Fiction Literature Books

A wonderful book with a powerful message about the human condition in relationship to the Trinity. In many ways, reminiscent of the writtings of CS Lewis. For convenience sake, I downloaded the audiobook to my iPod so that I could listen during my commute to the office. The narration brought the story to life and synergistically complimented the storyline and the listening experience. Perhaps better appreciated by members of the chior rather than the skeptics. The audiobook contained almost nine hours of material.

One thing I learned a long time ago: Never let a book (or Bible teacher, or preacher, or friend, or long-held belief about a thing) ever replace God in your life. When the Holy Spirit abides in us, we have access to the discernment that will say to us, "yes, this is right," or "no, don't be so quick to weave that into the fabric of your soul." I have a relationship with God. Relationship. Which means as I have read this book, I have given room to the Holy Spirit to speak to me about what I am reading. This book is not the Bible. But neither is Oswald Chamber's My Utmost for His Highest, and yet God has used both of these books (in addition to Bible study) to lift veils from my eyes, encourage me, convict me, give me vision and hope . . .

I don't know this author, but I'm awfully glad he wrote this book. Oswald often points out scripture that details a really simple walk with Christ: "Do you find your walk with Jesus simpler than it ever has been in your life?" The Shack has pointed me more in this direction.

I suppose I could take the time to pick apart the book out of context, attempting to highlight what could be considered "unbiblical." Or, I can simply ask God to show me what He wants me to learn from it and enjoy it for what it is: One man's best attempt to express the trinity as he sees and experiences it.

Whether fiction (as it is categorized), or not (as the foward somewhat suggests), it is wonderfully encouaraging and thought-provoking. I'm considering purchasing extra copies to give away - which is exactly how I came to read it!

This is not my normal reading genre and I'm often uncomfortable reading "Christian" books but I was pleasantly surprised with The Shack. Whether or not you're open to the anthropomorphism that casts God as a black woman or the Holy Spirit as an ethereal Asian nymph like creature you should take the time to listen to their dialogue as written by William P Young.

It is an easy call to say that folks who buy into the Laws and Letters of Theology as presented by many mainstream churches today will squirm in their britches at the loose cannon approach taken here. Young writes from his heart and is brave enough to admit that most of us have railed at the Lord for the perceived injustices we see in the world today. Many of us have gone so far as to hate him (her, it) for taking loved ones in horrible ways before we're ready to let go. We question wars and why they're allowed if indeed God has the power to "just say no".

The courageous thing that Young's done in this book is not just to ask the hard questions but to attempt to offer answers that actually make a little sense.

I loved this book! I have read many of the reviews from 5 stars down to 1. Seriously, readers, why can't we just take the book for what it is, an entertaining read! There are too many people out there who try to psyco analyze everything in print. I didn't see it as heresy. I didn't even see it as slightly disrespectful to our God. We are merely human and there is much that we do not, and never will understand. God's ways are not our ways. Why should anyone put God in a box? I believe that He wants to have a very personal relationship with each and every one of us, and if He wants to appear as a large African-American woman called "papa" who are we to say He can't?
You need to read this book with an open mind, so not everyone is going to "get" it. It is open to interpretation, but so is the Holy Word. I believe God intended it that way - different passages speak to different people in different ways.
God has a sense of humor, and I think He must have smiled when He read this book.

It would be a better book if the author had left out the vast amount of doctrine. For example, trying to explain the trinity while telling a story fails to to both.

This is an incredible book and I'd recommend it to anyone. It should be made into a movie. Amazing and captivating from start to finish. WOW!!!

I have strongly mixed feelings about _Water for Elephants_. The alternating story between the daily life of a 90-ish year old man and his cantankerous behaviour with his youth as a circus vet kept my attention; the details about the social heirarchy between members of the circus was (on the authority of a former circus roustabout friend of mine) accurate; and I have to admit, I am a sucker for a love story. However, as previous reviewers have noted, the 1930's vernacular, and the mannerisms of men of that era were abhorrent - but then I am a stickler for these kinds of detail.

The story - of a Cornell vet student who quits his final exams before graduation to join the circus and his subsequent adventures (and love story) has undoubtedly caught the imagination of the vast majority of Amazon reviewers - including myself. Yet I deduct a star because of the lack of attention to detail regarding the male protagonists and the verbage of the time. For most readers, this apparently isn't an issue, in which case I would stronlgy recommend it.

