Things Fall Apart

Rating:
Summary: Personaly, I had a hard time relating to the charactors.
Review: I too was forced into reading this book for my lit. class. The book was fine but i had some difficulty with relating to the charactors in the book. First there was Okonkwo, who is the main charactor but he also beats all of his wives and children to keep a facade going. Later in the book you are made to almost pity him but can't quite do that after what you have read in the first two parts. I could go on and on but I'm only aloted 1,000 words in this reveiw so i'll stop here with my not being able to relate to charactors. At this moment i am searching the net to find some answers to explain parts of the book and that's how I came across this. I love to read and i love reading historical fiction with John Jakes as my favorite author, but this book just did not sit well with me. I'm trying not to be negative about this book because diffrent people have diffrent taste and mine just did not go with this one book.

Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking, eye-opening
Review: Don't read this book if you expect a riveting, fast-paced story with a simple, shallow, hit-you-over-the-head plot; read Cussler or someone else for that. _Things_Fall_Apart_ provides the West with a rare insight into a culture of which far too many of us are ignorant. At times Achebe's message is subtle, but at other times it is unmistakably clear. I think the readers who panned the book are probably disillusioned high school students, unwilling or unable to examine the book's true meaning. If you're bored with the conventional and feel like expanding your mind a bit, give the book a shot. It's a quick read, written in uncomplicated language, that will keep you thinking.

Rating:
Summary: its a sleeper thats for sure
Review: Pretty darn boring for first part, it gets a little better after the first 100 pages or so. Basically it starts out with "Look! We have african culture! Isn't that great? Things got weird when the missionaries came. Feel guilty now if your ancesters were the kind that were involved in this, they destroyed it." I refuse to participate in any more apologies for colonialism.

Rating:
Summary: excellent novel-stimulating and thought provoking.
Review: achebe does a wonderful job in depicting the effects of british colonialism on a tribe that has existed for centuries. the simple prose and eloquent accounts of imagery captivate the reader. i reccomend this book to high school students. the perspective they can gain,along with the feeling and understanding of different cultural ideaologies will help them develop an objective sense, and broader horizons.the deeper lessons conveyed by achebe provide the reader with much to think about.KILL YOUR TELEVISION AND ORDER THIS BOOK.

Rating:
Summary: Great book if you want to open your mind to new cultures
Review: If you are tired of reading books about European culture and American culture, then this is the book for you. Chinau Achebe opens your eyes to a new culture, often misunderstood by foriegners. Not only did this book teach me about the Ibo community and thier way of life, but it also taught me about man in general.

Rating:
Summary: Learn about history without knowing it by reading this book
Review: This book was an assignment from class and that doesn't always thrill me but after reading it I liked it a lot. This novel illustrates the times well about the missionaries coming to Africa placed in the 1600s. It shows how the indigenous people had to struggle when white men came to their village. If you like history with a twist of real life story then read this book!

Rating:
Summary: Moving in its simplicity, a rare glimpse inside
Review: I found this book breathtaking in its simplicity and clarity. Like many great works, the author shifts our perspective and makes us reexamine our own cultural biases. Brilliant.

Rating:
Summary: Boring, Boring, Boring
Review: I got forced to read this Novel for my Literature Class and I hated it like nothing else 'round here. I mean, as the Science Fiction fan that I am, reading something like this was a pain in the ass. But hey, I read Tlostoy's "War and Peace" which is not Science Fiction and I liked it, so I thought that this was going to be the same. No.

Rating:
Summary: A harrowing lesson
Review: This is a meticulously written novel no matter how simple the language may seem. Achebe concentrates more on theme and characterization rather than elaborate plot scheme and language. What this does is it makes the book easy to read for anyone, college lit student or third grader. Colonialism is a dangerous entity, we know this, but Achebe lets us see this by developing characters like Okonkwo and contrasting them to Okonkwo's deadbeat father. We must feel sympathy for these Ibo people no matter how simple they seem in comparrison to Americans because, in essance, their culture was destroyed by propaganda, which is also what led to the Nazi party, and political powerhouses such as Huey Long. Don't take this book as immature because it's simply writen and manifestly unAmerican, because like any powerful weapon, like a stealth bomber, it's in disguise. A lesson we all need to learn lies within this book, and we can't overlook it simply because we have the "opportunity" of living under a democratic regime.

Rating:
Summary: It was very boring
Review: Throught the book the auther keeps bringing in new charecters that have almost the identicle spelling of another and it gets very confusing