| View Larger Image | Things Fall Apart: A Novel | Paperbackby Chinua Achebe (Author)
| List Price: | $11.00 | | Price: | $7.92 | | You Save: | $3.08 (28%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | Anchor | | Page Count: | 224 Pages | | Publication Date: | September 01, 1994 | | Sales Rank: | 1,408st |
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FEATURES | - ISBN13: 9780385474542
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
This is Chinua Achebe's classic novel, with more than two million copies sold since its first U.S. publication in 1969. Combining a richly African story with the author's keen awareness of the qualities common to all humanity, Achebe here shows that he is "gloriously gifted, with the magic of an ebullient, generous, great talent." -- Nadine Gordimer |
Amazon.com Review
One of Chinua Achebe's many achievements in his acclaimed first novel, Things Fall Apart, is his relentlessly unsentimental rendering of Nigerian tribal life before and after the coming of colonialism. First published in 1958, just two years before Nigeria declared independence from Great Britain, the book eschews the obvious temptation of depicting pre-colonial life as a kind of Eden. Instead, Achebe sketches a world in which violence, war, and suffering exist, but are balanced by a strong sense of tradition, ritual, and social coherence. His Ibo protagonist, Okonkwo, is a self-made man. The son of a charming ne'er-do-well, he has worked all his life to overcome his father's weakness and has arrived, finally, at great prosperity and even greater reputation among his fellows in the village of Umuofia. Okonkwo is a champion wrestler, a prosperous farmer, husband to three wives and father to several children. He is also a man who exhibits flaws well-known in Greek tragedy: Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo's fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father. And yet Achebe manages to make this cruel man deeply sympathetic. He is fond of his eldest daughter, and also of Ikemefuna, a young boy sent from another village as compensation for the wrongful death of a young woman from Umuofia. He even begins to feel pride in his eldest son, in whom he has too often seen his own father. Unfortunately, a series of tragic events tests the mettle of this strong man, and it is his fear of weakness that ultimately undoes him. Achebe does not introduce the theme of colonialism until the last 50 pages or so. By then, Okonkwo has lost everything and been driven into exile. And yet, within the traditions of his culture, he still has hope of redemption. The arrival of missionaries in Umuofia, however, followed by representatives of the colonial government, completely disrupts Ibo culture, and in the chasm between old ways and new, Okonkwo is lost forever. Deceptively simple in its prose, Things Fall Apart packs a powerful punch as Achebe holds up the ruin of one proud man to stand for the destruction of an entire culture. --Alix Wilber |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 573 reviews)
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Wonderful for teaching by Jason Hasty  5 Stars
November 24, 2009
I've taught this book four different times in the classroom to 9th graders. It's the one book that I can safely say keeps the kids interested, especially the boys. Come on! When it comes down to it, what do young adults want to learn? It doesn't matter; they just don't want to be bored. In "Things Fall Apart" there's violence and a lot of action, never a dull moment. Teenagers love it, and by the end of the book, they've learned so much about the Nigerian colonization and the destructive path the Europeans burned right through their culture. Lot's of debate will ensue regarding Morals vs. Culture. What is right? What has the right? Tons of cross-curricular potential.
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I'd rather rip out my eyes by Tangerine Dalle (usa)  1 Stars
November 23, 2009
I had to read this for school years ago, we had just finished the kite runner which i loved. i adored it. So i kept an open mind to reading this with high hopes for liking this as much
i cant stand it. i really tried to get into it, but I'll never pick this book up again
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Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe by Jeremiah E. Back (Millersville, Pennsylvania USA) 5 Stars
November 22, 2009
This is a wonderful novel, with excellent incite in the the Igbo tribe in Nigeria at the beginning of colonization.
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Experiencing Another Culture by Elly Johnson  4 Stars
November 21, 2009
The book is an easy read, but well written. It reads like a spoken tale which makes it quite unique.
Though some may have trouble understanding or sympathizing with the characters, as some of my classmates did, one must realize how much a culture affects its members, and that, were we in the same culture, would likely follow the customs as well.
The end IS abrupt, but look closely--you will see why.
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Interesting book by Richard J. Hackett 4 Stars
November 02, 2009
A very interesting story about what life was like in Africa before colonization and how it changed after it.
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SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| Things Fall Apart (Cliffs Notes)
by John Chua (Author), Suzanne Pavlos (Author)
Considered by many to be the most influential African writer of his generation, Achebe's works have been translated into more than 45 languages. This story paints a sweeping picture of Nigeria, informing the world of the dense riches of the country and culture.
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| No Longer at Ease
by Chinua Achebe (Author)
The sequel to the classic, Things Fall Apart, tells of a troubled young African whose formal education separates him from his roots and makes him part of a corrupt ruling elite he despises. Reprint.
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| Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad (Author)
Heart of Darkness, a novel by Joseph Conrad, was originally a three-part series in Blackwood's Magazine in 1899. It is a story within a story, following a character named Charlie Marlow, who recounts his advanture to a group of men onboard an anchored ship. The story told is of his early life as a ferry boat captain. Although his job was to transport ivory downriver, Charlie develops an interest in investing an ivory procurement agent, Kurtz, who is employed by the government.
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| Things Fall Apart (MAXNotes Literature Guides) (REA)
by Sara Talis O'Brien (Author)
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| Arrow of God
by Chinua Achebe (Author)
Set in the Ibo heartland of eastern Nigeria, one of Africa's best-known writers describes the conflict between old and new in its most poignant aspect: the personal struggle between father and son.
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