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Things Fall Apart

by Chinua Achebe
Things Fall Apart

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  • Synopses & Reviews

ISBN13: 9780385474542
ISBN10: 0385474547



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From Powells.com

Black History Month

Staff recommendations, guest essays, and curated reading lists.


Staff Pick

Before Things Fall Apart was published in 1958, few novels existed in English that depicted African life from the African perspective. And while the book has paved the way for countless authors since, Chinua Achebe's illuminating work remains a classic of modern African literature. Drawing on the history and customs passed down to him, Achebe tells the tale Okonkwo, a strong-willed member of a late-19th-century Nigerian village. As we follow Okonkwo's story, we get a glimpse of the intricacies of village life and the complex social structures that come into play. We then see the devastating effects of European colonization on the region and on Okonkwo himself, whose rise and fall become intertwined with the changing power dynamics. Things Fall Apart is essential reading for anyone who wants a more nuanced understanding of other ways of life, of culture clashes, of what being civilized really entails. Recommended By Renee P., Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read.

Things Fall Apart is the first of three novels in Chinua Achebe's critically acclaimed African Trilogy. It is a classic narrative about Africa's cataclysmic encounter with Europe as it establishes a colonial presence on the continent. Told through the fictional experiences of Okonkwo, a wealthy and fearless Igbo warrior of Umuofia in the late 1800s, Things Fall Apart explores one man's futile resistance to the devaluing of his Igbo traditions by British political andreligious forces and his despair as his community capitulates to the powerful new order.

With more than 20 million copies sold and translated into fifty-seven languages, Things Fall Apart provides one of the most illuminating and permanent monuments to African experience. Achebe does not only capture life in a pre-colonial African village, he conveys the tragedy of the loss of that world while broadening our understanding of our contemporary realities.

Review

"A true classic of world literature...A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world." Barack Obama

Review

“Achebe is gloriously gifted with the magic of an ebullient, generous, great talent.” Nadine Gordimer, The New York Times Book Review

Review

"A vivid imagination illuminates every page....This novel genuinely succeeds in penetrating tribal life from the inside." Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. He was raised in the large village of Ogidi, one of the first centers of Anglican missionary work in Eastern Nigeria, and is a graduate of University College, Ibadan. Cited in the London Sunday Times as one of the "1,000 Makers of the Twentieth Century" for defining "a modern African literature that was truly African" and thereby making "a major contribution to world literature," Chinua Achebe has published novels short stories, essays, and children's books. His volume of poetry, Christmas in Biafra, written during the Biafran War, was the joint winner of the first Commonwealth Poetry Prize. Of his novels, Arrow of God won the New Statesman--Jock Campbell Award, and Anthills of the Savannah was a finalist for the 1987 Booker Prize. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe's masterpiece, has been published in fifty different languages and has sold millions of copies in the United States since its original publication in 1958-1959. Mr. Achebe lives with his wife in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, where they teach at Bard College. They have four children and three grandchildren.

4.8 4

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating 4.8 (4 comments)

`
dreena , August 06, 2014 (view all comments by dreena)
What does it mean to be civilized? Do we have the right to change a country's customs and values based upon our own??? Timeless questions the reader considers as he watches one African man's struggle to define himself and his community. A classic that belongs in every person's home library.

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bluedolphin_dancer1 , November 13, 2013 (view all comments by bluedolphin_dancer1)
While at first glance, this book appears to be boring, when you delve deeper into the plot, it won't disappoint! The plot weaves two stories together. The story of the hardships and trials of small village life in rural Niger, and the struggle against the missionaries that keeps everyone biting their nails till the last sentence. I originally read it for school, but have started rereading in for pleasure!

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skierunner , February 12, 2012
This book is a must read. It is the response to books such as Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness that portrays the African tribes as culture-less, ignorant tribes with no sense of language or religion. Achebe does an outstanding job retaining the Ibo (an Nigerian culture) rhythm and style of language and illustrating the complexities of Ibo culture. The story itself follows a famed warrior, Okonkwo, through his life and the life of his tribe. The first half of the story is pre-contact with European peoples, and the second half is the interaction and response to that contact. I wouldn't exactly say that this book is a 'happy' one, but it is one that will get you thinking, and will help propagate understanding.

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Judith Fech , September 16, 2007 (view all comments by Judith Fech)
This book is not for the local pollyanna. It looks at a different way of life and shows us what enforcing "the right way" can do to a single man and to a tribe of people. Very potent stuff!

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780385474542
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
09/01/1994
Publisher:
BANTAM DOUBLEDAY DELL
Series info:
ESL ReadAlong
Pages:
224
Height:
.70IN
Width:
5.20IN
Thickness:
.75
Series:
ESL ReadAlong
Number of Units:
12
Copyright Year:
1994
Series Volume:
107-1
UPC Code:
2800385474544
Author:
Chinua Achebe
Subject:
Nigeria
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Subject:
Fiction (fictional works by one author)
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
Men
Subject:
Men -- Nigeria -- Fiction.
Subject:
British
Subject:
Race relations
Subject:
Historical fiction
Subject:
Igbo

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