Chinua Achebe (1930-2013) was just 27 when Things Fall Apart was published. This outstanding work explores social structures and traditions in an Igbo clan in what is now Eastern Nigeria, set against the backdrop of rising British colonialism and the arrival of Christian missionaries. The title refers to a poem by W.B. Yeats.

Patriarchal society The Umuofia community, spread across nine villages, is patriarchal and traditional: gods play an important role in everyday decisions. Male pride is gained by being physically strong and showing no emotional weakness. Protagonist Okonkwo is among the strongest of men: having earned prestige as a warrior and wrestler, and ashamed of his late father, who lived in debt without titles, he is harsh towards his wives and children, insults ‘weaker’ men by calling them ‘women’, and turns to violence as a solution to frustration. A less sympathetic character is difficult to imagine.

Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.

The first cracks When Okonkwo is confronted with the death of Ikemefuna, a boy who was added to his household after a tribal feud, cracks gradually begin to show in his inner mind. Following an outburst driven, I believe, by testosterone, Okonkwo is then banished for seven years, sidelining him while his village struggles with the arrival of missionaries (and in their wake: military forces). Initially taken for fools, the clan soon realises the true extent of what has befallen them. The strength of men like Okonkwo no longer guarantees their way of living.

Things Fall Apart is an amazing book for multiple reasons. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Igbo community life and their cultural differences with the British. Unfortunately, this also means that the main characters remain rather flat: in the end, it is the clan itself that takes centre stage.

Next on my list is another book in the Penguin African Writers series: [book:Devil on the Cross|18693722] by Kenian author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o.