Reviews tagging 'Death'

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

59 reviews

allieos's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5


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mpbookreviews's review against another edition

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tense fast-paced

4.0


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colittle's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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yasmiiine's review against another edition

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

3.75


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mmiirrpp's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I recommend also reading Achebe's essay "Africa's Tarnished Name" to get more context on his motivations behind writing this book. 

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kshy's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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bookish_bry's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I enjoyed this book a lot. It was pretty dark in a lot of places often in a pretty casual ways. Okonkwo was not a very sympathetic character, but I think that actually served the message of the book well. Even though I wasn't a fan of the main character, I still sympathized with him in the end.

Even though this was a book very much concerned with the clash of cultures, I think that the generational divide between Okonkwo and his father and then Okonkwo and his son is something we see everywhere. Both Okonkwo's strengths and weaknesses were in direct reaction to his father's life and likewise Nwoye's were a result of Okonkwo's.

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shannay_05's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5


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librarymouse's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I read this for a post-colonial literature class, and I'm glad I read it. It was refreshing to read this after reading Heart of Darkness. It's consumable in its vocabulary and narrative form. 
Split into three parts, Things Fall Apart tells the life story of Okonkwo. It starts with his rise of Okonkwo, from being the son of a disgraced, effeminate, untitled man to being one of the strongest and most respected me of Umuofia. Parts II and III track a the stagnation of that rising trajectory as the novel confronts the disgrace and stagnation of Okonkwo’s life and legacy, and finally the fall of Okonkwo in his inability to adapt to the changes brought about by colonial occupation. Telling the story of colonization as one of atrocities committed against a community working to preserve their heritage, Achebe inverts the false narrative often taught in Western schools about colonization as progress towards enlightenment. The characters are not always likable, but they portray a reality that has been suppressed by the dominant narrative for the better part of two centuries.

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leahcatching's review against another edition

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

5.0


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