As far as breezy summer reads go, this certainly fits the bill - who *hasn't* fantasized about running off with the circus? (Happily oblivious to the hard work, long hours and mediocre pay ...) Which among us doesn't dream (or hasn't dreamed) of finding your soul-mate on such an adventure? Recommended, particularly for the romantics among us.

Following a family tragedy, Jacob Jankowski abandons life as a college student, and instead of working as a veterinarian alongside his father, finds himself caring for animals in a traveling circus--the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Jacob befriends numerous characters, from the glamorous performer Marlena, to the alcoholic Camel, who works setting up the circus, to the Benzini Brothers' star elephant, Rosie. As he travels between different castes of the circus and across America, Jacob narrates the triumphs and hardships experienced by the people and animals of the Great Depression-era attraction.

Interspersed throughout the novel are chapters that introduce the reader to the present-day, nonagenarian Jacob, as he laments his current living arrangement in a nursing home.

Despite several graphic descriptions of animal abuse and the cruelty displayed the novel's antagonists, the story is ultimately fun, escapist and sentimental, with an optimistic, if improbable, conclusion.

Water for Elephants has recently taken over the spot of my favorite book. The book flawlessly alternates between the main character's present day experience in a nursing home and his memories of his life during his early 20's. I was skeptical about the switching at first since many books that do this are usually confusing and I have to keep turning back a few pages to see what time period I'm in, but the author does this perfectly.

I completely fell in love with the main character, both the 92 year old and 23 year old versions of him. As someone who works in a nursing home, his experiences were so realistic and the author captured this perfectly.

The book was extremely well written and it was obvious that Gruen did her research. I found myself looking for more information about travelling circuses and downloading pictures from them, especially elephants, after reading this.

I read this book because my sister-in-law (who never reads) could not put it down until she finished. So I gave it a go and, after a slow start, was interested enough to finish. The author does everything she can to exploit the reader's concern for cats, dogs, monkeys and, of course, the titular elephant. The narrator is a vet who sticks with the circus, at first, in order to protect the animals, but he does little to interfere with their mistreatment... or the mistreatment of his fellow humans. In that sense, the book rings false. The book exploits the reader's feeling for animals and animal-human relationships for some cheap emotional effect. And it worked on me to some extent because I cared about (and shed shed tears for) the animals much more than the humans. But I fail to see larger point.

This book is by far the best book I have read to date. This book will open your eyes and heart to those who suffer so greatly over in Iraq, not only that but it is a tremendous story of love and courage that a mother has for children. A must read!

I have never read another book that has touched me the way this book did. It sure made me think about women in other countries in a different light.
I can't wait for another taste of these books by Hosseini.

I read this book a couple of weeks after I finished "The Kite Runner." This book took me a few chapters to get into, and then I again fell in love with the characters. I think if you liked "The Kite Runner" you will also enjoy this book as well. I am now a big fan of Khaled Hosseini and can't wait for him to come out with a new book.

What a fabulous story filled with depth, feeling and haunting moments. I was sorry when the novel ended and with such a bittersweet conclusion. The story and the characters will stay with you long after you finish the book.

I truly didn't think I could love another book as much as I did "The Kite Runner." However, this one is as good! Just as his earlier book concentrated on relationships among men, this one focuses on relationships among women - and what relationships they are! This is a simply wonderful book - I can't wait for his next one!

What has perhaps seduced some into thinking that The Great Gatsby is a "great novel" is that it does go after great themes, and was written by a talented writer. If you want to get a sense of Fitzgerald's talent, read his short stories: they crackle with life, excitement, and unlike this novel, have stories that pull you in and move you along hypnotically. Gatsby does not. It is like a great suspension bridge for which the pillars have been laid (the "great themes") but at no time was attention given to putting down the road itself--any plot or characters we can get our teeth into. It is a punishing bore. And I suppose those who like it are those who are so entranced by well-weighted sentences that they can get caught up in it easily. There are two well written pages, especially his description of the people traveling from Minnesota to the East. Those of us who demand more--and I don't think there's anything wrong with demanding an interesting plot!--are quite numerous, and for us, the rest of the book is unbearable. Yes, the theme is potentially great. But the book, like a failed suspension bridge, is a disaster.

