A review by junosdaughter
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I’m so grateful to have read this novel in an academic setting. I always tell myself when I pick up a classic on my own that I need to read the biographies and research the context and look at the reception and the reviews (Do I follow through? Well…) but sitting in a proper lecture with a professor who has put all the work together for me is just a top-tier experience. 

Art exists in conversation with so much history and work preceding it. Reading this novel as the response to “Heart of Darkness” that it is adds a profound layer of resistance. In 1958, Achebe gave the world a flawed, complex, human society with which to redress the faceless, primitive mass of Black skin that Conrad illustrated as Africa. The final paragraph is devastating. Knowing that Achebe was actually raised in a devout Christian family, disconnected from the traditional Ibo spirituality so pervasive in this story, adds another layer of resistance. Knowing that he chose to attend university and publish with his Igbo name, rather than the English “Albert,” and chose yet to shorten it from Chinụalụmọgụ to Chinua in the interest of “business” shows us so much about his intention for his career and this story. By no means am I exalting academia here but wow!! I love learning about books!!!

This is perfect novel. Devastating.