The author was born in 1959, educated in Zimbabwe and England, and returned to Zimbabwe in 1980 with black majority rule. She studied medicine and psychology before turning to writing and filmmaking. The Book of Not: A Sequel to Nervous Conditions was published in 2006. The book's title comes from an introduction to Fritz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth: "The condition of native is a nervous condition."

I remember the struggle for Zimbabwean independence from the apartheid rule of Ian Smith in the 1970s, and in the late 70s, the woman who cared for my baby while I was going to graduate school and teaching was the wife of a Zimbabwean graduate student at Columbia U. The characters in the novel are an extended family of the Shona tribe and speak Shona and English.

The major themes of the book are the displacement of identity under colonialism and the struggle for female autonomy in a patriarchal society. I found it quite an engrossing read and read it in two sittings. This is a moving rites of passage story about two teenage girls living in a time of cataclysmic change. ( )

http://amiralace.blogspot.com/2007/02... ( )

In the 1960's, when present-day Zimbabwe was under British control and known as Rhodesia, Tambudzai, the daughter of a traditional Shona couple living in a rural village, learns that her brother died. Tambudzai is then selected by the head of her family, her uncle Babamukuru, to move to his house and attend the mission school over which he is headmaster. Patriarchal rule and English influence make Tambudzai’s adjustment to her new environment challenging. She learns how to adjust by quietly observing the ways of her free-thinking and rebellious cousin Nyasha.

This is a stirring novel of an extended Shona family and how they live within the constraints of their own culture, but feel how English influence is changing the lives they know. A rich, layered novel of social issues and family disagreements, this story leads to a better understanding of how one culture can subtly try to swallow another. This book is an excellent read for anyone who'd like to know more about an African culture under colonial rule. The writing captures the colorful details of everyday life, the nuances of family relationships, and the feelings of one young girl as she learns about and adjusts to the world which surrounds her. ( )

I chose to read this for a topic-based book club I run (1001 Books You Should Read Before You Die). I'm glad I did. It was a rare glimpse at a life few of us in the United States see or read about. The story, at its core, is one of Tambu, a young girl who scores one spot in a missionary school with her Uncle (a missionary headmaster) and his family, after her brother dies. By Tambu's family's standards (they are quite poor), her Uncle's family is very wealthy and she quickly befriends her cousin Nyasha, recently returned from England, where she lived for 5 years. Tambu is a bright but very realistic young woman and we learn about both the joys and sorrows and limits of her culture, especially for women. Her sheer tenacity and intelligence get her out of poverty, but there is a cost. Her story is juxtaposed with Nyasha's life, which is "caught between two worlds", i.e., too African for the English and too English for the Africans. It is a sad, but sometimes hopeful story of two cultures clashing in 1960s Rhodesia, where race relations were strained at best (and remain so today per the Interview at the end of the novel). I enjoyed this book mostly for how much I learned about the people and Zimbabwe during that time. However, there is no discernable plot and the novel wanders all over the place. Some characters who are interesting come and go in a few pages. So I think it could have been developed more. But overall, Tambu is a great, strong woman and I liked reading her story even if it was rather disjointed. ( )

Nervous Conditions (1989) by Tsitsi Dangarembga represents Zimbabwe for Around the World for a Good Book. This book is the coming of age story of a girl named Tambu living in the 1960's & 70's under British Colonial rule in Rhodesia. After her brother dies, Tambu is able to go away to a mission school and live with her wealthy, cosmopolitain uncle and his family. This means sharing a room with her cousin Nyasha.

The girls form a friendship and share an outsider status. Nyasha spent many years living in England with her parents and thus lost touch with the African ways. Tambu is drawn to the lifestyle of her cousin's family and the mission and increasingly disgusted with her own family's backward ways.The novel contains a lot of the tropes of the coming-of-age story: rebellion, burgeoning sexuality, shame in one's family, and seeking one's own identity. For much of the book it appears that Tambu is more of a spectator to Nyasha's outlandish ways. Later in the novel the narrative shifts to Tambu's choices and family commitments.

There is also a layer of the novel that subtly shows the effects of colonialism with the castes in society where the more African people live near poverty and the more English live life more abundantly. The most chillng passages are when Tambu describes the white people at the mission as near-deities, a status she seems to accept without question.Another strong element of the novel is the role of women in society. In addition to Nyasha and Tambu there is Tambu's highly-educated yet underemployed aunt, her mother, and other family members each of whom are expected to live according to certain rules set for women.

I didn't find this to be the best-written or most-engaging novel, but it does subtly cover many issues without resorting to didactic means. ( )