It had been years since I first read this classic. What a treat to visit it again. I also loved Michele Cozzens'A Line Between Friends. Two great reads this summer.

The following is a cut-up of other one-star reviews of this product.

Exciting needs to stretch the mind. Mass-produced tickertape parade of sleeping pills. It needs to use sci-fi interest. Imagination murder is what makes the mind. A man spliced together out of old newsreels. 1920s self pity is a wonderful thing. View love in a distant manner.

At only 182 pages in the paperback edition, The Great Gatsby looms far larger in the life of American fiction than its slim dimensions. Unlike many novels with a great deal of hype latched to them, Gatsby lives up to its reputation in every blessed way. Perhaps part of the staying power and widespread appeal of this work is that it and its author were nearly forgotten. This powerful work was hardly read for more than 25 years, and now it is widely assumed to be one of the greatest works of American fiction in the 20th century. It earned its kingdom through dark years. From amnesia to aggrandizement shows that behind the swirl of its reputation is a powerfully complete artistic vision. Like all great work, Gatsby can be read on many levels: as a critique of the shifting American psyche, as a critique of the pitfalls of capitalism, as a time capsule of the roaring 20's... each reading brings new surprises. Perhaps the most refreshing reading is the uniqueness of the language. Fitzgerald here created prose masterpiece. Every sentence is finely wrought and cleverly designed, like jewels in an exquisite setting. He created, as he stated, a consciously artistic achievement.

Aside from making a powerful statement about the so called "American Dream," this novel is brilliantly written. Mr. Fitzgerald's mastery of the English language is evident in his genius sentence structure and meticulous word choice. One cannot help but stop reading to simply marvel at some of his phrasing. I highly recommend Gatsby to anyone out for great read.

I loved this book I didn't want to put it down. I highly recommend this book to everyone but not the movie.

So beautifully written but also so hard to read. Not that the writing is difficult, it in fact flows very poetically on the page. I don't believe I had ever read a book by a foreign author who had done such a brilliant job of bringing a strange new culture to life in such a talented way. But the subject matter itself was hard emotionally to read - so much human cruelty.

But that said - you MUST read this book! It should be required reading in every high school in the country. I learned so much about the Afghan people and culture, all while being treated to a breathtakingly beautiful story of friendship, childish innocence, loyalty, betrayal, and redemption.

If you loved this book as much as I did, run out and get "A Thousand Splendid Suns" as well. You won't be disappointed.

This book sparked an intense interest in Afghanistan for me - I find myself reading as much as I can about the country and the people. This is a great story spun by a master story teller - and it stays with you long after you've read the last sentence.

I normally read fast reading "beach books"in the summer so this was kind of a change for me. This book was fast reading but will stay with me a long time. A lot of books I forget about almost right after I read them but Kite Runner made a lasting impact and made me feel both sad and wonderful at the same time.

Very enjoyable, engrossing read. Whilst in the first half of the book, a traumatic incident about one of the boys, was nearly enough for me to put the book down as I found it so sad, I kept reading and found it to be a great read. Yes, there were some melodramatic moments in the second half of the book but it still made me compelled to read it to the end. I think the author captured the sounds, smells and sights of a war torn country beautifully and would recommend this book to all.

Can a family be cursed? Can an entire country be cursed? Yes, and yes -- according to Junot Diaz. His inventive THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO chronicles a family tagged by a curse called "fuku" and a nation dragged down by a decades-long curse called "Trujillo," as in the dictator of the Dominican Republic from 1930-1961.

What starts off as a coming-of-age novel for a 300-plus pound Dominican Republic boy in Jersey with a penchant for fancy vocabulary, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and Marvel comics, evolves into a family saga that not only follows big Oscar, but envelops his lovely sister Lola, her philandering boyfriend Yunior, his bigger-than-life (both her breasts and her personality, it appears) mother, Beli, and his grandfather, Abelard (allusions, anyone?).

