Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Impressively unbiased novel, for the most part, May 5, 2008
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.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Human tragedy amid the clash of civilisations, July 16, 2008
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.
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