I loved the story too. Not that the setting was idyllic, but the last sentence was a jarring summary of what's about to take place for the people of Umuofia.

I've also met men like Okonkwo, usually veterans like he was. They fought so hard to defend what they believed in that they can't give it up just like that-what sense would their world make without it?

For a look at how colonialism destroys children's lives, I recommend Ahmadou Kourouma's Allah is Not Obliged, a tragedy with no hint of sentimentality or pajamafication.

A character turning out not to be what they seem, and getting mad at the reader for expecting such a formulaic story. Examples include Gone Girl, Pedro Páramo, Candide, and House of Leaves (in one sequence Johnny Truant says that he has friends who helped him recover, then mocks the reader for thinking a storybook ending like that could happen here).