Review by zoegg - Things Fall Apart

zoegg 's review for:

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

2.75

challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

i really enjoyed delving into the world of igbo traditions and culture! although i felt like the story took a bit to get to the main source of conflict, i feel like the contextualization in the first half was necessary to truly and thoroughly understand just how disruptive the colonial presence was to what had existed prior. that being said, my main hang up with this book was okonkwo. his abusive, aggressive, and short-tempered nature towards his wives and children made me feel very disconnected from him as a character, and at times, made it difficult to continue the story. however, even with my dislike for him, it was easy to sympathize with his anger towards the christians and their usurping of his beloved village’s culture. it made me often think of modern day missiontrips — are they connected to the colonial roots of religion as depicted in this book??

Content Warnings