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Summary: A Mind Changing Novel
Review: Hello. My name is Rebecca and I am 13 years old. I am an avid reader- it is my favorite thing to do! I like to read review of books I enjoy, so I read the one on Things Fall Apart. I am humiliated by the lack of good reviews from young people! I am absolutely horrified! As a classmate of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in my school that have read it (and loved it, mind you!)that I cannot believe it. One common thing I noticed was the lack of understanding with the bad review. At my school we always have to do extensive research on a book before we read it; that way we will know what to expect. I would suggest you do that for all the books you read; it may help you decide what you are prepared for.
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Summary: An excellent introduction to African Culture
Review: Chinua Achebe displays his commendable talent in the colorful and ironic tale Things Fall Apart. This masterpiece introduces the unique characteristics of African culture. It begins with the periodical life of the African people centered around the strong and fearless character Okonkwo. Through the description of his struggles in life, Achebe defines the many features of African rituals. Achebe also introduces the affects of clashing cultures. Okonkwo, a strong and fearless man, is affected by the European's domination over their culture, resulting in conflicts. Okonkwo's life lead by his brave character simply falls apart. Things Fall Apart is an excellent display of the negative results clashing civilizations have on the unrivaled and colorful rituals of cultures.
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Summary: Beautiful book
Review: This is a beautiful book, and I must point out I was disturbed by some of the reviews, obviously left by highschool students bored and surfing the web. Let me say this: just because you do not understand a book, does not make it bad. I'm not sure you understand this, since all reviews that said "this sucked" tended to be accompanied by statements such as "I couldn't follow the story". What happened to the days where people were ashamed to reveal their incredible stupidity, rather than reveling in it as a source of pride?
Anyone who is interested in learning about African precolonial society will enjoy this book. Someone said something about the hero being sexist-if you read the book more carefully you would see that Achebe is not praising those characteristics. He thinks that his hero has serious character flaws and by no means is he presented as "exemplary". That's exactly why he is such a compelling character: he is deeply flawed (like everyone) but is also a tragic hero, like Macbeth and others who, despite their problems, are sympathetic. Okonkowo is juxtaposed to characters who show that men and women in other African societies do act as equals, something he has trouble understanding. His own personal pride and flaws lead to his personal tragedies long before the colonists show up. I shouldn't read these reviews, they are so disheartening.
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Summary: My thoughts of the ending of the book
Review: Note: If you haven't read this book yet, I wouldn't read this review if I was you as it reveals what happens in the end.Two thirds of the book is about everyday life in Okonkwo's village, and was the part of the book that was most interesting, colorful and the part that I really liked best. Achebe's great style of storytelling really made the life in Umoufia so alive in my imagination, and my sympathy for the in many ways cruel and hard Okonkwo grew throughout this first part of the book. The last third deals with what happens when the Christian missionaries infiltrate the independant village that you by now know so well, and you understand the name of the book, and you understand how Okonkwo's world and proudness literally fall apart. What happens in the end is a very powerful and symbolic representation of colonisation's effect on Africa and it's people - splitting, uproaring and overriding their traditional, proud lifestyle and beliefs. After reading the book I asked myself "why did this happen?". Why didn't the Europeans have more respect for this people's believes and lifestyle, which you after reading this book understand had been working for them just like our community works for us. I only wish that the last third of the book hadn't been there, and that life in Umoufia had continued undisturbed..
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Summary: Umm...Confused....
Review: Well.......I think this book well, it just SUXED. I could not understand this! It makes no sense. Why coudln't they just at least change the names you could at least pronoucne it, ne ways if you plan on reading it, your want lots of time, so u can understand it. Good Luck...
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Summary: This Will Go in my "Bad Book" Pile
Review: I had to read this book for my junior year in English. It's not a difficult rnovel if you can go for awhile being bored out of your mind. Well, OK. It's wasn't *that* boring, but I still would have preferred to read something with more content and less inconsistancies.
Achebe tries way too hard to insert symbolisism and make himself come off as a talented writer, when really, he's just pulling out tricks. Not to say Achebe isn't a talented writer. I've read a few of his essays and they are quite good, but Things Fall Apart is not one of the better book I've read.
Okonkwo is an agressive, sexest and disgustingly manish man, and it's absurd that people can even suggest that he obtained hero status in this story
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Summary: YUCK!
