Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (July 2017)
Achebe's 1958 work of historical fiction is widely considered one of the great novels of African literature. Apparently, the book is a staple of many school reading lists and Time Magazine named it to its (somewhat ridiculously named) 'TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005' list.
I enjoyed reading this book and got through it relatively quickly for my standards. I imagine its larger concepts would have made a greater impact on me if I read it earlier on in life, though, for at this point I've thought or read about many of these ideas. This isn't a new problem when reading books from so long ago; the very discussions about colonialism and cultural destruction Achebe's work opened up were baked into school curriculums by the time I hit my K-12 years.
It's a little like the old joke about being born on third base and thinking I'd hit a triple. For me, it's hard to imagine growing up without being exposed to and participating in the discussion about the events from Things Fall Apart. So in reading the work now, it is a little tougher for me to appreciate what an accomplishment this book must have been in 1958.
Intertwined in the story about how European missionaries impacted Okonkwo and his tribal world were many little nuggets of insight or wisdom. Of these, I enjoyed most the story of the bird who learned to fly without perching. By doing this, it avoided the hunters who never missed a shot - so long as the target was stationary.
There was more than initially met my eye to the warning about the need to ignore the shouting man. By the end of Things Fall Apart, I understood why the one who remains silent is always the most dangerous of all.
