This book hardly ...more
Achebe is a solid writer. As a result, Things Fall Apart is never painful to read—at least in terms of prose. And it must be said that there are occasional moments in this book which are very strong. Achebe has a talent for vignettes, and there are a few episodes in this book that are exciting, engaging, and stay with you.
Yet if Achebe is good at vignettes, he is a weak storyteller. This book hardly ...more

Apr 23, 2010
Lisa (Harmonybites)
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Everyone
I found this a smooth, good read. Absorbing, well-paced, engrossing and not at all long--novella length. Sad to say, I don't as a rule expect good reads in those books upheld as modern classics, but this pulled me in. Someone who saw me reading it told me they found the style "Romper Room" and some reviews seem to echo that. I didn't feel that way. I'd call the style "spare"--which befits a writer who when asked which writers he admired and who influenced him named Hemingway along with Conrad an
...more

Chinua Achebe’s archetypal 1958 novel about the cultural life in Nigeria before and after western colonization is a study in contrasting themes.
Coming from my 20th-21st century western perspective who considers Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness one of his favorite works and a template of western literature, I wanted to read Achebe’s work to see many of the same themes Conrad observed but from the native’s viewpoint.
Set in the fictional Nigerian village of Umuofia, Achebe’s protagonist, Okonkwo, ...more
Coming from my 20th-21st century western perspective who considers Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness one of his favorite works and a template of western literature, I wanted to read Achebe’s work to see many of the same themes Conrad observed but from the native’s viewpoint.
Set in the fictional Nigerian village of Umuofia, Achebe’s protagonist, Okonkwo, ...more

Aug 22, 2011
Darwin8u
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2012,
1001-ante-mortem
“There is no story that is not true.”
― Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

Achebe's Magnum Opus is one of those 'essential novels' where one can see its greatness while at the same moment understand that part of its strength lies not in anything the novel itself ever does, but in the place the novel holds in time and place. If 'Things Fall Apart' were written 40 years earlier it would have probably been ignored both in Africa and the West.
If it had been written 40 years later, it would have been s ...more
― Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

Achebe's Magnum Opus is one of those 'essential novels' where one can see its greatness while at the same moment understand that part of its strength lies not in anything the novel itself ever does, but in the place the novel holds in time and place. If 'Things Fall Apart' were written 40 years earlier it would have probably been ignored both in Africa and the West.
If it had been written 40 years later, it would have been s ...more

I had said earlier in one of my former reviews, about how if a certain character is not overwhelmed by the plot-theme of a script and stands out on its own potency becoming more memorable than the story itself, the book is worth applauding and so is the author for its creation. When one reads Things Fall Apart, amongst its vast documentary of Igbo culture of the southeastern part of Nigeria; a man named Okonkwo shines not for his tragic fate but for the man he turned out to be due to his wither
...more

If you have been looking for a book condemning colonialism and toxic masculinity all in one go, look no more, because those are the two forces destroying the main character of ‘Things Fall Apart’; one from the outside, the other one from the inside.
I loved this book. Probably because I never had to read it at school, way before I would’ve been ready (full disclosure: I don’t think I was one of those really mature teenagers, smart-alecky sure, but not mature.) I don’t know what I was even doing ...more
I loved this book. Probably because I never had to read it at school, way before I would’ve been ready (full disclosure: I don’t think I was one of those really mature teenagers, smart-alecky sure, but not mature.) I don’t know what I was even doing ...more

Sep 15, 2008
booklady
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommended to booklady by:
Skylar
Shelves:
2008,
adventure,
classic,
fiction,
historical-fiction,
worth-reading-over-and-over,
literature
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold” is from Yeats's poem "The Second Coming". Fifty years after Chinua Achebe wrote this deceptively simple Nigerian tragedy, Things Fall Apart has never been out of print. It's hailed as Africa's best known work of literature and I can easily see why.
At the heart of the story is a strong man, Okonkwo, with an overwhelming need to prove himself--to himself and his tribe; he must overcome the bad reputation of his drunkard ne'er-do-well father. Although Oko ...more
At the heart of the story is a strong man, Okonkwo, with an overwhelming need to prove himself--to himself and his tribe; he must overcome the bad reputation of his drunkard ne'er-do-well father. Although Oko ...more

10/10 Best Book for finding out who you know who's read this and is a racist.
...more

Oct 23, 2009
Mark
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Mark by:
Book-club
Whenever I buy a book for someone as a gift I always include a bookmark, its one of those things I inherited from my parents. As a result of which, whenever I see some nice or quirky or unusual bookmarks I buy them.
A few years ago I bought about ten long metal markers on which were engraved the 50 books one 'ought to have read'. Looking down the list I saw this one and ticked it off as one I had read, though I didn't remember it very well. Then a few months ago my book-club opted to read it. As ...more
A few years ago I bought about ten long metal markers on which were engraved the 50 books one 'ought to have read'. Looking down the list I saw this one and ticked it off as one I had read, though I didn't remember it very well. Then a few months ago my book-club opted to read it. As ...more

Tyrants attract greater tyrants. It's impossible for me to care about a bunch of self-aggrandizing assholes who sell their daughters and beat their wives.
...more
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What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Older book . Brown cover with face. Biography. Author initials CO or CA. [s] | 5 | 27 | Nov 28, 2019 01:13PM | |
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Chinua Achebe was a novelist, poet, professor at Brown University and critic. He is best known for his first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), which is the most widely read book in modern African literature.
Raised by Christian parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria, Achebe excelled at school and won a scholarship for undergraduate studies. He became fascinated with world religion ...more
Raised by Christian parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria, Achebe excelled at school and won a scholarship for undergraduate studies. He became fascinated with world religion ...more
Other books in the series
The African Trilogy
(3 books)
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Kerine Wint is a software engineering graduate with more love for books than for computers. As an avid reader, writer, and fan of all things...
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“The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”
—
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“There is no story that is not true, [...] The world has no end, and what is good among one people is an abomination with others.”
—
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