Book review by Isha Patel of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Book review of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe 

I read this book in 11 grade for my English class and I found it quite interesting.

This book is about tribes living in Africa but everything changes when Europeans arrive and mess up there way of life. It shows the clashing of cultures between the Ibo society which are the 9 villages Nigeria and European's desire to spread Christianity. Okankwo, the main character, lives in a village and their lives have not change for generations until the Europeans arrive not with guns but with the Bible as a weapon. Okankwo is a strong man who lives in fear and anger. The Ibo people taught that new arrives were kind men but that quickly changed when they force Christianity on them which the Ibo people did not like and ultimately lead to the death of Ibo culture and an unfortunate fate of the main character.

Proverbs are an essential part of this novel and the Ibo way of life. Their culture revolves around these proverbs. Proverbs are sayings that are passed how from generation to generation by the word of mouth. Proverbs helps Ibo people's culture alive.

The author does a fantastic job of portraying the European colonization of Africa. He sheds a light into the devastation ways European performed to expand. It shows the loss of culture and assimilation into a culture by portraying just a tragedy.

I would recommend this book because even though it is a sad book with sad ending, it still does a good job of showing the negatives of European colonization. This book is often compare to Greek tragedies. It is also the 1st time any author has ever written about European civilization and the impacts on the native people of the land.