Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

95 reviews

witchythey's review against another edition

reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this is an excellent narrative, beautifully woven. it tells the story of a man whose life is fueled by anger and power, but who is clearly tamping down some very tender emotions. his relationship with his daughter ezinma was one of my favorite dynamics in the book; the gender roles within their family are so interesting and complicated. achebe beautifully illustrates the village's rich cultural and religious traditions, as well as okonkwo's place within those systems. the book grapples with many serious topics and the elders often offer timeless wisdom. this was a very enjoyable and thought provoking read, if a bit dark

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Suicide, War, Racism, Violence, Child death, Colonisation, Gun violence, Infertility, and Murder

fnreb's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, and Gore

leahcatching's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Suicide, Physical abuse, Death, Colonisation, and Miscarriage

ajcanread's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Child abuse, Colonisation, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, and Hate crime

allysllvn's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

I found this book really interesting and intriguing. There’s many heavy topics, but how they were handled and seen in the community was interesting. The ending is as definitely… something. It was jarring and sudden, but I believe that was the point, even if it felt as if the ending had been broken off to me. Overall, I enjoyed reading it :).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, and Suicide

Moderate: Colonisation, Death, War, Infertility, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Blood

Minor: Gore, Animal death, and Gun violence

dank_pikachu's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Infertility, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Miscarriage, Murder, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Suicide, Sexism, Racism, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, and Child abuse

alexandra_skl's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Really deep exploration of the impact of colonization. Heartbreaking but an important read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Suicide, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Sexism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Racism

maapestaartje's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was hard for me to read, especially because I did not find the main character particularly loveable (like..... at all), but I think everyone should read it. Not just because of its topics and its interplay with colonial books like Heart of Darkness (Conrad, 1899), but also because it is one of the first widely read African literary books and thus in my opinion, fundamental to understanding its current literary culture, especially the English language branch. 

Next to that, I also just think it's a good book. His exploration of the tragic figure Okonkwo is incredibly thorough, and, knowing that colonisation is coming, hard to read. Okonkwo is by no means a nice guy and this society is by no means nice to women (of course, neither was the colonising European force), but it is intricate, something I believe Achebe definitely tried to highlight in this book and I believe he succeeds in doing so. I look forward to reading the rest of the African Trilogy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, and Colonisation

michaelion's review against another edition

informative reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Through the entire first section of the book and the first chapter of the second section, I just kept thinking: Misogyny will be the death of men. At least I thought that's where the book was going. It should've went that way.

There's something I hate, or dislike, about classic books which is the tendency to have unnecessary filler pages. Like they were getting paid by the word or something. And I say filler specifically because I love me some slice of life stories. I'm the kind a girlie that absolutely lives to see people figuring out what food they're gonna put on their grocery list because they don't know what to make for dinner, okay? But most of this book is just filling the pages up. Now I haven't read enough classics to say all of them do this, but I hate it either way. Scenes and moments with almost or literally no importance to the rest of the story. Maybe I hate it so much because that's how I wrote stories when I was 13. But hey I'm over it now!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Violence, War, Animal death, Drug use, and Racism

Minor: Kidnapping, Gun violence, Slavery, and Miscarriage

honeyvoiced's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Murder