About this title: Things do indeed fall apart in the mid-20th-century world of West Africa when the British colonize the country, disrupting the ancient ways of life that have provided meaning and structure for the inhabitants of a rural Ibo village. The hero of the story is Okonwo, a revered community leader and the character Achebe frequently uses as a kind of "Everyman"--the brave tribesman who tries to cling to old ways in the face of encroaching western civilization. In this novel, Okonwo represents the rich traditional culture of the tribe, while his son Nwoye is attracted to the changes brought by the ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Fawcett
Date Published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780449208106ISBN:0449208109
Description: Acceptable. Overall below average used book. May have highlighting, underlining, notes, price sticker on cover, or be an ex-library book. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Anchor Books
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780385474542ISBN:0385474547
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Highlighting/underlining. clean and well bound, some scattered underlining and highlightling, short tear and tiny hole top front. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 224 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
"Things Fall Apart was a book I had to read for a World Literature class. It was a decent story....one of the better ones I had to read for this class."
"This is a really sad story ... you will learn about some tribal "ways", but I'm sure there are better books out there - not really well written, but okay."
"How To Criticize Things Fall Apart Without Sounding Like A Racist Imperialist:
1. Focus on the plot and how nothing very interesting really happens. Stress that it was only your opinion that nothing interesting happens, so that everyone realizes that you just can't identify with any of the events described, and this is your fault only. 2. Explain (gently and with examples) that bestowing daddy issues on a flawed protagonist is not a sufficient excuse for all of the character's flaws, and is a device that has been overused ad naseum. 3. Also explain how the main character is a generic bully, with no unique characteristics that make him interesting to the reader. Crack joke about Achebe stealing Walt Disney's How To Create A Villain checklist and pray no one beats you to death for it. 4. Do not criticize the rampant misongyny present in the book. It is part of the culture, and is therefore beyond criticism by you because you are not in a position to understand or comdemn what you have not experienced directly. 5. Do not say that the frequent use of untranslated words and confusing names that were often very similar made the story and characters hard to keep track of at times. Achebe is being forced to write in English, a foreign tongue, because he is a post-colonial writer and the fact that the book is written in English stresses his role as a repressed minority, something that you are incapable of understanding, you racist imperialist!"
"I really love this book. It never gets old, even though I've taught it a few times now. The teens, however, are so resistant to it at first because the characters' names are difficult to pronounce, and they find it challenging to keep track of Okonkwo's many wives and children. The other day, though, I was reading an excerpt from it aloud in class, and I caught a teen boy loving it.
This particular teen, who is not such a fan of reading, made a comment under his breath about how he liked the story so far and appreciated the writing. Jumping with joy inside, I asked him to tell us more. Then, he got all defensive and embarrassed and said, "It's not like I'm going to go home and finish it all tonight!!!" Classic teen, ashamed of being moved by literature."
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