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Summary: the characters are human, more human than anywhere i've seen
Review: This is definitely worth reading. The characters are very human and complex, who think in terms absolutely identical to humans a hundred years later. The story is about a west african village in the early days of colonialism. Achebe is close enough to his roots to make the mode of thinking of his villagers authentic; and it's a surprisingly modern mode. Humans don't change, circumstances do. Achebe doesnt portray the whites as villains or the blacks as being unjustly oppressed by them. Instead it is simply a meeting of two cultures. The whites are merely folks from a more individualist and technologically advanced culture and the villagers are curious about them. For example, the main character of the book is a senior villager who deplores the damage being done to the local culture. He does not however make the simplistic assumption that everything whites do is bad. He happens to see a white clerk writing something, and from his body language observes that the clerk is not too bright. But the clerk is in a position of relative importance because of his literacy, and therefore the ability to write must be a powerful one. He promptly sends one of his sons to the lcoal mission school as an experiment. This book taught me more about colonialism than a lot of history texts. It has been a perennial item on the reading lists of high school students in various parts of Africa since its first printing. It's very enjoyable; read it if you get the chance.
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Summary: Hiroshima
Review: In reading Hiroshima, the author, John Hersey enlightens the reader about the tragedy of the first atomic bomb ever dropped on a city at the exact point at which it hits the town of Hiroshima, 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945. Hersey wrote this book to show the strength of the human spirit. The story is told though the eyes of six survivors that were fortunate enough to escape death. These six civilians discuss their own story of how they managed to survive and keep on going against all odds. Against illnesses, deformities, the human suffering around them, poverty, unlivable conditions, and also getting through a time of discrimination. Even though these six people were injured themselves they still helped the more unfortunate ones that were not as luck as they were. These human beings were willing to live, even after experiencing one of the worst moments in their lives. The survivors had to carry on their own personal lives through their will to survive overcoming their obstructions. They had to go through the rest of their lives with the physical and emotional pain brought to them by the bomb. The six characters lived different lives both before and after the bomb, but were all compelled through the tragedy they suffered and their drive to overcome and live. The morning of August 6, 1945 was one that many people will not forget. Everything was going to plan and people were out doing their normal thing when at 8:15 a bright flash of light covered the whole area. Few could have anticipated its potential devastation. The author let the reader meet the survivors and the reader was put into their shoes. Hersey uses these six characters to show the horror of what really happened when the atomic bomb struck. Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a young single woman who broke her leg and was left unattended to had the drive to go on after being maimed and abandoned by her fiancé to become a nun. Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura had a courageous struggle to keep herself and her children alive, forced to work laborious jobs earning barely enough for food. She became very weak due to the exposure to radiation making her rest from work more often than she is use to. Dr. Terufumi Sasaki was the only doctor to survive in his hospital completely unharmed. He became aware of his good fortune and provided medical help for thousands of injured victims. He had worked for days with no rest trying to save the lives of those who had not as been as fortunate as he had. Years later he died regretting that he had been unable to do more. Dr. Masakazu Fujii had been injured too greatly to help attend to patients, but later went on to fight for peace and raise funds for a variety of projects in the name of the Hiroshima victims. Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge was a German priest who was compelled to work beyond his condition in an attempt to rescue his fellow priests and friends. Kiyoshi Tanimoto, a pastor, helped hundreds by transporting wounded civilians and bringing supplies to and from Asano Park. John Hersey wrote the book through first hand accounts not only after the bomb was dropped, but almost forty years later to update on the survivors. Hersey really cares about the story of these six people. He is fascinated with what they have to say and to hear their life story and visits them forty years later to see how they are doing now. The way Hersey uses these people to tell the story is a creative way of writing and is very intimate. This book was a very detailed and smooth flowing book. Since his resources were so direct the book seemed to put the reader in the shoes of these six survivors. The reader stays with the story as each individual tells his or her own personal interaction. Hersey takes the reader though every encounter that each individual comes across and how each individual manages to keep on going and not give up no matter how tough the situations might be. Yet he also manages to keep the reader wanting to know more and go deeper into this tragic, however heroic story. This book is a good investment in reading; it is educational, but also very emotional. Hersey takes the reader though the six survivors accounts with pain and agony, but leaves the reader with a greater understanding of human capabilities and the wisdom that the drive to survive cannot be bounded by language or nationality. This book is without doubt worth reading because it shows the human beings' motivation to live, even after experiencing one's worst time in life. I highly recommend this story of six of the bravest and courageous people that had to experience one of the worst times of their life and now have to live with the affects brought on to them by it.
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Summary: A Simple Message within a Powerfully Good Read
Review: I picked up this book while browsing for no particular genre of liesure-time reading, having no idea that it was well known, just because it looked interesting. As I began to read, Achebe led my imagination to observe the details of a small society with characters that could have lived almost anywhere on Earth in a simpler time. With no preconceived notion of the book, I was unable to determine whether the characters were African, Asian, or perhaps of a land conceived entirely in the author's mind. With this approach to reading, I found a rich story of a man who, while holding position in his community, is still very much an average man. Achebe endows him with the troubles and joys, strengths and weaknesses--all the human conditions that make the reader recognize him somewhere in their own social sphere. Woven into this man's story is that of his community, and Achebe takes great care to give the reader an understanding of the interactions between characters and the nuance of the culture so that the impact of change can be readily understood. This is a very clearly-written novel that spends most of its time setting the stage for the reader to appreciate the impact of change, particularly forced, abrupt change. While the message may be simple, its development is not. "Things Fall Apart" is a fine rendering of a human situation so prevalent and obvious as to be easily overlooked.
