They say Africa was a Dark Continent and there were no culture, religion, science, law etc before the advent of the White Man on a civilizing mission few centuries back. White Man brought new religion, new laws (also Apartheid and racism), new customs etc to this dark continent and wiped out the older version of the African civilization. This is normal history of Africa that we all are told. But fortunately for us Chinua Achebe tells us a different story.
Chinua Achebe
was the greatest African writer but even that was not enough to get him
the Nobel Prize. He died few months back in March 2013. He wrote
seminal pieces on Africa and African society and each story mesmerizes
to the core of human heart. 'Things Fall Apart' is a heart touching and hear breaking story of Africa; its not a story of one village, one tribe or one country but whole of Africa that was the victim of White Man's burden. This story aptly symbolizes the story of colonized Asia, America, Australia as well. 'Things Fall Apart' is a story of the decline of the egalitarian life of 9 African villages because of the arrival of White colonists, their religion and their laws. It tells how Christianity dismantles (sic) the communal fabric of the traditional African society, how it parts a son from his father and how it makes Africans to abuse/desecrate their traditional Gods. This story is too good to be ignored and has its parallel in almost all parts of India and else where. Please do read it, its less than 200 pages and each page is gold. Its a shame that i could not read this book in the life time of Chinua Achebe.
Highly recommended (10/10)
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