Things Fall Apart

Hardcover, 181 pages

English language

Published July 12, 1992 by Alfred A. Knopf.

ISBN:
978-0-679-44623-1
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(22 reviews)

THINGS FALL APART tells two overlapping, intertwining stories, both of which center around Okonkwo, a “strong man” of an Ibo village in Nigeria. The first of these stories traces Okonkwo's fall from grace with the tribal world in which he lives, and in its classical purity of line and economical beauty it provides us with a powerful fable about the immemorial conflict between the individual and society. The second story, which is as modern as the first is ancient, and which elevates the book to a tragic plane, concerns the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo's world through the arrival of aggressive, proselytizing European missionaries. These twin dramas are perfectly harmonized, and they are modulated by an awareness capable of encompassing at once the life of nature, human history, and the mysterious compulsions of the soul. THINGS FALL APART is the most illuminating and permanent monument we have …

40 editions

O mundo se despedaça

No rating

"O mundo se despedaça", de Chinua Achebe, é uma obra extremamente rica e com múltiplas dimensões, que podem ser analisadas paralelamente ou em separado.

Esse livro é uma reconstrução fictícia dos modos de vida de sociedades que pouco conheciam povos brancos -- e do impacto causado pela colisão desses mundos. Em particular, dos modos de vida da aldeia de Umuófia (na atual Nigéria) no fim do séc. 19.

São comunidades com ênfase nas tradições, que foram carregadas ao longo dos anos com poucas modificações. Uma estabilidade que é trançado firme, uma sobreposição de uma trama vertical (o respeito àqueles com maior capital econômico, político e social) apoiando uma trama horizontal (a união entre as comunidades familiares).

Até a vinda de mais um elemento, o homem branco, que desfia tudo a partir dos fios soltos: os párias (efulefu) e outros que não se sentiam contemplados pelo sistema vigente.

"O homem branco …

Review of 'Things Fall Apart' on 'Goodreads'

This is the case of three stars is too low four stars is too high. I like this book though I didn't think it was fun to read. It was a book that everybody had to read in my high school but in the year before I started. I can understand why it was designed and I'm glad it was but I feel the telling of the story has matured over the years thanks to other authors. That said it was an important book in the culture and should continue to be read because it introduced Western world to The narrative of the negative effects of colonialism

reviewed Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Heinemann African Writers Series; Red Classics)

Review of 'Things Fall Apart' on 'Goodreads'

As the title suggests, this is a story about a world that is about to endure irrevocable changes. The main character in particular, a self-made man with many honors but at least as many flaws, is pushed to the breaking point, with heartbreaking results. Chinua Achebe's prose is eloquent, steeping us in the culture of this Nigerian tribe as if we are invited guests. This is a novel I will likely read more than once.

reviewed Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Heinemann African Writers Series; Red Classics)

Review of 'Things Fall Apart' on 'Goodreads'

The silver lining in my personal Covid-19 lockdown has been my re-engagement with reading fiction; pursuing two degrees in History on a part-time basis while working full-time meant that whatever spare time I had was more profitably spent in reading around my subject rather than reading for pleasure. The conclusion of my studies and the enforced restriction of movement has therefore opened up an opportunity for me to read purely for the pleasure of reading, and as a consequence I have finally got around to reading books, like Things Fall Apart, that have been on my mental 'to read' list for far too long.

All I really knew about this book before reading it was always hearing this book described as being the first post-colonial novel. So it was with very little in the way of pre-conceptions that I read this book. I found the novel well written, and felt …

reviewed Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (African writers series -- 1)

None

This is a short novel set in eastern Nigeria in the late 19th century. The protagonist, Okonkwo, is a man of renown in his village, first as a wrestler, and then as a self-made man who has worked hard to attain a position of respect in the community. But he is also hot tempered and something of a domestic tyrant over his family. He despises weakness in others, and in himself.

The traditional way of life of the village is disturbed by the coming of white men -- missionaries, traders and colonial rulers. Okonkwo does not like the social changes they bring to the village, and urges others to resist them, but this resistance, and the manner of it, bring about his downfall.

The first half of the story is fairly static. It describes the village and its social life, the seasons of planting and harvesting, in a manner reminiscent …

reviewed Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Heinemann African Writers Series; Red Classics)

Review of 'Things Fall Apart' on 'GoodReads'

Wow. For the first half of this book I thought it a bit artless and frustrating, but it turns into a very much cleverer and more subtle work than I had been expecting. Ultimately the book is utterly damning about colonialism without ever romanticising what came before it.

I feel weird tagging "spoilers" about a book the outlines of which are pretty well known, and the plot of which is basically described in the publisher blurb, but in spite of all that there were some surprises as I went, so here goes:

First of all, there is one thing that annoyed me intensely through the entire book: the complete lack of any development of female characters or voices. I can imagine a defence of that in terms of the book describing two intensely patriarchal cultures and their meeting, but I'm still digesting Achebe's critique of Conrad. One of his more …

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Subjects

  • Men
  • Achebe, Chinua - Prose & Criticism
  • Fiction - General
  • Fiction
  • Nigeria
  • Literary
  • Fiction / Literary
  • British
  • Igbo (African people)

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