Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

105 reviews

dark emotional informative sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book has a lot of casual sexism but aside from that, the writing style was gripping, the plot points interesting, the plot progression heartbreaking, and it was a real page-turner.

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dark informative sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

“A man's life from birth to death, was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer and nearer to his ancestors.”

Things Fall Apart remains a literary masterpiece almost three decades since its release. At first slow and meandering, offering a survey of Igbo culture prior to the devastation of British forces, this novel shows just how quickly and suddenly a people can be made to fall apart when faced with colonial rule and violence. 


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informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging informative tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Look up trigger warnings.
I had to sit with this one a while because i knew i loved the first half (5/5) but wasn’t sure how i felt about the second. A big narrative shift happens. Most of the plot of the first half happens in the course of a couple of weeks or months at most. The second half covers ~10 years and the time skips and exposition is such that we lose contact with characters and their relationships which does mirror the effect of colonialism on the community. I get *why* in that sense, but parts of the second half felt rushed and maybe underdeveloped where the first half was SO illustrative and intimate. So I didnt enjoy the second half as much. I took my time, annotated, took notes on the first half but made almost no marks in the second, if that tells you anything. I’d still reccomend, its a quick read just definitely mot your Why Colonialism is Bad 101 bc thats not what the book is going for. 

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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emotional informative medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book gets a three star simply because it is a story that needs to be read. Other than that,
I liked how slow the first part is to contrast how fast colonialism took over Africa
and how amazing complicated the main character is. This is all to say that this story has the groundwork to be absolutely astounding, yet at no point was my interest peaked. This is due to instead of engrossing rge reader into the story, it instead keeps this standoffish narration akin to a nonfiction. And if this were a nonfiction it would've been amazing for what it is, but it's not which lead this story to just not have the same impact it should.

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