Things Fall Apart

I've discovered while reading Nigerian authors that the vibe is really different from the books I'd read prior that are written from more Eurocentric schools of literature. The style is more matter of fact and deadpan, and the reader most look to nature and symbolism to extract the full intended meaning.

Okonkwo beats his wives, he can't express love, he can't give the child he loves most – his daughter – her due, and he betrays someone who trusts him. All he knows or understands is his place in his village and his need to be traditionally masculine.

I didn't like him much, but in the end I felt compassion for him. Everything changed that he relied upon to be constant, all the respect he valued was lost to him, the people he felt he could count on – in his mind – let him down. And after having a place, a life, an understanding of the world, and story enough to fill a novel, someone who can't begin to know him proclaims him worthy of perhaps an interesting paragraph. In his native land, a stranger dismisses the value of his life, and instead replaces him as the center of attention.