rallsley 's review for:

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Achebe brings the people of Umuofia to life in the story of Okonkwo and his clan leading to the arrival of the white man, British sent to colonize either with religion or by government rule. The manner of speaking amongst characters was beautiful and lyrical with metaphors that painted the entire situation into a single sentence. This book was so interesting of a read, I had to know more of the land and how the interference of The British rule would change the land and immediately found the next books ("Arrow of God" and "No Longer At Ease").

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Colonisation, War

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War

the main character kills an adopted son, accidentally kills another voy during a celbration via gunshot, and eventually kills himself by hanging

many of these content warnings are repeated due to the different nature's in different mentions. Sometimes there is a thorough description but other times it is mentioned in passing. These tags are also very modern and western - context does matter - this was written by an African author in a way that is authentic to the flavor of storytelling and the culture this story is about. Many of the things are a way of life or handled in different ways than they do in western society.