"Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe gives a vivid and candid view of a world and culture so different from our own. After the chapters and layers of the everyday lives of the characters, especially the lion-like, larger-than-life main character of Okonkwo, I would never have guessed at the events revealed at the end of the book. Achebe slowly weaves the story, showing us the vast differences of characters, situations, customs, attitudes, all within the silken beauty of his well chosen words. This would be an invaluable book to introduce to young readers. Though there is violence, it is not graphically depicted. As the events unfold in the third part of the book, the reader has become immersed in this native culture. I have not found many books which have so successfully normalized a culture outside my own. Even the parts which were strange, brutal, or just plain distasteful, were revealed in a way in which the reader can at least make sense of it. By then end of the story, it gives the readers a clear idea of the way in which a usurping, oppressive, culture may look to native peoples who are in danger of loosing their own identity through the colonization process.