THINGS FALL APART

Okonkwo, driven by blinding ambition, finally overcomes his father’s legacy of shame. Or does he? In the Ibo village of Umuofia at a time when the tribe is intact, the gods are respected, and planting yams is a man’s principal responsibility, Achebe tells, above all, a man’s story. Like Okonkwo’s life, it is clean, hard and beautiful, but finally painful when the orderly, peaceful village life comes crashing into Christianity. Peter Francis James’s bass voice resonates perfectly with the elevated diction and multiple voices of Achebe’s novel. It’s a firm, sometimes furious voice, when speaking the powerful Okonkwo, but yielding and playful with his daughter, Ezinma. Full of melodic richness, James projects Achebe’s genuinely African cadences with a power and dignity equal to his vision, giving us finally in audio the most moving picture ever of African village life by an African. P.E.F. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 98]