From the Bookshelf of James Mustich's 1000 Books to Read Before You Die…

Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1)

Chinua Achebe

Start date: November 3, 2024

Finish date: November 30, 2024

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What Members Thought

Feb 21, 2015 Matthew rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017, read-more-than-once, completist-book-club, historical-fiction, library, required-reading-high-school, classic

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

89 likes · Like · see review

May 08, 2018 Bryan--The Bee’s Knees rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: guardian-read, books-i-read-in-2018, boxall-read, audio-edition

I did not expect to like this book, because I made a lot of assumptions about what was in it. What I found instead is the thing I value most in a book, which is its ability to change or adjust my viewpoint.

Achebe is justly famous for this book, though I knew of him first through his comments about Joseph Conrad. And it seems to me that Things Fall Apart is Achebe's effort to fill the gap created by Conrad and other writers; to tell the individual story of a man who would be considered exotic, o I did not expect to like this book, because I made a lot of assumptions about what was in it. What I found instead is the thing I value most in a book, which is its ability to change or adjust my viewpoint.

Achebe is justly famous for this book, though I knew of him first through his comments about Joseph Conrad. And it seems to me that Things Fall Apart is Achebe's effort to fill the gap created by Conrad and other writers; to tell the individual story of a man who would be considered exotic, or savage, or, perhaps worse, merely backdrop and scenery in a novel written by someone in Conrad's position. In this, the novel succeeds fantastically.

Things Fall Apart ends up being a portrait of such a man--Okonkwo--and of his family and clan. Much of the book is a close look at the life in an Ibo village, using Okonkwo's experiences as a fulcrum on which to balance the narrative and the ethnographic detail equally. Since the book spans pre-colonial and colonial periods in Nigeria, many of the details about this way of life are thrown into sharp relief when missionary and colonial authorities confront indigenous ways.

I mentioned before that I had expected certain things from this book (and also that I expected to dislike it)--and the thumbnail description I just gave is not substantially different from what I thought I would find going into the novel. What is different, and what really makes it all work, for me, is the characterization of Okonkwo. Had Achebe made him a martyr or a saint, I may not even have been able to finish the book. It is impossible for me to say that Okonkwo is a good or a bad man--or even a typical one. But he is fully realized, with aspects that I find both disturbing and admirable. There was never a moment when I felt like Achebe was trying to make me like him or his people. He never qualifies or excuses, which made the changes after the missionaries came all the more upsetting.

I thought that Things Fall Apart would be a novel that I was supposed to like but would not. Instead I thought it was excellent.
...more

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Nov 27, 2009 Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance rated it really liked it

Shelves: community, the-great-american-read, must-read

Things Fall Apart is the story of Okonkwo, a powerful man in his village in Africa. He has worked hard to overcome the family image his father ruined with his poor behavior, and he has had many successes in his life, but when he accidentally kills the son of another tribesman, he is punished by being sent away from his village for seven years. Then Christian missionaries arrive, and his entire village suffers an upheaval in cultural belief.

This book is an intriguing story of the way cultures ca ...more

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Feb 14, 2017 Laura rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-20th-century, mtbr-challenge-2017, read-2017, viciados-em-livros, 1000-guardian, e-books, novellas, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, african-literature, nigeria

This is the first book of the The African Trilogy and I really liked it. "Arrow of God" to be read next. ...more

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Aug 20, 2019 Lana rated it liked it · review of another edition

This book was listed in 1’000 Books You Must Read Before You Die so I felt I must read it. It was rather slow, although I did learn of African culture and environment before European colonialism..

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