It all adds up to an entertaining romp through the Garden State and the first Caribbean island to be discovered in the new world. Oscar's goals are simple: to kiss a girl and to make love with one. Only it's not so simple when you're obese and could serve as president of World Nerds, Inc. Even his nerdy friends eventually score, but Oscar is left with his own misery, his overprotective sister, and his hell-on-wheels mother. The novel evolves into a family saga when Diaz artfully envelops the history of the mother and her father (Oscar's abuelo) in the Dominican Republic. These riffs show the roots and the tenaciousness of fuku as the novel wends its way to an inexorably tragic end.

Some readers may be put off by Diaz's excessive riffs in Spanish, but the use of the language says much about the DR, about American history, about Westerners (the dominant culture), and about the diaspora's need to adapt to English (the Spanish turns the table on English-speaking readers, you see). Others may be put off by the lengthy footnotes about Trujillo and Dominican history and atrocities. Nevertheless, the book's strands all weave together nicely, and Oscar's love is so sweet and foreign to "normal people's" interpretation of that emotion's potentials and limits that the ending, no matter how predictable, is unarguably perfect. Diaz is a talented modern voice and his subject matter is refreshingly different for those bored with the same old suburban American "drawing room" dramas. Give it a try. Like me, you might find it funny, sad, and -- for lack of a better word -- wondrous...

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
I could not put it down! It is an amazing depiction of immigrant life and the cruelty some of us face growing up at the hands of our peers.

Before writing this review, I read many of the fine reviews that other readers had previously submitted, and now I want to throw in on some of the oft repeated comments:

1. Many readers objected to the heavy use of slang. Rather than offend me, I found the use of slang lyrical and realistic.
2. Like the prior comment, I enjoyed the use of spanglish. My Spanish is pretty good, and the spanglish added color and depth to the novel for me. However, the spanglish was hardly essential, and I was able to skip over those words I didn't know without any loss of enjoyment.
3. I really enjoyed the footnotes, and thought they added depth and uniqueness to the novel. One of the themes of the novel was the interaction of larger historical events (the demonic Trujillo regime) and the life of this family. In this regard, the footnotes were essential. Moreover, I appreciated the unique mixture of this "street" novel and these very detailed historical references.

At the same time, I was surprised to see that there weren't more reviewers that shared my lack of interest in the thoughts and fate of Oscar, the main character. As hard as I tried, I had a hard time empathizing with this character. For me, the best part of a well-written, well developed novel is the opportunity to inhabit the mind, spirit and experiences of another human being, to feel for them, to feel what they feel. For several reasons, I just couldn't get there in this book.

1. Here, the narrator was neither an omniscient voice, nor the main character, but instead, Yunior, another character who related the facts. To me, Yunior's narration was without much insight or understanding. While it was stylistically interesting, it did little to bring Oscar to life.

2. The title refers to Oscar's "brief wondrous life." While I certainly understand the brief part, the wondrous part completely escapes me. To me, Oscar's life was anything but wondrous, and in fact, was at times downright boring. His life was little more than a series of defeats and disappointments, and his one success was too little, too late for me.

3. Pagewise, much of the novel is spent on the lives of Oscar's family members, and not on Oscar. While this material adds to our understanding of the De Leon family history (including the theme of "fuku", the curse), it detracts from Oscar's story.

In conclusion, this is a unique, well written book, but lacks the emotional punch to make it really shine, Pulitzer notwithstanding.

this is one amazing journey. every character is vibrant, well developed and the book is written in a way in which you might get slightly lost from chapter to chapter, however, you quickly realize the method used by the author, which makes the read that much more enjoyable. I truly belive that you have to be knowledgeable of the Dominican culture to get the most out of this novel. and fuku is pronounced foo-koo. very proud that Mr. Diaz won the Pulitzer price for this work.

The novel about the immigrant is almost cliche. In typical American literature or movies he arrives on our shores (after waving to the Statue of Liberty) struggles and then goes on to "melt" into our big pot. THIS IS NOT THAT BOOK. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is funny and you will be really entertained because Diaz writes in a clear, fast and witty manor. What's remarkable about this book is that is educational. The novel is based around the Trujillo regime. The novel includes extensive footnotes that you can learn from or you can ignore because the story is good without them. The footnotes are incredibly relevant to the story. Also, if you are Latino and are all ready familiar with the basics of the Trujillo regime they add even more substance.

