“A true classic of world literature . . . A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world.” —Barack Obama “African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe.” —Toni MorrisonNominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American ReadThings Fall Apart is the first of three novels in Chinua … Fall Apart is the first of three novels in Chinua Achebe’s critically acclaimed African Trilogy. It is a classic narrative about Africa’s cataclysmic encounter with Europe as it establishes a colonial presence on the continent. Told through the fictional experiences of Okonkwo, a wealthy and fearless Igbo warrior of Umuofia in the late 1800s, Things Fall Apart explores one man’s futile resistance to the devaluing of his Igbo traditions by British political andreligious forces and his despair as his community capitulates to the powerful new order.
With more than 20 million copies sold and translated into fifty-seven languages, Things Fall Apart provides one of the most illuminating and permanent monuments to African experience. Achebe does not only capture life in a pre-colonial African village, he conveys the tragedy of the loss of that world while broadening our understanding of our contemporary realities.
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One of the great novels. Put this on your list of must-reads.
Amazing. Like no other book I’ve read. Highly recommend!
Excellent storytelling that really brings to life the people and places and the clash of competing cultures.
it is a kind of inspirational book which helps you know yourself and keep your values and identities.
The best Teacher ever known.
This book did not hit me completely until it was over. The death of one civilization for another and what that really means to the people that lived in the old because doing what is known and now facing what he knew was wrong but expected. Hard to live with.
A veritable classic, and important for understanding post-colonial reality in that part of the world.
Gives background of a culture that still has its roots in the people who currently live in Nigeria. If you want to understand a culture other than your own, one way is to read books that shed a historical light on the people. Chinua Achebe has written a simple book to show the world some basic tenets of the culture and values of his people.
Was hoping for more expansive history, but the story was awkward, trite and non-engaging.
This book portrays the effects of the slave trade on an African village. It’s a haunting tale of loss and change.
This is a literary classic and lives up to its reputation. I would recommend this to anyone. I believe it is required reading in many high schools.
I first learned about Things Fall Apart in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel, Americanah. Things Fall Apart was an important part of Adichie’s book — it seemed to be woven into the consciousness of all her African characters.
After reading Things Fall Apart, I can see why. In one concise, elegant story, Chinua Achebe evokes the carnage of colonialism from the African perspective.
What’s a good short read? At just around 200 pages, this is a short read but the story will stay with you long after you turn the last page. Okonkwo is the leader of his clan and a good man by his traditions. But he is born in a time of change when the old ways are quickly coming to an end. He tries to hold on to what he believes is true, just, and fair but the world around him is redefining the principles. Okonkwo cannot understand or keep up with the changes to his tribe, his family, and his world. Do not be put off by names you are not familiar with or the fact that this book is “about” Africa…it actually isn’t. Africa is just the setting for this commentary on change, tradition, power, and religion. Don’t read this book as a “foreign” story, read it as if you are Okonkwo or Nwoye….step into their story and see your world through their eyes.
I stumbled into Chinua Achebe through a text message.
Around Christmas, my father-in-law received a text from a friend of his at work. This friend had immigrated to the US from Africa, and as part of his well-wishing for Christmas, quoted a few lines from THINGS FALL APART.
My father-in-law read the text message out loud, and I asked where the quote was from. His friend had attributed Chinua Achebe. So I stalked him down, saw this book, and immediately requested it from my library.
Chinua Achebe is a one-of-a-kind author and I’m so in love with how different he feels from the historical fiction you see in our culture at large these days.
The prose could almost be described as halting, but also sometimes haunting. As he dives into tribal life in pre-Colonial Nigeria, in the late 1800’s, it sort of makes you realize that we’re starving for reality from that world.
His characters are imperfect, well-formed, and go through brutal changes. The stakes are set high, the culture is thick, deep, and beautiful, and I couldn’t stop reading.
The book itself is short, but powerful. It’s an eye-opener for anyone that hasn’t read real fiction from Africa (not second-hand accounts from people outside that reality).
Cannot wait to dive into the next ones.
I read this because it was on somebody’s 100 books to read list. What I found most interesting was how illuminating it was on my own perspective. Ithe book was written from the perspective of a native and I was reading from the POV of a colonizer. It wasn’t until I realized this, that I saw the author’s point.
After reading Things Fall Apart, I wanted to read the sequel. Having spent a little time in Africa with people who are trying to make their country a better place, I was disappointed, but not surprised, to find our what happened next. I have not read the third book in the series, but I intend to.
I think Achebe is an excellent writer.
“Things Fall Apart” is fascinating as it depicts what it felt like living in a clan in the SE part of Nigeria on the cusp of British colonization during the late 19th century. Written from the point of view of of someone living then and there, it personalizes that part of the world in a way I hadn’t before experienced in literature.
The plot follows the story of Okonkwo, a man who worked to rescue his family name from his father’s disgraceful failure, becomes successful in his Igbo Chinua Achebe details the clan’s parameters of rules, etiquette, beliefs and hierarchies and shows via internal monologues the difficulty of questioning the rules and going against the flow.
Okonkwo holds fast to his deeply held machismo ideal and derides any man who acts womanish, a trait he sees in his own son. He prides himself on his successes, and plans to become a great leader but he himself breaks a rule that changes the course of his life. Eventually the clan – who had never seen or dealt with white people – are confronted with the influx of Christian missionaries and British political envoys. The intercultural clash brought in by the colonists is psychologically and physically brutal.
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THINGS FALL APART is Chinua Achebe’s debut Novel about African Colonisation in Britain’s former Empire, Nigeria. The story touches on pre-colonial life in the Eastern part of Nigeria before the emergence of European powers. Things Fall Apart was set at the apogee of the “Scramble of African Colonies” by European Powers in the 19th Century. Things Fall Apart is Achebe’s finest fiction novel.
It’s truly an amazing book…