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A review by lambchop12
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
dark
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.25
This had a very slow start for me tbh, but, just like with One Hundred Years of Solitude, I'm so glad I stuck through it bc this was truly something else. I can't give it higher than 8.5/10 just because I'm not used to the narrative conventions this uses but it was good!!
I think people upset about the sexism and such are truly missing the point. I took the clan as a symbol of an imperfect but still important culture that doesn't deserve to be disrespected by those who seek said culture's end. Do the English really want better for the women and the children of Umuofia? Absolutely not. They want cultural and ideological dominance, and that makes their presence a horrible one.
Obviously Okonkwo is not really a hero and I think his fate is tragic for that reason, but he is a great protagonist for such a story about the destruction of a society, the same way the Buendia family aren't at all good people but stand as great representations of their society (really, I could go all day with the comparisons to One Hundred Years of Solitude, but ik this book came first by over 10 years so 🤷♀️).
I think people upset about the sexism and such are truly missing the point. I took the clan as a symbol of an imperfect but still important culture that doesn't deserve to be disrespected by those who seek said culture's end. Do the English really want better for the women and the children of Umuofia? Absolutely not. They want cultural and ideological dominance, and that makes their presence a horrible one.
Obviously Okonkwo is not really a hero and I think his fate is tragic for that reason, but he is a great protagonist for such a story about the destruction of a society, the same way the Buendia family aren't at all good people but stand as great representations of their society (really, I could go all day with the comparisons to One Hundred Years of Solitude, but ik this book came first by over 10 years so 🤷♀️).