I know all the hate Achebe gets on here for his opinion on 'Heart of Darkness', but I was curious as to what /lit/ thought of 'Things Fall Apart'.
>Yams on Yams on Yams on Yams on Yams.
>>7674748
>reading nig nogs
>>7674748
I'm not so sure that's why /lit/ dislikes him. It's my impression that /lit/ isn't particularly fond of Heart of Darkness either. In general, there's an aversion against the kind of books one reads in high school, be that Conrad, Fitzgerald, Salinger or Steinbeck.
I thought Things Fall Apart was pretty mediocre. The father/son theme was painfully trite. Okonkwo's actions where often ridiculous, and at points, the characterization was hamfisted to the extreme.
The ending though, was superb. But it did not manage to salvage or redeem the rest of the work.
I haven't read anything else by Achebe. I could be willing to give him another shot, if I hear about another work that is supposedly better. Bear in mind that while I found Things Fall Apart mediocre, it is miles ahead of most books.
>>7674761
You know where you belong. I suggest you go there.
'/lit/'(which isn't a hivemind anway) doesn't hate TFA, or even the African Trilogy as a whole. The worst it gets is people saying it's massively overrated(not untrue), and the more /pol/-minded amongst its critics here attribute this to it being overly praised in academia because of its perceived Africanness.
I liked TFA, but it's probably the weakest of the African Trilogy, for me in part because of its excessive focus on trying to frame the story in the Igbo world. Most characters at times are archetypes(especially the oh-so-tragically flawed Okonkwo) instead of feeling like genuine persons, which weakens the whole work because the Igbo world that Achebe puts so much effort in describing feels flat and uninhabited. The other two parts of his African Trilogy suffer much less from this - I suspect because Achebe was a lot more westernised than he was traditionally Igbo, and didn't have to strain so much to write the other two.
I actually quite enjoyed it, even if it was extremely heavy handed.
>>7674825
Interesting. Which work of the African Trilogy would you consider superior? I agree with a lot of your thoughts on TFA, but have not been entirely turned of Achebe.
>>7674794
Really? Every thread on /lit/ I've seen has had high regards for Heart of Darkness.
read it in highschool
yams were a running joke
in retrospect I agree with this anon >>7674794
>>7674930
It didn't stand out to me much until the very end when hehangs himself. I found that surprisingly tragic and potent.
>>7674748
What's the yams?
I read this in college for Brit Lit (not sure why) and I thought it was pretty good.
I'm usually interested in topics such as colonialism and conflict between different cultures though so that's probably partly why.
>>7674953
why do you continue these racist comments when nobody finds them funny or offensive? Racists are like the Cambridge undergrads of the taboo
"i love soup but i hate blacks and asians"
>>7675066
The Yams is the power that be.
>>7675167
But bro, it's edgy so it must be funny!
My mom's book club read it therefore it must be shit.
>>7675167
>Racists are like the Cambridge undergrads of the taboo
What the literal fuck?
i had to read it for school once and i got three or four chapters in before i stopped
I liked the ending, but Stoner did TFA 1000x times better.
>>7675324
the joke is that Cambridge undergraduates always boast about getting into Cambridge (with good reason ofc)
I liked it too, only I'm not so eloquent as >>7674794 to be able to share my enjoyment with you via the medium of words.
>>7674794
if you don't like Steinbeck, you got no soul
>>7675615
>not liking plodding prose with heavyhanded sentimentality and symbolism and trite "lessons" means you have no soul
wew lad
also
>implying the soul isn't a spook
If I ever write an autobiography I'm gonna steal the title
>>7674748
Im about to start Arrow of God
>>7675640
As it stands, your criticism is so vague that it could be applied to thousands of authors.
>>7676043
yes. and they're all bad. and steinbeck is one of them. what's your point?
>>7676046
>Dostoevsky
>Tolstoy
>plodding prose with heavyhanded sentimentality and symbolism and trite "lessons"
>>7674748
Actually got better as it went on instead of the typical vice versa, pretty solid overall. Yams/10
>teacher made us read this in hs
>whole book is see! Were not barbarians, we have some sort of societal organization!
Felt desperate and kind of dumb
>>7676589
Okonkwo kills his "son", I consider that quite barbaric. I believe Achebe tried to convey that both the tribes and the colonials were barbaric to an extent because after all, all humans have a barbarian inside of them.