Product Description

Colonial Rhodesia in the early 1960s is the setting for this first novel.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #285458 in Books
• Published on: 1996-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 206 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Tambu, an adolescent living in colonial Rhodesia of the '60s, seizes the opportunity to leave her rural community to study at the missionary school run by her wealthy, British-educated uncle. With an uncanny and often critical self-awareness, Tambu narrates this skillful first novel by a Zimbabwe native. Like many heroes of the bildungsroman, Tambu, in addition to excelling at her curriculum, slowly reaches some painful conclusions--about her family, her proscribed role as a woman, and the inherent evils of colonization. Tambu often thinks of her mother, "who suffered from being female and poor and uneducated and black so stoically." Yet, she and her cousin, Nyasha, move increasingly farther away from their cultural heritage. At a funeral in her native village, Tambu admires the mourning of the women, "shrill, sharp, shiny, needles of sound piercing cleanly and deeply to let the anguish in, not out." In many ways, this novel becomes Tambu's keening--a resonant, eloquent tribute to the women in her life, and to their losses.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Simply riveting
"Nervous conditions" is a book about colonialism and the alienating influence it has on people who lose touch with their roots. It is a dilemma for African children who are seeking education who often find that in adopting the new culture of the colonizers, they often can no longer associate with the traditional ways of their own people. This superbly written book will touch any reader to the core. The writer clearly dissected the negative effects of colonialism and the settler-politics that caused so much strife in Zimbabwe, creating two tragedies in the persons of Ian Smith and Robert Mugabe. This very powerful and touching novel is not only revealing but also opens our minds to more questions, the most powerful of which is the problem of the "colonized mind', a diseases that is still plaguing Africa until today.
Another good recommendation is DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE, THE OLD MAN AND

Decent
I would say that it is somewhere between 3 and 4 stars, but I'll just give it 3. I liked the ending, which I found haunting and riveting. As for the rest of the book...sometimes it just moved slowly in a boring way - like an endless cloud or blanket. Even after finishing the book, I still felt like I didn't know Tambudzai as a character because it seems that she is always naive and confused, and following behind in the footsteps of someone else - in this case, Nyasha. Tsitsi Dangarembga has talent, no doubt, but there is room for improvement.

Don't miss this read!!
This book by TsiTsi Dangarembga is a powerful book. You will find yourself hating and loving characters as they travel through their life in Zimbabwe. This book takes place in the 1960's were we can see the results of colonization. We see the changes that occurred among the poor people in Rhodesia and how they had to cope with changes in their culture, family life and the education, which their people lacked. We see how powerful religion was and how people can become puppets and lose sight of their culture and family values. Your emotions will pull you to pieces as you take this trip with Tambu (the main character of the book) as she struggles with her rural life and how she "awakens" as she gets older to the times that are changing around her. You see her grow not only as a child to an adolescent but you also see her grow intellectually to see how her culture is changing. You see her and her cousin Nyasha struggle with their identities as they wonder if they belong with the changing times that have educated them or with the people that they grew up with. You start to have sympathy for them as you realize they have no real place anymore. This book will show you the good things that come out of colonialism and the horrible things that can occur when you play with people's lives. This book will show you how powerful racism is and how people who don't conform are left out in the cold (literally). If you read this book I promise you will not regret it.