Nervous Conditions

Rating: 4 (28 votes)

Tags: Set in Zimbabwe Female author

Description:

A modern classic from the Booker-shortlisted author of This Mournable Body The groundbreaking first novel in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s award-winning trilogy, Nervous Conditions, won the Commonwealth Writers Prize and has been “hailed as one of the 20th century’s most significant works of African literature” (The New York Times). Two decades before Zimbabwe would win independence and ended white minority rule, thirteen-year-old Tambudzai Sigauke embarks on her education. On her shoulders rest the economic hopes of her parents, siblings, and extended family, and within her burns the desire for independence. She yearns to be free of the constraints of her rural village and thinks she’s found her way out when her wealthy uncle offers to sponsor her schooling. But she soon learns that the education she receives at his mission school comes with a price.

Reviews:

Jess Colombera (1 year ago)	24 Apr, 2024 oof what a ride. while this whole book made me so angry and aggressive (babamukuru) there … wasn’t much on anything else. i do feel for all the women in this book - nyasha especially - but at the end it was a book where not much happened apart from getting the reader to hate almost every male in that town lmao
Cathy CTG (1 year ago)	08 May, 2024 The whole trilogy is excellent.
Audrey Morris (10 months ago)	03 Dec, 2024 Read 13 Feb 16
Kelly0102 (6 months ago)	24 Mar, 2025 I suppose it is a good thing when a book evokes an emotional response, regardless of what those emotions are. I was torn between sympathizing with the narrator and becoming angry with her blind acceptance of cultural norms. I would have liked Tambu to not have been so, well, simple. I suppose it reflects her age, seeing things as either right or wrong and little room for greys. This book is definitely had more or a „laying the groundwork“ feel and It does make me want to read the second book in this series. Hopefully in the second book Tambu is better able to critically evaluate attitudes, ideas and situations and it better able to express her feeling. [edit] I could not get past chapter 4 of This Mournable Body . The story may have been okay but the style was horrible. The book is written entirely in second person perspective.