We were forced to read this book in my 10th grade english class along with Things Fall Apart and No Longer At Ease. I found all of his writing to be dull and non-capitvating and his plotlines, uninteresting. I was one of the few in my class who actually bothered to finnish the book, and I am sorry I did because it was such a waste of time. Not only are there so many more authors who write so much better than Achebe that we should be reading in school, but we should not be subjected to explatives in our literature. It was like Achebe had just descovered curses and sex for the 1st time and wanted to use as many references as he could in the book. Students should have some say in the language and subject matter that they have placed in front of them.