I’m so sorry it’s been so long. I have been a little busy with school work. I do hope you enjoy the book review and shall pick up the book 🙂
Title: Things Fall Apart
Author: Chinua Achebe
Genre: Historical Fiction, Literature, Postcolonial critique; tragedy
Recommended Reading Age: 15 & above
Pages: 166
Level of difficulty: 4/5 Dictionaries
Brief Introduction:
Okonkwo strives to be as different from his deceased father as possible. He believes that his father who was lazy, unreliable and poor was not a man, especially one that he should look up to. Hence, Okonkwo challenges himself to be strong, respected and abled. In addition, another struggle that happens in the book is between the traditional customs of Umuofia (the village) and the new customs of the white missionaries.
Favourite Quote:
“an old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb”
Reasons Why You Too Should Read It:
- Reading Far and Wide
It’s probably a book that many (students) would not pick up by choice. Hence, even more reasons why you should. It invites you to Nigeria, a country that you most likely haven’t been to and allows you to learn about its past and old traditions from a local perspective. In addition, it talks about colonialism very subtly from a local perspective, giving readers most likely, a new insight into the topic.
- It’s packed with moral lessons.
Each chapter is like a short story of itself. There is a lesson to learn if one takes the time to be critical. For example, in CHAPTER NINE we learn that no one, no matter how strong shall be spared from guilt if they have wronged. Now, top this off with the numerous proverbs and fables that run across the pages of the book, and who ever reads this book, critically enough shall be blessed with wisdom. 🙂
- It is a short novel.
The book doesn’t have many pages, doesn’t have challenging vocabulary and has many chapters. Hence, you shall be able to read the book with great ease. You can even easily stop to think and reflect about the events. With the above, one can truly appreciate the message between the lines of the book.
This book review was also uploaded onto goodreads.com, do go take a look!Â
You may get the book here!