Books ain’t sugar even though they can somewhat be compared as one is interesting while the other is sweet. I think it is not bad to read a book for as much as five times as long as it is entertaining and you can always spot a theme in every read.
This is one of the greatest books I’ve ever read and ever since its release till today, it has been one of the greatest book to come out from Nigeria and I’d be doing a review on this book.
Things fall apart is a book of 166 pages by late Chinua Achebe. It tells a story of a wealthy and respected warrior of Umuofia clan named Okonkwo who is haunted by the actions of his father Unoka who was a debtor and left so many bad records before he died.
Okonkwo has a son named Nwoye but he’s so lazy and this makes Okonkwo think all the time if his son won’t end up like his father.
Who knows what Nwoye is really going to end up like?
Umuofia clan won a virgin and fifteen yeaf old boy after settling with a neighboring tribe. The fifteen year old boy named Ikemefuna was taken care of by Okonkwo. Okonkwo took the boy and began to take care of him. Since Ikemefuna is older than Nwoye, he took him as his older brother.
They became so attached and close but something happened again. Ogbuefi Ezeudu sees Okonkwo in camera and tells him that the oracle says Ikemefuna must be called but Okonkwo should not take part in the death of the boy because he’s like a father to him.
At this point, the book became something I couldn’t stop gazing my eyes at. What’s really going to happen? Will Okonkwo allow the boy to be killed? Who dares kills his foster son? Maybe Okonkwo but let’s see. I know you’d think Okonkwo must be confused but no. He knows what to do and that was when I surrendered that this book is a great masterpiece.
There is one major thing I love about this book which is the suspense that is being portrayed in it. The point where we don’t know if Ikemefuna will be killed or not buttressed the suspense in this book. I know that anyone who’s not patient is actually going to flip the pages but if anyone does so, the person will miss a lot. Every line in that book tells an information so there should be no skipping.
Nwoye and Ikemefuna could have been best friends and brothers but sadly, Ikemefuna’s life was cut short and Nwoye could no longer see his best friend and the one who motivates him to be hardworking.
Eventually, Okonkwo was banished from the village for having a hand in the death of Ikemefuna when he is not supposed to. His house was burned and every other thing he has as well. Then, he relocated to his motherland.
Are there any flaws in this book?
Maybe yes but what if I didn’t notice that. If I ever get to tell you that there are flaws in this book, it’s because I didn’t expect Okonkwo to have a hand in the death of Ikemefuna but he actually did.
The book is a great masterpiece just as I have mentioned earlier so I’m sorry to fail to have spotted any mistake or flaw.
Is this book recommendable?
Yes, why not? There are so many things to learn from this book and one interesting part of it is the fact that it portrays a real African society and African lifestyle as a whole.
It centers on themes like war, tragedy and betrayal. If I’m to rate this book, I’d give it a 9/10. In a nutshell, Chinua Achebe’s Things fall apart is a masterpiece.
The image is a screenshot taken by me.
