Bookshot #30: Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart tells the story of Okonkwo, a hard working prominent 'strong man' of an Ibo village in Nigeria. Okonkowo is a hard and stern man, who is determined to avoid the mistakes of his indolent father and work hards to build himself a prosperous existence and get married with children to pass on the fruits of his labor to the next generation. The first part of the book tells the story of Okonkwo's rise to prosperity and his eventual fall from grace and the second part tells of the destructive clash of cultures which occurs when European missionaries begin to arrive and change everything.

This book took a little getting used to, I have to admit, but ultimately, the story and the quality of the writing won me over. It was a slow start- especially given the liberal amount of Ibo terminology that Achebe scatters throughout the narrative. (There's actually a glossary in the back of the book, there's so many Ibo words used.) But eventually, the writing and the story of Okonkwo and his fall from grace takes over and makes the book come alive. There's something incredibly compelling about the character of Okonkwo. He may be arrogant and unfeeling at times, but he's worked hard to make sure he can have a good life for himself and his family- and it's hard not to respect that, at least.

He takes in a boy as a hostage to prevent a clan war and grows close to him, but eventually the hostage must be returned and clan leaders decree that the boy must be killed- but Okonkwo is told not to be the one who kills him. Of course, through no fault of his own, he does- and so he must wrestle with that guilt. When another accident sends him into exile, Okonkwo plots to work as hard as he possibly can so when he can return to his clan, he will lose none of the prestige he worked so hard to gain. But by then, he has to wrestle with the arrival of European missionaries, which eventually uproot the clan structures that Okonkwo has lived with his entire life and, as the book's title suggests, things eventually do fall apart.

Overall: ***1/2 out of ****: A deceptive gem of a book- it looks to be a nice, simple, easy read but the themes that Achebe explores are universal in nature and incredibly complex.