A review by asterixmj
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

dark inspiring reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I honestly think this is a very, very good book, and it got me thinking about my own culture before colonisation a lot. Its a curious thing, how Achebe depicts Christianity when not tied directly with colonialism, and I think you can tell that he grew up Christian. He doesn't describe the clan as a purely good clan, romanticising what once was before the arrival of the English, but instead he simply describes the Igbo culture from a neutral, outsider's perspectives. I would've loved to see more from Nwoye's perspective of things; it's really interesting to me how his struggles with his father reflected his struggles with the clan at large and let to him running away from them. Okonkwo is the personification of Umofia, I feel. When Okonkwo is great and strong (but stubborn, violent, and intimidating) so is Umofia, and when Okonkwo is weak, emancipated, and his previous strength turns into bash actions that lead nowhere, Umofia is about the same. His death makes a lot of sense to me; he's unable to cope with the death of his clan, with the death of "manliness" as he so calls it, I don't think its so much a stubbornness towards change, though that is definitely a factor, but more so an overwhelming grief of what he believes the White Man destroyed for him, although he, and by extent Umofia, by himself had shaky foundations that allowed the White Man to easily dismantle the community. A very good look to understand pre colonial Nigeria and the complexities that went into their colonisation
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