To my eternal shame, I must admit that I haven't read this book before now nor did I know of its existence. However, I must confess that I was mesmerised by this book and thoroughly enjoyed it as I read through it.

Achebe displayed his mastery of the art of story telling in this book as he successfully combined humour, wittism, philosophy and morality in the 167 page book. What struck me most is the ease with which one can relate to the book, which was written about 3 decades ago, as if what was the bane of the people then is still here and have not moved. The picture of the antagonist, Chief Nanga (although I think all in government are the antagonist), is the picture one imagines of how a corrupt African politician will be.

As I read through the book, I could see through the eyes of the main character, Odili, as he narrates, albeit humorously and overly too confidently, the plot of the story. I was jolted by his action that were often too daring, tactless but courageous nonetheless.

To me, however, this book represents and speaks volumes of the identity of an African man- which can be summarized in one word, Lost-, his lack of awareness of his identity, a struggle between our local tradition and the imported culture of the white. As epitomised in his first novel, things fall apart, Achebe shows a distaste for the loss of identity of the African man and his heritage and also the lack of cohesion between the people and the imported system of governance.

Most importantly I was struck by Achebe's masterful understanding of the "crowd mentality". His artistic and philosophical depiction of the hopelessness of the African man in accepting, seeing and worshipping of the corrupt and the corrupt system (or as he puts it in the last paragraph "you chop, me self I chop; no palaver" is enough food for thought for a whole day.
Ones get the feeling that the writer is not just discontent with the greed and high handedness of government but also angry at the people for their meekness and tolerance that has futher embolden the criminal in government to steal more. Thus the blame of bad government lays not at the feet of the political elite but at the feet of the people -as is obtainable in present day Nigeria.
At the risk of sounding too modern and disrespectful of my African heritage, I must confess that I find this book 'The man of the people' to be a far entertaining with deeper sociological and political implications than its predecessor, 'Things fall apart'.
What is your opinion?
Do you think things fall apart is Achebe's best work?

from your write up I thought I was reading the part 2 of things fall apart!..........ok! just kidding! I can't count the no if times I''ve read this book! I never get tired of it! for me one word to describe Chinua Achebe's Things fall apart" exquisite!

d book make sense meanwhile pls vote for VICKYDERA2 for miss nairaland 2015

If some people lose dis Miss Nairaland competitiion, dem go kill themselves o. #Teami'mnotvoting cos I see no sense or relevance in it all. Currently reading the book, when I'm done I'll modify dis comment.

tupem:
from your write up I thought I was reading the part 2 of things fall apart!..........ok! just kidding! I can't count the no if times I''ve read this book! I never get tired of it! for me one word to describe Chinua Achebe's Things fall apart" exquisite!

I think the most common theme in Achebe's works is class struggle and freedom of the African man. While I think things fall apart is focused on cultural struggle, the man of the people focuses on intellectual bankruptcy and difference between the elite and the poor.
Hope to hear your opinion on the book when you are through.