West Perry Book Club - Monthly Pick: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

The West Perry Book Club meets at the West Perry Branch on Monday, November 9, to discuss Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. It's the club's monthly pick, and the meeting runs from 2 PM to 4 PM.

If you haven't come across it yet, Things Fall Apart is one of the most influential novels of the twentieth century. Achebe tells the story of Okonkwo, a leader and warrior in an Igbo village in Nigeria, and the collision between his traditional world and the arrival of British colonial rule. It's a heavy, sweeping book that looks at how a society changes when its foundations are pulled out from under it, and it's exactly the kind of thing that works best when you have a room full of people to talk it through with.

The West Perry Book Club is the new book club at the West Perry Branch, and they describe themselves as open to anyone who enjoys cozy mysteries or non-fiction. This month's pick, though, takes a different turn into historical fiction. The branch itself opened in 2021 as a 24,000-square-foot facility built to fill a service gap in the growing Perry Township community on Indy's south side. It serves a notably diverse population, with materials in Spanish and in children's Burmese to support the area's immigrant community.

Inside, the branch is more than just stacks of books. There's a community meeting room that holds 203 guests, a fireplace, a marketplace, computer stations, children's and teen zones, and an outdoor patio. The book club meets in that community space, and the session runs from 2 PM to 4 PM on Monday, November 9, at the West Perry Branch, 6650 S Harding St, Indianapolis, IN 46217.