Mike Perros Review on Things Fall Apart
Things Fall Apart was Chinua Achebe's first novel. It came out in 1958. Its starts of with Okonkwo, a wealth and respected warrior of the Umofia clan (a Nigerian tribe). He is constantly scared of him or his children becoming what his father was. A poor, not respected, coward, that died in disrepute, and who never paid of his debts to his neighbors. Okonkwo, is worried especially with his twelve-year old son who is lazy and becoming into his grandfather. Okonkwo works very hard and is one of the most well off and respected man of the Umofian tribe.
One day in a settlement with a neighboring village, Okonkwo "wins" a fifteen year old virgin.
Okonkwo keeps the virgin in his home and loves him like a son. Later in the novel Okonkwo will
face hardships with the virgin.
Okonkwo also will face hardships with his town for beating one of his wives during the weak of
peace. Okonkwo has a lot of anger built into him probably resulting in from his dad. He also
will have terrible experience with his daughter.
In the end, Okonkwo will have to face a lot of problems dealing with colonization and Europeans
who are ruining his life.
My Opinion
Overall I enjoyed Things Fall Apart. This is not because it had an excellent plot, or because
it was beautifully written, but because it gave an insight on what traditional Igbo life was
like. This book captured my mind and I literally read it in one sitting.
My favorite part of Things Fall Apart was when the Europeans came n and try to take over.
I like it because you get the feeling that you were there and that you where a slave to
colonization. My least favorite part of book is when it ends because its so intresting that
you want to keep reading. If I could change something in the book I would make 200 more pages.
I would defiantly recommend this great book to some one else, but not to anyone. The person
must still be "in touch" with reality and should have or is currently learning about colonization
of Africa. My age range for this book would be fifteen to thirty years old.
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