Things Fall Apart: A Novel

Ironically, I had picked up Things Fall Apart from the local library just before it happened to be assigned to me for a history class. I suppose I had good, if accidental, foresight. As others have said, Things Fall Apart is a relatively short novel told in a straightforward yet elegant manner. The voice works well for this particular narrative, much of which focuses on the customs and rites of the Ibo people in the village in which the protagonist, Okonkwo, lives.

What I find most impressive about Things Fall Apart is the way it renders all perspectives; the book doesn't seem to glorify or demonize any one culture, and it really doesn't pick sides. The book deals with an Ibo tribe as well as a group of European imperialists, and it would be easy to depict one faction as being pure and noble and the other as evil or backwards. However, Things Fall Apart takes the high road by illustrating the complex continuum of both: Yes, the Ibo people have some practices which might seem "savage" to our modern Western mindsets, but they also have strong senses of morality and righteousness and Achebe depicts this admirably. Likewise, yes, some of the European imperialists seem cruel and dismissive of the Ibo people, but others of them genuinely seem to be motivated by the interest of evangelizing and doing what they believe to be right and noble.

While the book itself may seem like a simplistic tale, there are deep, complex issues at work here--issues that lead to questions with no easy answers which Achebe, for his part, does not attempt to supply. That's just as well. Sometimes a book need only ask the questions and allow readers to come to their own conclusions. So what is Things Fall Apart about? Well, ostensibly, the book can be divided into two halves. The first half centres on the life of a man named Okonkwo, his wives, his children, and the practices of his tribe. Some readers will complain, and have complained, that the lack of focused, singular plot in the first half of the novel is a problem. I disagree. I don't believe that all works of fiction are required to have one singular, specific plot route and I believe it was Achebe's intent to set the stage for what happens in the second part of the novel. In the first half of the novel, the readers get acquainted with Okonkwo and the Ibo people.

Meanwhile, the second half of Things Fall Apart focuses on Okonkwo's exile and his return from exile. For seven years, he has to leave his village and return to his mother's village (I won't say why here, so as not to spoil the detail for prospective readers), and when he comes back, he finds that European imperialism has drastically altered his own village, Umuofia. This leads to the novel's main conflict. Achebe renders the culture clash in a very intriguing manner, one which left me unsure of how I felt about the various events that unfolded. Because the earlier chapters showed the Ibo culture in such detail, considerable sympathy is placed on them, but a Western reader will also be inclined to agree with some of the Western views (not all, I should hope). For example, in Ibo culture, twins are considered evil, so they're left out in the forest to die. However, when the Europeans arrive, they begin saving twins. Who is right? Is it right to trample on another culture if it means satisfying what your culture considers the greater good? Like I said, this novel asks some difficult questions, and there are no easy answers.

Okonkwo is not a typical protagonist. He does not show compassion to others. He can be downright cruel, and he beats his wives and sons when they displease him. Yet, Okonkwo has reasons for what he does (not that it necessarily makes him right, but it does make his perspective understandable); he is upholding what he believes to be an ideal of Strength. In his own mind, he's a hero. And Okonkwo is not totally a monster; indeed, there are times when a hint of human feeling seeps through. I found his wives and children similarly compelling, but painted in brush strokes, such that much of their lives and personalities are not shown. What is shown is enough to whet your appetite for more.

I docked this novel one star, and I made this decision for two reasons. The first is because I believe the transition between the book's two halves is somewhat unshaky. I understand the need for a transition, but I think Achebe could've handled it somewhat more gracefully. As it is, I feel he plowed through and forced Okonkwo to leave under fairly flimsy and dubious, abrupt circumstances. The second reason I took off a star is because towards the end, the book stops being so evenhanded, and some of the missionaries turn Evil. At least, this is how I perceived it. What one of the Europeans says at the end of the novel seems almost like a caricature; read it and you'll see what I mean. Before, I thought Achebe was doing such an admirable job of showing the strengths and weaknesses of both sides, but in the end, "things fall apart".

Even so, the book is good and thought-provoking. I recommend it. It's a fast read. Although it is not a happy novel, I never at any point found it oppressingly, suffocatingly depressing. Perhaps the lovely yet simple prose helped to keep the events of the novel from being too overwhelmingly unhappy. Everything transpires as if in a song or a dream. I disagree with reviewers who say that Achebe portrayed the Ibo people as "savages". If you saw that in the novel, I think it's because you are analyzing them with your own values. I didn't see that Achebe intended that at all. I did not feel that Achebe passed value judgments on the Ibo people, and for the most part, he restrained his judgments of the European imperialists as well.

Part I is amazing. After that, I think the book is a little bit dated, but still worth reading.

I wanted to spoon my eyes out every time I turned a page. "No more!" I cried. "No more!" It made the things in my brain fall apart...but then I was on acid. I saw yams for twelve straight hours. I thought I was a yam. I stripped down naked and called myself Ikemefuna, I thought my roommate was Okonkwo coming to kill me. I banished myself to the linen closet which I thought was the evil forest. Except I couldn't fit my three wives in there with me, so I beat them and sent them to the neighbors house their motherland.

This book was required reading material in a sophomore-level college literature course that I had to get the Dean's approval to take because of my Freshman status. It was thought provoking; yet didn't drive me to the means to the end. I understood the socio-economic breakdown as well as the fact that there was a factor of pride versus the inevitable versus the fact that no family clan that had known this honorable man would assist him in his time of need. I found it compelling; yet similar to one of many of the Greek and other tragedies except it was written by an African-American in a very well thought-out, well written and easy to follow structured piece of literature. The story line I did not like, but I purchased the book to always remind me that I could always have it worse. LLO'C

My wife & I both read it. We were planning on discussing it following my finishing it, but decided it hadn't impressed either one of us enough to be worth the effort.

While the first part held my interest more than the last part, I asked myself many times whether to just put into the trade pile unfinished.