Date Finished: March 5, 2011
Number of Pages: 209
Rating: 3 out of 5
Books Toward Goal: 2 out of 25 (8%)
Things Fall Apart is about an African man named Okonkwo. The first half of the book is pretty much just an introduction to Okonkwo's character. He's a tough man who doesn't like to appear weak and in result doesn't show much emotion for his friends and family and beats them often. He cares about his family and wants his children to succeed in life but he has a hard time showing it. In the first half Okonkwo is entrusted with a young man, Ikemefuna, because of some trouble had with another tribe, where they were forced to give up one of their sons to pay for their crimes. Ikemefuna, different though he is, begins to grow on Okonkwo and he treats him like his own son. Ikemefuna stays with them for three years. In the second half of the book Okonkwo and his family are banished for a few years to the village of Okonkwo's mother because he accidentally shot and killed a member of the tribe. After a few years in this tribe, Christian missionaries arrive and start converting a few of the natives. Among them is Okonkwo's first son Nwoye. The banishment is soon over and Okonkwo returns to his own village where the same missionaries have basically taken over their town. Okonkwo is angry and things really do begin to fall apart.
I found this book really interesting coming from a Christian point of view. After reading the first part I really got to know Okonkwo and I cared about him and his family and then when the missionaries arrived I knew that they believed that they were doing the right thing in trying to bring them what they thought was right and true. Even though I'm Christian the whole time I just wanted the missionaries to leave the tribes alone. They were turning families against each other and disrupting their whole system of government. They were doing things that the tribes thought were evil and unholy, like killing a black snake that they believed was one of their gods. They defiled things that were sacred to the villagers trying to prove that their gods weren't real. I was almost completely on Okonkwo's side in wanting the missionaries to leave. However, the book didn't portray all the Christian missionaries as evil people who care for villagers like dirt on their shoes. There were some missionaries who took the time to get to know the villagers and all about what they believed and didn't condemn them when they refused to accept the new beliefs. These missionaries were outnumbered though, by the quick-tempered, close-minded ones.
I gave this book 3 out of 5 because, even though I enjoyed it and I found it really fascinating, I don't generally read this genre of books and I just didn't get into it as much as most books I read. To me, it was more like reading a really interesting newspaper article.
I'd recommend it to anyone with an open mind who likes looking at things in a new perspective.
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