Nervous Conditions
4 journalers for this copy...
Dangarembga's début novel, Nervous Conditions, is set in colonial Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) in the 1960s and '70s. The protagonist is Tambu, a young girl from a poor, rural area, and who gets the opportunity to study at mission school.
The book's main themes are colonisation, cultural clashes and questions of patriarchy and women's role in society. Tambu's cousin, Nyasha, who feels out of place after returning from England to Rhodesia, highlights those issues by pointing out what she sees as problems around her.
The narrator is Tambu as an adult, and she sometimes comments on the story through choices of words, which I found sometimes even humorous, even though the story overall is a tragic one.
The book's main themes are colonisation, cultural clashes and questions of patriarchy and women's role in society. Tambu's cousin, Nyasha, who feels out of place after returning from England to Rhodesia, highlights those issues by pointing out what she sees as problems around her.
The narrator is Tambu as an adult, and she sometimes comments on the story through choices of words, which I found sometimes even humorous, even though the story overall is a tragic one.
18.4.2008 Post had delivered the book sometime last week. Thank you for fulfilling my wish, Perdue!
5.4.2022 It took a long time for me to take time to read this book. Reading in English is always a bit harder than in my native langauage, so it requires a bit more time and yet I still feel I miss something, when I don't understand everything perfectly.
The book is about an extended black family of the former British colony Southern Rhodesia, living in what is today Zimbabwe. I noticed I had forgotten a lot about colonial history, so therefore it required a bit of searching to get the timelines in order in my mind. The extended family was full of peculiar characters, not always so nice ones at all and full of conflicts. All in all it was an intriguing story - at the same time a young girl's growth story and a vivid description of colonial Rhodesia and the patriarchal society. A tragic story in many ways, but not completely without hope.
5.4.2022 It took a long time for me to take time to read this book. Reading in English is always a bit harder than in my native langauage, so it requires a bit more time and yet I still feel I miss something, when I don't understand everything perfectly.
The book is about an extended black family of the former British colony Southern Rhodesia, living in what is today Zimbabwe. I noticed I had forgotten a lot about colonial history, so therefore it required a bit of searching to get the timelines in order in my mind. The extended family was full of peculiar characters, not always so nice ones at all and full of conflicts. All in all it was an intriguing story - at the same time a young girl's growth story and a vivid description of colonial Rhodesia and the patriarchal society. A tragic story in many ways, but not completely without hope.
arrived safely today, thank you!
enjoyed this book although the ending was very strange. An interesting story of a period of change and transition in what is now Zimbabwe.
Released 1 yr ago (5/7/2022 UTC) at Isle of Cumbrae, Scotland United Kingdom
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
going into the mixed fiction bookbox
Chosen from the mixed fiction bookbox.