From the Bookshelf of Diversity in All Forms!…

Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1)

Chinua Achebe

Start date: December 6, 2021

Finish date: December 31, 2021

Discussion: Monthly Group Reads

Why we're reading this: Historical Event and/or Gender Stereotypes:

Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1) by Chinua Achebe
[close] Historical Event and/or Gender Stereotypes:

Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1) by Chinua Achebe

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 74 topics — 1,387 comments total

Monthly Group Reads

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (June 2021)
By Mariah Roze · 7 posts · 65 views

last updated Feb 12, 2024 09:45AM

The Help (March 2023)
By Mariah Roze · 4 posts · 22 views

last updated Mar 06, 2023 09:46AM

showing 1 of 1 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Sep 22, 2017 Kris rated it really liked it

I have not read much African literature, and this was a good introduction. Written partially as a response to Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Things Fall Apart is a simple read, but not an easy one. There is so much cultural difference, and there were things that were painful to try to understand. Okonkwo is not a sympathetic character in many ways, but this book gave me insight into why he was the way he was, while I did not end up loving him, I felt I at least understood him better. Ekwefi was my ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Dec 18, 2007 Krista the Krazy Kataloguer rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-adult-fiction, read-iic, read-classics

In some ways, this was not an easy read. Achebe assumes that the reader has a certain amount of knowledge; for example, what raffia is. Though it did include a glossary in the back, it didn't include all the words I wondered about. Reading this book gave me an idea of what if must be like for people in countries very different from ours to try to read fiction written by American authors. Nevertheless, it was a fascinating book because of its very foreign quality. Achebe depicted a civilization t ...more

1 like · Like · see review

May 01, 2008 Meg - A Bookish Affair rated it liked it

I had been meaning to read this classic for awhile. It's the story of an Ibo tribesman over a large chunk of his lifetime. I enjoyed it because it gave me some insight into a culture that I did not know much about before I read this book. The story and the characters were interesting but it was very hard to keep track of the names of the characters for any except for the main character. ...more

1 like · Like · see review