Diaz includes a new angle on immigrants. Oscar feels a tremendous pressure to be a typical Dominican man. It raises the question, Do we welcome immigrants in the United States or Do we assume that people from the same culture all have the same personality? We watch Oscar struggle to fit in and find love. This novel also chronicles his intense family dynamic and how living under a dictatorship changes people. Well worth it.

This is the last of a great series of audio books on CD, and the narration by Jim Dale continues to make the characters come alive. What a great way to enjoy the last of the Harry Potter books. Make's my daily drive time commute fun and interesting. If you have listened to the other (6) Harry Potter audio books on CD, this last one in the series is a must. One of the best of the series, Jim Dale's best effort with dozens of voices.

Of course the book was great and I read it lightening fast, but I am so depressed that there is going to be no more Harry Potter books. What do I have to look forward to now??

I love all these books and this audiobook really made the story come alive (helps that it is performed more than just read). I spent days commuting to and from work listening to this and sometimes didn't want to reach my destination and was thankful for traffic!

It is a beautiful story and an appropriate end to the Harry Potter Saga. And of course, Jim Dale is the most talented Audiobook performer I have ever heard... and I've heard a few.

You'll love it!

This was an amazing finale to the potter series, though it is incredibly depressing the end was so open.

By the second paragraph you are interested in the characters and what will happen. A talented writer. An enjoyable read. She has become one of my favorite authors and I anxiously await her next book.

I, like other readers, felt that many of the characters and stories seemed very similar to Ms. Lahiri's other works. While this may be the case, I found it comforting. Though the characters are almost always Begali, they could easily be members of other groups. I think Ms. Lahiri touches on themes common to most people: loneliness, isolation, longing, etc. Ms. Lahiri is writing what she knows and she does it well.

I think at this point, I would expect these types of stories from Ms. Lahiri, just as people expect horror from Stephen King. Can you imagine if you read this book and it was all about Cuban immigrants in Miami? Maybe a lot of the same themes would apply, but it wouldn't be what you'd expect.

It's nice to open this book and find some familiar (but different) characters back in Boston (and beyond). But once you go past the surface, there is more than the Bengali experience. It's not the "Namesake" in small chunks or "Interpreter of Maladies" with a few new characters.

With that said, I'd definitely recommend "Unaccustomed Earth" to those who have not read Ms. Lahiri before and those who are coming back for more. While the settings are familiar, you don't need to have read any of her other books to thoroughly enjoy this one. Finally, I'd say the last two related stories alone are worth the price of admission, so to speak. Enjoy!

These stories where beautiful. Lahiri seemed to push the enveloped a little more with this book, and the result is a beautiful work of prose. I couldn't put this one down. It was fantastic. Again, her stories deal with love, friendship, marriage and tragedy, making her characters real to her readers.

If you read, "Interpreter of Maladies" and liked it, you will love this!

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri: Jhumpa Lahiri, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Interpreter of Maladies, and author of The Namesake, returns after five years with Unaccustomed Earth, a collection of eight stories that are longer than short stories but not quite novella length. It's split into two parts. The first consists of five individual stories, while the second part consists of the last three tales, each involving the same two characters, Hema and Kaushik.

The first story, "Unaccustomed Earth," involves a family who recently moved to Seattle. After the death of Ruma's mother, she is left feeling guilty over the decision of whether or not to invite her aging Baba (father), to live with them. Not sure how to handle this, she invites him to stay with her for a week. Over the course of their time together, father and daughter rekindle their relationship, while secrets are revealed about their separate lives. Baba also meets and falls in love with Ruma's son Akash, looking after him, teaching him some Bengali, and treating him like a grandfather should - giving him more respect and attention than he has ever given Ruma. At the end of the week, Baba goes back home to his secret girlfriend and life of travel, leaving Ruma unsure, and the reader wanting more. "Unaccustomed Earth" sets the tone for the book, which offers stories of lives with problems and decisions and changes that affect all the characters. But it is those of Indian descent who have to deal with how much of their original culture they hold on to in their American lives.

