Do you see the mountains? the palm trees? the Yam being harvested? Those are my nieces and cousins, my uncles and aunts. The soil you are standing on is my mother: The world is my family...

If you ask me what is that makes Things Fall Apart such a beautiful book, I would not say that is because of the main character Okonkwo, a troubled Igbo who is afraid of being weak and a coward as his father was. I would not say it is because of Okonkwo's second wife Ekwefi, whose bravery is beyond any of the false men of the village Umuofia. Nor because of the trustworthy representation of the effects of colonialism in the Igbo culture. It is true that those elements add up to the masterpiece that Things Fall Apart is.

But for me, the book would be a mere book, one of the million that humankind has written over the years, if it weren’t for the magic of the Igbo traditions presented in the book. It is really a magical trip reading the book, reading the story of Okonkwo, while we also read the story of demons, of a tortoise who flew to a feast in the sky, of gods and goddesses.

I cannot help but remember The Kingdom of this world by Alejo carpentier, another book that filled us with magic, legends and myths. You cannot picture the book without thinking about Voodoo magic, and the magical stories of Macandal.

It is the mix of occidental narrative with the magic of ancestral cultures that makes both book so beautiful, so tasty, so vivid, you can actually feel the magic surrounding your reading.

With Things Fall Apart, You end up fearing the dangers of the night, feeling the beating of the drums before the fights, feeling the calm of the week of peace, and enjoying the stories of the old women. You end up living the Igbo culture, you end up belonging even if it just for a second to that culture.

That’s the beauty of it: you are able to understand Okonkwo position only because you know how his traditions works. You can understand how important   Ezinma was for Ekwefi, how brave was Ekwefi when she followed the oracle of Agbala. You would not understand the tragic story of Okonkwo without the magic flowing from the Igbo traditions that are so beautifully represented in the book.

And it is through the fall of these tradition that we understand how disastrous was the arrival of the white men, and why in the end Okonkwo decides to fall apart himself.

Thank you for reading.

"Remember, boy, that gods used to step on the same soil you sow your yam, drink from the same streams you drink from , marvel at the same stars that watch over us. Remember boy, this is their gift to us. This land is filled with magic, you can see it when the sky opens up after days on unending rain, when you see the flowers bloom, when the women give birth, we're surrounded by it. We are one and many at the same time: that is the most powerful magic, belonging to a place you can call home, surrounded by those you can call your own"