Things Fall Apart: A Novel

This is a transcendant book about the culture, mores, and primitively beautiful ways of a place and people most of us will never get a chance to experience first-hand. The prose is terse and close, but worlds of emotion -- agony, love and surprise -- shine through at every turn. Above all, perhaps, the story is wildly interesting.

I know this is the classic debate of all time when it comes to literature: Is it about beautifully written prose (THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE, incidentally, is a good example of this problem) or does it tell a compelling story? (yet the prose itself is not its strong point).

It seems that many works of fiction these days are of the former and unfortunately, not enough of the latter. I recently re-read this book along with another classic, JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN, after a discussion I had with a friend about this very subject. As a middle-aged person, I often look back at the books that made a difference in my life and much of the time, it's not about the author's writing style. Achebe's is a plain, straightforward style, but it's what he is conveying that is so striking about this story. (I am a bit miffed at the "English" teachers and the like who are downing this book!) Bottom line: I was left with a lasting impression that stayed with me. I can't say that many books do this today.

All I can say is pick up this read and decide for yourselves. Bottom line, this story is just as relevant today as it was so many years ago when it first appeared. These issues are universal and the world today is replete with similar conflicts. It's unfortunate to have to go back in time to find classic works of fiction, but sometimes there are exceptions. Check out--SIM0N LAZARUS, a word of mouth wonder more should know about.

This was the absolute WORST book I've ever read in my life. My English teacher made me read it over the summer and I hated it. It's this boring hard to understand book about this guy in Nigeria just livin' his life. Then he accedentally kills this kid and is sent into excile for seven years. These people come from Europe trying to make the people more civilized and become Christians. So this guy gets mad when he comes back from exile. While they were at a meeting trying to figure out what to do, a messenger comes and the guy gets mad and shoots him. Then he goes home and hangs himself. All of that happens in the three hundred pages. It was an awful book and I would not suggest it to anyone. I wish I could give it no stars. Yeah, it was that bad.

This is probably the worst book I've ever read. It's very difficult to follow and leaves out much which could explain to the uninitiate the point of the book. As someone who has read thousands of books (literally!), I found this one stilted and forced, unreadable, pointless, unpleasant, poor character development, etc. ad nauseum. The only reason I read it is that I couldn't believe my 8th grader when he said the teacher who assigned it said it was a bad book (and, yes, she assigned it anyway!). It is an excellent example of how not to write a book you want people to read. Avoid this one like the plague, unless you've read every other book on the face of the planet.

Chinua Achebe is an accomplished Nigerian writer. "Things Fall Apart" is reputed by Wikipedia to be the most widely read book in modern African literature and has made Achebe the most widely translated African writer of all time.

The book deals with the impact of a foreign culture (the British Empire expanding into Nigeria) on the traditional ways of life and tribal beliefs of the Ibo people of Nigeria. History tells us who inevitably won that "clash of civilisations".

In the book the destruction of a tribal community comes at the hands of well-meaning, but fundamentally arrogant, Christian missionaries, supported by the "civilising mission" of government officials.

Many of the old Ibo beliefs and customs (at least as described by Achebe) were violent and superstitious. The superstition should be no problem for any objective reader - after all, it is simply a different form of spiritual belief to that which most Western readers will be used to, no worse and no better than any of the major religions, just different.

Unfortunately for the Ibo, it was these very beliefs that the christian missionaries found repugnant - perhaps more so than the violence.

However, it is the violence of men towards one another and towards women and children that will appal most modern readers.

Of course, this is a work of fiction and the non-Nigerian reader has no hope of knowing how realistic is the traditional village culture portrayed. Nigerian readers will immediately be able to put it into the correct perspective.

Without any other cultural background or context, books like this in the hands of the unthinking reader can perpetuate stereotypes and even do harm. There is already too much ignorance of, and intolerance to, the customs of other people. One has only to think of today's general ignorance and stereotyping of Muslims - and the general ignorance and stereotyping of Russians during the Cold War.

Sadly, traditional customs and beliefs, even languages, are under increasing threat from the blandishments of the modern world. This is a pity. Most cultural beliefs have a valid place in the human community and are worthy of preservation, as an historical and anthropological record if nothing else. Many of the social and other problems that beset traditional peoples can be laid at the feet of the destruction of customs and beliefs.

The challenge is not only to protect traditional customs, but also to do so in ways that are consistent with preventing violence in those communities. It is difficult, for example, to make any case in favour of female circumcision.

On another level the book can be read as the human tragedy of the principal character, Okonkwo. To our eyes he is a flawed figure, but to his tribe he was an important man.

Achebe's style is very spare and the text is pared to the bone, with few adjectives and adverbs. Sentence constructions are very simple - but not naïve or unsophisticated. Hemingway and other famous writers used a similar style. I like it very much.

I found it helpful to read the Wikipedia entries after I had started the book. This gave me some background and made my reading a more meaningful exercise.

This book made me confront important matters: the clash of civilisations and comparative spiritual beliefs. "Things Fall Apart" is an important book and worth reading.