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A review by ellie_bronte
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
3.0
I'm not gonna lie this book was a tad boring to read, but learning about an entirely different culture is what kept me going. It's interesting how Chinua Achebe wrote the book in an old fashioned English prose, marrying the two cultures he was a part of instead of having a preference. I tried not to question the Igbo culture as I read the first part, keeping an open mind to what they thought was normal. I just rolled with it, easy to do since I love the fantasy genre.
The gradual transition from Igbo culture to Christianity was written really well. The Igbo people just accept these random newcomers because they didn't take them seriously, and thought they weren't a threat (How would you feel if someone kept talking to you about their buttocks?). And one of my favorite parts was the head guy of the tribe and one of the missionaries are exchanging religious ideas. They keep missing each other, unable to comprehend each other's customs or Gods. I also loved how Achebe showed the changing of the times, how customs are dropped due to being outdated or obsolete, such as no longer fearing the Evil Forest since no harm came to the inhabiting missionaries. It's sad to see a culture get wiped out, but Achebe writes it in a way to make the reader feel bad, but not really blame anyone. There were good people and questionable people on both sides, such as the Reverends of Christianity, and Okonkwo and his tribes' people. It's not anti anything, it's just conveying a story and it's happenings. And I didn't mind the lack of explanations toward certain customs such as Peace Week since the goal of the story wasn't to explain customs, but to explain Okonkwo's inner turmoil. Just a little boring is all, but great otherwise!
The gradual transition from Igbo culture to Christianity was written really well. The Igbo people just accept these random newcomers because they didn't take them seriously, and thought they weren't a threat (How would you feel if someone kept talking to you about their buttocks?). And one of my favorite parts was the head guy of the tribe and one of the missionaries are exchanging religious ideas. They keep missing each other, unable to comprehend each other's customs or Gods. I also loved how Achebe showed the changing of the times, how customs are dropped due to being outdated or obsolete, such as no longer fearing the Evil Forest since no harm came to the inhabiting missionaries. It's sad to see a culture get wiped out, but Achebe writes it in a way to make the reader feel bad, but not really blame anyone. There were good people and questionable people on both sides, such as the Reverends of Christianity, and Okonkwo and his tribes' people. It's not anti anything, it's just conveying a story and it's happenings. And I didn't mind the lack of explanations toward certain customs such as Peace Week since the goal of the story wasn't to explain customs, but to explain Okonkwo's inner turmoil. Just a little boring is all, but great otherwise!