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Summary: It's got yams! Wow!
Review: I disagree with any opinion there is concerning this novel's unappreciatedness. Thousands of kids are forced to read this book in highschool--all I know is I never read Fitzgerald or Faulkner in my honors classes, but I got to read Achebe...yeah! I knew I didn't like it then, and having returned to it, or attempting to finish my return to it, I've found it to be one of the most poorly written, horribly constructed commentaries on "society" that is ambiguous, esoteric (not in a good way, mind you; I felt left out because I didn't know the word for yam in whatever language Okonkwo and one of his wives were using), and pessimistic. What problem was there? I assume it was Christianity or some internal village stryfe or eating too many yams or something, I don't know. I don't really care. All I know is there's a lot of ticked-off yam lovers right now who want to vote 'No' regarding the helpfulness of my review. Well, please feel free to release all of your nasty thoughts below. I myself am about to go enjoy a hearty plate of yams, with some Sartre for an after dinner reading...you know...GOOD literature.
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Summary: TVHS STUDENT REVIEW
Review: Chinua Achebe has given readers a novel with a life of its own that you can see and feel as you read the first word. Okonkwo is a man with great pride and courage that turns out to be both an advantage and disadvantage to him throughout the whole story. All the decisions he made affected everyone involved in a minor way and a way that will change everyone's life forever. This book will captivate you and make you keep turning the page until you reach the end. The plot comes to you like a blow that makes you wonder were Achebe got all this things. Achebe created a masterpiece that lets you explore the world--it's people and their different cultures as it interact with ours today.
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Summary: Good story - bad book
Review: Chinua Achebe is quite a writer, with beautiful descriptions and quite a touching story.It's just that, though, that makes "Things Fall Apart" unfinishable. With too much descritption that blows an extremely slow plot out of proportion, a reader doesn't even know what the conflict is until halfway through this book. By that time, the reader will have read countless descriptions that are at first, beautiful literary works, but eventually turning repetitive and boring. If you actually suceed in finishing the book, you may have enjoyed at most 50% of it. At other times you find yourself reading about everyday life with no excitement and no problem until halfway through the book. Character development is poor and thus a reader never truly connects with the characters, and the plot was not done justice with Chinua Achebe's slow writing style. Sure, he may have used some beautiful phrases of description, but it did not help a reader in turning the page. To cut it short, "Things Fall Apart" is, in most aspects, boring. The extraordinary plot is ruined, because you won't even have realized what the plot is before you put this book down.
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Summary: Things Fall Apart
Review: This is a good book, though not overly exciting. The African culture shown is quite interesting but the plot is rather dull. This book is well written with a lot going on for literary discussion.( i.e. strong irony.) I would suggest this book to those interested in African culture; or as a good text to be analyzed for content/author style/etc.
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Summary: THINGS FALL APART----- "ONE OF THE BEST "
Review: Things Fall Apart is one of the best novel ever written by an African for Africans. I have bought and given five of this novel to some of my non-African friends as gifts. CHINUE ACHEBE did a great job. Many thanks to Achebe. **** E.Felix. U.S.A.
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Summary: A remarkable piece of literature
Review: "Things Fall Apart" is a novel written by an African for the African. It is a stunning piece of work. Mr. Achebe tells the story as it is and he makes no apologies. He simply lets the read form his or her own emotions. I first read this book when I was in junior high school and back then it was simply just a good story. Now, 15 years later, I am better able to pick out the delicate intricasies of this book. If you see this an over-simplistic story, you are missing the very essence of this novel. This novel is not simply about the "evil" colonial powers coming to destroy a community. It goes much deeper than that. Mr. Achebe sets the stage of this story by showing detail the very culture of Okonkwo and his people. With this foundation, we can truly appreciate how devastating it was for them when a people (the white people) came over and imposed their culture on them, a group of people who already had their own culture, without any regard to or any desire to even understand their established customs. It ruined the very fabric of their society. This is truly an excellent piece of literature.
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Summary: A great book on society
Review: This book was truly a delight to read, however the first time I read, I will agree with some, it was a bit tedious. Yet as one grows older and reads this book again, it is amazing how much one can learn from it. This book is beutifully written by Achebe, giving us great and an objective insight into Ibo culture. Okonkwo, the main character, has a tragic flaw, and contrary to common belief, is a hero. The end of the book proves to the reader this point. If you read this book only once, you will miss all the great nuances of this book, such as the hypocracy of the 'white men' who come and take of the 'savage' Ibo people. The father-son conflict, is also very intriging, between Okonkwo and his father, and Okonkwo and Nwoye, his son. I highly recommend this book to anyone, it allows you the chance to learn about a different culture and your own. It also shows you how people's minds work. Sharing knowledge and living peacefully with one another is another theme in this great yet short book. Hopefully leaders of the world will read this book and take lessons from it, "what works for one people is an abomantaion on another" Thank you Achebe for writing such a wonderful book.
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