Things Fall Apart
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4.5 • 47 Ratings
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'
A worldwide bestseller and the first part of Achebe's African Trilogy, Things Fall Apart is the compelling story of one man's battle to protect his community against the forces of change
Okonkwo is the greatest wrestler and warrior alive, and his fame spreads throughout West Africa like a bush-fire in the harmattan. But when he accidentally kills a clansman, things begin to fall apart. Then Okonkwo returns from exile to find missionaries and colonial governors have arrived in the village. With his world thrown radically off-balance he can only hurtle towards tragedy.
First published in 1958, Chinua Achebe's stark, coolly ironic novel reshaped both African and world literature, and has sold over ten million copies in forty-five languages. This arresting parable of a proud but powerless man witnessing the ruin of his people begins Achebe's landmark trilogy of works chronicling the fate of one African community, continued in Arrow of God and No Longer at Ease.
'His courage and generosity are made manifest in the work' Toni Morrison
'The writer in whose company the prison walls fell down' Nelson Mandela
'A great book, that bespeaks a great, brave, kind, human spirit' John Updike
With an Introduction by Biyi Bandele
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
More than 60 years after its original publication, Chinua Achebe’s classic novel about Nigeria—and a tribal society fractured by colonialism—resonates as loudly ever. It follows a group of people secure in their traditions who are forced to figure out how to absorb the unwelcome influences of the outside world; flat-footed resistance turns out to be pointless. Written in muscular prose, Achebe’s tale of colonial African exploitation has distinct echoes of a Greek tragedy, dealing with pride, shame and the profound push-and-pull between fathers and sons.
Customer Reviews
The aftershocks of the post-colonial experience.
As a white Australian I have become aware of an increase in interest in what has been the “great Australian silence”.
Racism, the right hand of so much inter-generational suffering, is under increasing scrutiny. Things Fall Apart is, in my estimation a must read and, although painful, a rewarding read. The narrative voice is without any affectation but rich in its insight.
A must read
To have a glimpse of what life was in precolonial Ibo society (Today’s South East Nigeria), this book is a must read