"A Choice of Accommodations" is an interesting story about an interracial couple who are having problems with their marriage. During a weekend attending a friend's wedding, they rediscover their love and respect for each other. The most compelling story of the collection is "Nobody's Business," involving a young Indian girl, Sangeeta, who is involved with an Egyptian man, but continuously has suitors calling her with the hope of a meeting and eventual marriage. What makes the story interesting is that it is told from the perspective of the roommate, Paul, who has a crush on Sang, and finds himself unavoidably involved in her romantic and personal life while trying to complete his doctorate. While at first the story seems to go in an obvious direction, it eventually moves off on a new tangent as things change in Sang's relationship and she ends up moving back to England, with Paul having to deal with the leftover pieces.

Lahiri continues to do what she does best, creating strong, unique characters who stay with readers after the story is over. Sadly, Lahiri fails to take risks with her writing, always portraying Indian characters who - like herself - come from an affluent, upper class upbringing, in most cases in New York or New England. Perhaps in her next work, Lahiri will branch out from her write what you know world and venture into new territory. Nevertheless, Unaccustomed Earth is a fascinating collection of stories involving Indian characters struggling with issues involved in being American, but at the same time keeping their original heritage and culture alive.

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Unaccustomed Earth is a beautiful follow up to Interpreter of Maladies, which I had read and loved. Here, Jhumpa Lahiri returns to similar subject matter, the everyday lives of Bengali immigrants. Her characters remain, as ever, complex, well wrought creations that you feel you know intimately. I loved every story in this collection especially the long one at the end, which is more like a short novel. Lahiri's beautiful writing, her great story-telling ability, and deep sense of human sympathy make her works a pleasure to read. I could easily return to Unaccustomed Earth and read it again and probably with as much enjoyment as I did the first time.

This was the absolute WORST book I've ever read in my life. My English teacher made me read it over the summer and I hated it. It's this boring hard to understand book about this guy in Nigeria just livin' his life. Then he accedentally kills this kid and is sent into excile for seven years. These people come from Europe trying to make the people more civilized and become Christians. So this guy gets mad when he comes back from exile. While they were at a meeting trying to figure out what to do, a messenger comes and the guy gets mad and shoots him. Then he goes home and hangs himself. All of that happens in the three hundred pages. It was an awful book and I would not suggest it to anyone. I wish I could give it no stars. Yeah, it was that bad.

This is probably the worst book I've ever read. It's very difficult to follow and leaves out much which could explain to the uninitiate the point of the book. As someone who has read thousands of books (literally!), I found this one stilted and forced, unreadable, pointless, unpleasant, poor character development, etc. ad nauseum. The only reason I read it is that I couldn't believe my 8th grader when he said the teacher who assigned it said it was a bad book (and, yes, she assigned it anyway!). It is an excellent example of how not to write a book you want people to read. Avoid this one like the plague, unless you've read every other book on the face of the planet.

Chinua Achebe is an accomplished Nigerian writer. "Things Fall Apart" is reputed by Wikipedia to be the most widely read book in modern African literature and has made Achebe the most widely translated African writer of all time.

The book deals with the impact of a foreign culture (the British Empire expanding into Nigeria) on the traditional ways of life and tribal beliefs of the Ibo people of Nigeria. History tells us who inevitably won that "clash of civilisations".

In the book the destruction of a tribal community comes at the hands of well-meaning, but fundamentally arrogant, Christian missionaries, supported by the "civilising mission" of government officials.

Many of the old Ibo beliefs and customs (at least as described by Achebe) were violent and superstitious. The superstition should be no problem for any objective reader - after all, it is simply a different form of spiritual belief to that which most Western readers will be used to, no worse and no better than any of the major religions, just different.

Unfortunately for the Ibo, it was these very beliefs that the christian missionaries found repugnant - perhaps more so than the violence.

However, it is the violence of men towards one another and towards women and children that will appal most modern readers.

Of course, this is a work of fiction and the non-Nigerian reader has no hope of knowing how realistic is the traditional village culture portrayed. Nigerian readers will immediately be able to put it into the correct perspective.

Without any other cultural background or context, books like this in the hands of the unthinking reader can perpetuate stereotypes and even do harm. There is already too much ignorance of, and intolerance to, the customs of other people. One has only to think of today's general ignorance and stereotyping of Muslims - and the general ignorance and stereotyping of Russians during the Cold War.

