Re-reading this 15 years later, one appreciates the craft of this classic. It’s a story that possesses great emotional weight. The shocks as they come simmer, you expect them – the novel is called things fall apart, the epigraph is the quote of Keats’ poem with the following line: the center cannot hold; still you can’t brace yourself for it. You are drawn into the world, lulled almost by the complexities of the traditions, the language that you sense hints at a culture of rich intensity.

Although you remember the encounter with Europe, with the missionaries, with colonialism, divide and conquer etc.. that is only a part of the novel. The main thrust is drawing out african’s perspective is here and what a perspective.