Review on "Things fall apart"

This was an interesting read. Did anyone else pick up the error in the book on pg. 83? I'm surprised that the editor's of the book didn't. "When Ekwefi brought the hoe, he had already put aside his goatskin bag and his big cloth and was in his underwear...etc..... uh hello, Ekwefi is a woman according the the rest of the book....Just my two cents to the editors!! :-)

While I see that it was a fictional book, I would pose a question as to how much of it is authentic material.

When I say authentic, I'm referring to it as Achebe's personal experiences or authentic events. I would like to know how much of this book was actually predicated on Achebe's own life experiences. Are the events that happened in this fictional book based on events that occurred in real life?

That being said....It was interesting to note the cultural attributes the tribes and individuals displayed within the book. From what I gathered, the purpose of the book seemed to be racially evident. Achebe builds momentum in the book by describing many things about the tribes beliefs, customs, rituals, etc... so that we are able to identify and relate to their world. Achebe concludes through an evident racial undertone, unequivically lending the destruction of the tribe to the white man.

It may be arbitrary for me to take a suppositional approach to Achebe's book, however I as the reader am interpreting it's meaning as described. The descriptions of the tribes brutalities seem to equal that of the white man's brutalities, irrespective of customs or beliefs as described in the book. In some ways the tribe may even take the drivers seat with regard to brutality. The way in which beatings were regularly handed down and children were killed is not akin to the brutalities between men.

I'm not really sure what else I was supposed to take away from the reading. Cultural differences were really the only thing to cite.