Review: I'm not much of a reader but I know a good book when I read one. Sorry Achebe but this one was well...BLAN! Didn't keep my interest at all. I read it for school and only becuz i had to. THe story never really picked up and got me interested. I didn't much care for Okonkwo either. What right does he have to boss his wives around and beat them. Of course the women didn't know better. Eh...still one star. Maybe even half a star.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm rounding up
Review: I'd actually give this 2.5 stars, but that's not an option. I just don't see the appeal of this book. I kept reading it hoping that the story would pick up but it never did. I kept hoping that I would start to care about the main character (or any character for that matter), but that never happened either. No character development and no driving plot. This book failed to capture my interest. Skip this book and check out Siddhartha
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Summary: One of the Best Books Ever
Review: Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is the story of a strong and successful man, Okonkwo, living in the African village of Umofia. Okonkwo is a man with different sides. Outwardly, he is fierce and aggressive, but his actions show that he is a kind and loving person, though he hides these feelings to preserve his masculinity. Because Okonkwo's father was a failure and died disgracefully, Okonkwo is constantly trying to prove his manliness and worthiness. As a result, he becomes prosperous, has several wives and children, and earns the respect of his clan. After killing his friend's son in an unfortunate accident, Okonkwo is, as the custom requires, banished from his village for seven years. He and his family move to his deceased mother's village, where he is still successful, but longs for his old way of life in Umofia. In the meantime, English missionaries have arrived in the area, and are slowly winning over more converts. As a result of this invasion, the villagers' traditional beliefs about their gods are being challenged and their way of life threatened. After the seven years is up, he is finally able to return to his old village, but is saddened by how things have changed, and how the missionaries' influence has destroyed years of tradition. The shocking ending is very emotional, and reveals what kind of man Okonkwo really was. Achebe does a splendid job in developing Okonkwo's character and by the end of the story he becomes someone whom you sympathise with and care about. This makes the ending all the more emotional and disturbing. I cannot remember reading a more gripping book in a long time. This is a masterpiece, chosen as one of the 100 greatest works of fiction by several of the most prominent writers around the world, with good reason.
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Summary: A heroic tragedy in an African context
Review: Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" is the story of a man who watches helplessly as his community, quite literally, falls apart. It takes place, presumably, in Nigeria in the nineteenth century, and the community it portrays is an Ibo clan who live in a group of nine villages collectively called Umuofia. The protagonist is a man named Okonkwo, as noble a figure as any in literature because he is strong, brave, loyal to his family and his community, respectful of the ways of his ancestors, and strictly adheres to a personal code of honor, which in some ways is a corrective response to his own father's lazy, unprincipled lifestyle. Like most in Umuofia, Okonkwo makes his living as a yam farmer, and he has built a large compound in which he lives with his three wives and numerous children, the most prominent of whom are his oldest son Nwoye and his favorite daughter Ezinma. Since the Ibo clan is, like most societies throughout the world, a cult of masculinity, anything related to strength or honor is considered manly, and anything related to weakness or irresolution is considered womanly; so Okonkwo regrets that Ezinma, whom he loves and respects more than any of his other children, was not born male. The novel is balanced between sketches of daily life in the villages and three major events that shape Okonkwo's character. The first event is Okonkwo's adoption of a boy named Ikemefuna from a nearby village as part of a retribution for a crime committed by a resident of that village on a resident of Okonkwo's. After living three years with Okonkwo's family, Ikemefuna becomes a good friend to Nwoye; but the village elders have decreed a sad fate for the boy, and Okonkwo has no choice but to help carry it out. The second event is when, at a funeral for a village elder, Okonkwo's gun accidentally explodes and kills a boy; according to tribal law, Okonkwo and his family are banished from Umuofia for seven years and relocate to his mother's native village. The third event is the arrival in Nigeria of white missionaries from the Church of England. They begin to transform Ibo society by building churches, schools, and hospitals, and establishing an Anglican government and legal system. Part of their success is due to their ability to convince the Ibos of the sovereignty of the Christian God, and many Ibos convert. When Okonkwo returns to Umuofia after his exile and learns that this new religion is supplanting the ancestral traditions, he is disgusted by the weak will of his clansmen and especially his own son Nwoye, who has defected to the Church and taken the name Isaac. This event has a larger, pan-African significance, in which Okonkwo becomes a symbol of resistance to the encroachment of Europeanization. "Things Fall Apart" is a short and simple novel, but it masterfully contains, within a uniquely African context, its protagonist's whole philosophy towards life and reason for being. Whether Okonkwo's actions are to be applauded is left for the individual reader to decide, but there is no mystery about why he does them. He is nothing if not a man of convictions, and he is willing to die for them, even by his own hand.
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