Things Fall Apart: The African Trilogy #1 [B0610]

2017 PB reprint of the 1959 original. "A true classic of world literature . . . A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world." -Barack Obama. "African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe." -Toni Morrison. 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 and religious 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.

From recent mixed Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Incredibly good. Treats colonialism with a level of nuance that I have seldom seen in any kind of novel before. Also gorgeously written."; "A classic fiction book about native African society before the white man and the modernity that he brought with him changed the African interior forever. A great study of culture and societies through anthropological, sociological, and religious lens."; "This is so good, but saying I enjoyed it, would not necessarily be true. I had to put down this book every three pages or so just to breathe."; "I was confused at first with the characters. A glossary or maybe even a family tree would be a nice addition to future editions. The book is told in three parts wherein Okonkwo leaves his village then returns after 7 years to find it different from the way he knew it. It has a dark atmosphere but was a fairly easy and fast read. I'll definitely pick up the rest of the trilogy."