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Wow! I've never even heard of this book! Thanks Skylar! It sounds awesome! I'm adding it to my list of recommendeds today!

It's a great book, but I will forewarn you that it is depressing.

Thanks for this fantastic review! I didn't like the book when I first read it in high school, because it was unlike anything I'd read before and it wasn't until probably when I started studying anthropology, that I started thinking of this book again and understanding more the title "Things Fall Apart". For me, you've articulated way beyond my inklings of a better understanding of this book's importance and why I still think of it years later. Much appreciated!

Thanks, Katie!

This!

I have such a hard time describing what this book means for me. The prose is lovely and eye-opening, if depressing. I think the book hits upon such basic human truths that it's invaluable in shaping our thinking in learning to deal with the world at large.

Fantastic review!

Thanks, Tracey.

While growing up in Africa, we read this book in form 2, when we were about 12. I hated it more than anything, but we loved the proverbs. Could you imagine we instead enjoyed the shorter versions of Romeo and Juliette, Hamlet, othello ... To say we understood the overall theme of Things Fall Apart at that time, the depiction of how pride can conflict with society at large and how another man's influence can subjugate the culture of an entire people, its a lie. We felt strong hate for the white man's culture, which led us into understanding the book mostly from a prejudice point of view. As a grown up and having just re-read the book and reading your review here, nothing better can be said of this book than you have done in a few words. Thanks

excellent review Skylar.I've just added it to my tbr list

Skylar, I cannot thank you enough! I am about to write an exam on the book and could not determine what Achebe had actually intended to do in this novel, praise the igbo culture or show how pathetic is, uplift colonizing effects or show the tragedies it accompanied. now you have solved my problem!

This review nails exactly how I felt about this book. I didn't like Okonkwo but it wasn't so simple. In the end I cried for him. I think Things Fall Apart truly deserves its status as a "Great Book."

Fabulously expressed - intelligent and insightful!

Hi Skylar, I enjoyed your review of Things Fall Apart so much that I decided to share it on my blog. I hope that's okay with you. If not, please let me know and I will take it down. I probably should have asked for your permission first.

Write a comment...i read the book in 1992 while at high school and still wish to read it again this time for fun....what a good book...

This review is spot on and perfectly put into words how I felt about this book. Thank you! I would love to share it on Facebook, if I may?

This is exactly how I feel about the book. The current most-liked review really puts the thing into a negative light, and seems to be incredibly ignorant. Your review should be at the top!

You're very right Jesse..

I am so late in responding to these comments! I think I had my notifications turned off for months. Thanks to all who have responded and to anyone who wanted to share the review, feel free.

gotta read the book again! a terrific book

How do I read ?? Can I read online or download it?

I couldn't have written a better review. Very articulate and thoughtful. Thank you. This was a complex story, and although the destruction of the tribe is the ultimate tragedy, you are quite right that the author does not present the traditional tribal lifestyle as a paradise lost.

Very articulate review. Thank you.

I became interested in reading this book after viewing Great American Read on PBS. I loved the thought-provoking Poisonwood Bible and this novel would seem like an even better quality return to that thought process for me. However, I don't understand how missionaries to foreign lands are automatically defined as "imperialists." This is also a term mistakenly used for United States presence in nations/cultures nearly obliterated during WWII.
��"Imperialism" is a deliberate attempt to affix someone else's nation into your Empire, not merely to influence them toward your idea of good. Such as, your desire to protect them, or to prevent them from murdering each other and killing off their own culture, or to enable their richness to be connected to the rest of the world. Before we became the independent sovereign nation called USA, we were part of an Empire. We fought a revolution in 1776 to sever our ties with the Empire and despised imperialism for more than 150 years until basically forced to become part of it during WWII. We became even stronger anti-imperialists as a result.

I do understand that sometimes humanitarian missions can be "helping" too much by creating a dependence on Western aid, but living among a culture in order to present new ideas to them is not the same thing. You are not forcing them to think "like a westerner" but just to inspire them to think in a new way within their own culture. Jesus Christ is knowable in every language, tribe, and era, according to history and to the infinite Maker of All.

With that stated, I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of this book and indulging in a good quality story!

Love this review!!! You perfectly captured the nuances of the book. Thank you.

Oh bum. This has put me off reading this book and I was so looking forward to it as I know Chinua Achebe is highly regarded. I'll come back to it later so it doesn't affect my perspective. 😐