Sadly, traditional customs and beliefs, even languages, are under increasing threat from the blandishments of the modern world. This is a pity. Most cultural beliefs have a valid place in the human community and are worthy of preservation, as an historical and anthropological record if nothing else. Many of the social and other problems that beset traditional peoples can be laid at the feet of the destruction of customs and beliefs.

The challenge is not only to protect traditional customs, but also to do so in ways that are consistent with preventing violence in those communities. It is difficult, for example, to make any case in favour of female circumcision.

On another level the book can be read as the human tragedy of the principal character, Okonkwo. To our eyes he is a flawed figure, but to his tribe he was an important man.

Achebe's style is very spare and the text is pared to the bone, with few adjectives and adverbs. Sentence constructions are very simple - but not naïve or unsophisticated. Hemingway and other famous writers used a similar style. I like it very much.

I found it helpful to read the Wikipedia entries after I had started the book. This gave me some background and made my reading a more meaningful exercise.

This book made me confront important matters: the clash of civilisations and comparative spiritual beliefs. "Things Fall Apart" is an important book and worth reading.

I was surprised and disappointed in some of the incredibly harsh reviews of this book. Since I've read a decent amount of African literature (not a vast amount), my first thoughts are that "Things Fall Apart" isn't superior to some of those novels. However, it is also important to realize this was a pre-cursor and likely an influence on many if not all of those more recent novels. One needs to think about the historical context and timeframe that this book was written in, the late 1950s. There had not been a large acceptance nor critical recognition of African literature in the Western world during that time, especially of literature from Africa. Achebe's novel had played a critical roled putting African literature on the world map.

The novel centers on one of the leaders of a Nigerian tribe, Okonkwo. Achebe divides the novel into three parts -- setting up tribal life and the Okonkwo's family, his exile to his mother's ancestral tribe and Okonkwo's return to his tribe. The other important theme underlying the story centers on the impact of colonialism, specifically Christianity, on African tribal life.

What "Things Fall Apart" provides us with is deeper knowledge of African tribal life, the customs and mores of a people and the affect of outside influences, in this case Western culture, on traditional tribal life. The book has an elegant simplicity to it, matching the picture Achebe paints of tribal life. While there are a few bits that move slowly, this is a short book and is worthy of a read for both the influence and impact it has had on African literature as well as the the knowledge of a different culture and people that many of us are unlikely to encounter during our life.

When I taught English 9 Honors, I would ask my students what they thought of the books we read. _Things Fall Apart_ always won the "worst book" award. They were right. This is one of the most overrated novels of the English language.

If Achebe had a B.S. detector, he might have been able to chisel this text down to an almost-bearable short story. Alas, he didn't, and this is what we have.

Okonkwo, the protagonist, is supposed to be tragic, but he's not. He's pathetic. He's utterly revolting, from beginning to end. The other characters aren't much better.

The plot starts nowhere and ends in the same place. Sure, there's an obvious structure to the novel, but it doesn't matter. Not much happens. The characters are lifeless, the plot is lifeless, and the prose is lifeless. I know, Achebe crafted the prose to be what it is-- but that doesn't make it any good.

It amazes me that this book is placed alongside (or above, if you listen to some people) works such as _Moby Dick_, _The Great Gatsby_, _Ulysses_, _The Sun Also Rises_, and _The Sound and the Fury_. The truth is, last month's issue of _Bop_ has more value than _Things Fall Apart_.

Pretty darn boring, if it wasn't required to read in English i would've burned it. This type of book isnt for everyone.

I'm usually concerned about purchasing items on line, especially books. I can honestly say that this experience was worth it. I would recommend this seller to anyone interested in purchasing good quality books at extremely reasonable prices.

Buy with confidence, I did!

I would have thought more people would be rating the actual reading of this book, rather than the content. I have loved this book since I read it in high school and have read it several times since then. I have listened to it read by Roses Pritchard and now by Sissy Spacek. Sissy does a terrible job reading: no expression and several mispronunciations. I was embarrassed for her.

I never received this book. Today is July 20,2008. It was ordered back in June.

This book has to be among the best in human history. Flawlessly written from the perspective of a child and full of wisdom. Everyone should read this book.