Indian Readers discussion

Hi friends,
Me and Gehna are embarking on an epic journey in search of How and why things fall apart, and we are also peeking into the subcontinent of Africa and studying its inhabitants.
Achebe will be telling us more - literally, as well as metaphorically.
Others interested can join in at any time. :-)

Shalini wrote: "Gehna, am extremely sorry. A thousand apologies.
I tried to add this book to my shelf and find that I have already read it, AND HAD TOTALLY FORGOTTEN ABOUT IT.

Please go ahead. I will join you in ..."

LMAO! Unfortunately you can't blame the auto-correct this time :P

#JustColThings

Meanwhile Gehna be like:

Shoa, Oh yes. Laugh at people's misfortunes. It is not even 24 hours after Gehna claiming publicly that I made her cry. :/
Now what will she do? 0.0

Smitha, we planned to read not this one ~_~

eeeeeessssshhhhhh.Do I have a working brain, or not? @_@ :-S

shall make changes to title and proceed.
Feeling sheepish.

Hahahahaha :D :D

Changes made.

I am going to start today evening.

High five, Gehna :)

Smitha, sure!!
I will start it later tonight :)

It was actually fun to see the older thread. I was so worried about my homework which was incomplete and then I saw the thread thread and started laughing so hard that people around here thought I was going crazy with mood swings :D

Gehna wrote: "It was actually fun to see the older thread. I was so worried about my homework which was incomplete and then I saw the thread thread and started laughing so hard that people around here thought I ..."

LOL, glad to be of service :P

I sometimes think all the books I have read and all the characters have morphed into a huge mess in my brain.
I sometimes confuse the characters, or the books.

ha ha ha...

Now I am screaming with laughter from my chamber. Hope I dont frighten others around.

haha! xD :D

Am at chapter 2.
African writing has a simplicity to it that I greatly enjoy. (or is it that the complex interplay if words get lost in translation?)
Enjoying the strange names, customs,and above all, the cute proverbs.

Chap 4
I am liking it :)

I am also enjoying customer and those proverbs but I keep forgetting who was who with these strange names :P

Am adding what we discussed in my update thread here:

Shalini is 25% done
I dislike Okankwe for the way he treats women. :-(


message 1: by Gehna (last edited 13 hours, 53 min ago) (new) - added it

13 hours, 54 min ago


Gehna
Hai na! I too hate him for that :/
But I guess all of the people in village don't think women are that important, the way they were more concerned about breaking the week of peace than the poor condition of his wife :/


Harsha (new) - rated it 4 stars

11 hours, 53 min ago


Harsha
I was very uncomfortable with that too, while reading, but then the novel is giving a real picture of the pre-colonial days in his country. One thing we ought to note about Achebe is, he gives us a real (i think) account of the African culture including the good and not-so-good aspects of it, without judging. It is upto us as readers to decide what is right or wrong.

At 28%

(view spoiler)[
Ifenmumu is brutally killed by those ignoramuses, and Okankwe has taken part in it, however much he likes the boy.
Oh God, I am so upset. I was getting to like him.
Superstition and Ignorance can do more damage than real wickedness, as I imagine all these people are not wicked by nature.
(hide spoiler)]

Shalini wrote: "At 28%

(view spoiler)[
Ifenmumu is brutally killed by those ignoramuses, and Okankwe has taken part in it, however much he likes the boy.
Oh God, I am so upset. I was getting to like him.
Superstition and Ignora... (hide spoiler)]"


(view spoiler)[ I too felt really bad. I thought Okonkwo won't really kill him since he liked him a lot. He killed Ikemefuna himself!
It was so difficult for Nwoye too. (hide spoiler)]

Chap 9 (around 33%)
(view spoiler)[ Ezinma is dying. I hope Okonkwo is able to save her. (hide spoiler)]

I just crossed that. Now into the incident of the 9 village elders overseeing a marital strife

I stopped there. Shall continue it to reach the marital strife.

These men don't care about their wives but they do care about their daughters.

ha ha.... reached there?
am reading that now

Chap 10
(view spoiler)[ Just read that part about Uzowulu and his wife.
Wife's brother cares for her but her husband does not. And her husband wanted his kids back. They do care about kids.
Okonkwo also beats his second wife but care for his daughter.

That's weird.... :/ (hide spoiler)]

Perhaps, blood is thicker.
Am at an interesting juncture now. Agbala and Ekwefi

Oh wait, you are reading fast :D

I shall continue to reach there :)

It is a small book, Gehna :-)
Please take your own time as you have studies too. I finished chapter 12. It isa relly interesting book. I love reading about other culture.
I wonder how foo-foo and cocoyam taste.

Now it is dinner time. I will continue later :P
Foo-foo lost my interest with that weird name :P
What is it anyway? :) :P

Btw, is Chielo going to kill Ezinma?? :O

foo foo is either raw banana or cassava flour. One of their staples :-)
I can tell you what happens, but then you won't thank me :-P

Well into part 2, Gehna. Unexpected happenings!

Shalini wrote: "foo foo is either raw banana or cassava flour. One of their staples :-)
I can tell you what happens, but then you won't thank me :-P"

Ohh... But why foo foo? :P
It sounds weird.

But I am liking this different culture! :)

Shalini wrote: "Well into part 2, Gehna. Unexpected happenings!"

Good or bad??

Can't say for now.

Ohh... I will catch you tomorrow with some progress in reading :)

Sure. Not that I won't say, but that things can progress in either ways. Something like a cross road. :-)

Okonkwo killed someone's son.... By mistake?? O.O

Okonkwo killed someone's son.... By mistake?? O.O

Yes. And it has repercussions.

Am at 85%. Shall finish it off today.

I will snail through it :P

I borrowed this book from the library and its an edition by the Millennium project. I read the introduction today which is about 13 pages long, written by Kwame Anthony Appiah (I don't know who this person is). It explains why the book is hailed with reverence by the literary community. Apparently, it started Igbo tradition of story telling in English language and Achebe's mastery lies in its ability to describe an Igbo story in Igbo flow of language in English.

I don't have the introduction in my book.

Yes, perhaps. I never felt at a loss when reading the African customs and words in English language in this book. The flow was maintained.

I will finish this book today :)

Ricky, how much done? :)

Finished it!! 3.5 stars :)

How was the end? I sort of expected it with such a title. So wasn't much surprised.

I too realized that about the end. It didn't really cause the effect it should have... for me.

What happened to his family? Do you think what he did was appropriate?

I think it was impulsively done. He must not have contemplated much. As to his family, perhaps they will scrape through.
You know that this is part of a trilogy, right?

The end was apt according to the title, but I wanted a little more. And a few , more question like what happened to his eldest son who had joined the white men?

Yeah, I know it is a trilogy. Will you continue it?
Am not sure.I didn't like this book much.