book data
861 ratings,
3.95
average rating, 78 reviews
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published
June 2000
(first published 1988)
by Seal Press
binding
Paperback, 206 pages
isbn
187806777X
(isbn13: 9781878067777)
description
This stunning first novel, set in colonial Rhodesia during the 1960s, centers on the coming of age of a teenage girl, Tambu, and her relationship with...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1,220)
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avg 3.95
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in January, 2004
This is an amazing African Feminist version of the classic "coming of age" novel. Think Great Expectations set in 1960's Zimbabwe and from the point of view of a girl caught between her native culture and that of British colonialism. I ordered a set of this book to teach College Prep Seniors but they're too dumb. I'm hoping to teach it to more academically-inclined seniors next year. (I might actually be teaching Honors Seniors next year!!!)
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Read in October, 2007
recommended to Bunxena by:
English profrecommends it for: those who enjoy African work, women-centred works
Actually, I don't remember much about this book, despite having studied it only about six months ago. It was well written; the narrator, Tambu, was acutely observant and expressed herself well. Coming off reading Anthills of the Savannah, I found Nervous Conditions much easier to get into.
We talked about the book in terms of hybridization, discussing how Nyasha, Tambu's cousin, is trapped between two cultures: the British upbringing she's known, and the African tradition into which s...more
We talked about the book in terms of hybridization, discussing how Nyasha, Tambu's cousin, is trapped between two cultures: the British upbringing she's known, and the African tradition into which s...more
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"The condition of natives is a nervous condition" - Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth , 1961 - This is the basis for the title of Nervous Conditions, an account of a young woman from rural Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) struggling to find herself amid influences from Western-educated relatives, missionary schools, and traditional family values. Africa is known by its cliches; it's easy to forget the faces behind them- this is a good account of the psychological hazards of colonialism a...more
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Read in July, 2009
Tambu, raised on a homestead in the back country of Zimbabwe (then a colony of Britain, called Rhodesia) has very little to engage her young mind. As she grows and her desires for education and knowledge increase, she finds that she is constantly fighting against two factors: the fact that she is female and the fact that she is African.
And while she loves her parents and can find some beauty in her tiring and off-the-land life on the homestead, what she truly wants to go to school. A...more
And while she loves her parents and can find some beauty in her tiring and off-the-land life on the homestead, what she truly wants to go to school. A...more
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Read in December, 2005
Nervous Conditions makes an attempt at portraying the complexity of the situation for women operating in a post-colonial environment; educated or not, Anglicized or traditional, rich or poor, married or single, each of the women in narrator Tambudzai’s life is oppressed in some way, and each resists in her own way, even when resisting one form of oppression means capitulating to another. Without ignoring the heterogeneity and intersection of all forms of oppression, Dangarembga allows each of ...more
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Read in May, 2009
This is a tremendously compelling book, a story woven from the threads of four female lives in 1960s Rhodesia: Tambu, the protagonist, a young girl who gains entry to a more materially comfortable way of life through education; Nyasha, her cousin, who spent five years in England as a child; Maiguru, Nyasha's mother, who has a Master's degree but few opportunities to use it in the patriarchal world in which she lives; and Tambu's mother, who married because she was pregnant, and who lives in pove...more
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Read in April, 2007
I learned that history, esp. of colonialism/imperialism, stains anything it touches for ever and ever... that the true success of colonization is marked by how much the colonial subjects internalize the gaze of otherness. I also learned that I really like how the words operate in this book to make ugly seem beautiful.
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currently teaching this book to my sophomore honors english class... i wish you could sit in listening to my kids figure out what they think about gender roles, racial politics, cultural differences, even mental illness. it was a good read for me as well as a good text for my students -- really powerful story.
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this is a compelling coming-of-age story about a poor girl in colonial rhodesia. the first-person narrative is often quite beautiful, particularly in its psychological approach to etiquette. though not explicitly political (at least in the sense that the revolution which would rename the country "zimbabwe" is not directly addressed), the novel is written from a refreshingly unapologetic feminist perspective. the absurdity of gender hierarchy is inescapable within the novel, and seems t...more
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Read in March, 2002
This is a wonderful book. The best novel I read as a college English major, bar none. The opening sentence is one of the most surprising, if not shocking, that I have ever read. My only complaint is that the ending seems rushed and abrupt. However, the other attributes of the book more than make up for that complaint.
A sequel was released a few years ago, which I have yet to read. Hopefully I will do so soon.
Tags: Women's Studies, Colonialism, Fiction
A sequel was released a few years ago, which I have yet to read. Hopefully I will do so soon.
Tags: Women's Studies, Colonialism, Fiction
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
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an interesting account of the role of women in post colonial Africa. There are times when the language appears almost like it's pandering to a a certain audience, but overall I thought it was quite informative.
an interesting account of the role of women in post colonial Africa. There are times when the language appears almost like it's pandering to a a certain audience, but overall I thought it was quite informative.
an interesting account of the role of women in post colonial Africa. There are times when the language appears almost like it's pandering to a a certain audience, but overall I thought it was quite informative.
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Read in October, 2008
A very solid first novel, Nervous Conditions is set in colonial Rhodesia (what is now Zimbabwe) in the late 1960s. It's a fascinating look at Tambu, a young girl who desperately wants an education so that she can lift herself and her family out of poverty, and her British-educated cousin, Nyasha, who rails against the circumscriptions of Shona society; at the impacts of colonisation and cultural hybridisation, of the creation of 'third culture kids.' It was a great, no-nonsense immersion into a ...more
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Read in November, 2008
This is the story of a young girl growing up in Africa, in what was then Rhodesia), and her attempt to escape her life and her traditional role as a woman through education. Along the way, she tells the stories of other women in her family, and of the weight of colonialism.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in November, 2007
I had to read this book for my women and gender studies class Freshman year. It was a sad book, but it did really made me think.
This is not a book that you would want to read on the beach, or if you were looking for something uplifting.
This is not a book that you would want to read on the beach, or if you were looking for something uplifting.
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African story about 2 girls who are trying to find their way in the 1960s - British colonialism vs. traditional African culture and ethics. Good story. Good characters. Not too deep, but interesting and thought provoking.
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Read in September, 2003
the best book i read during high school.
"the condition of native is a nervous condition."
this book has stayed with me, and definitely has changed my thinking for the better.
"the condition of native is a nervous condition."
this book has stayed with me, and definitely has changed my thinking for the better.
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recommends it for:
Barbara Ehrenreich
If you think you have a hard life, try living in Africa and not having a fridge to keep your meat from going bad. And try having to sleep on your kitchen floor, which isn't just cold linoleum, but dung! I enjoyed the story and the narrative voice, but I had a little bit of difficulty seeing it from a black perspective that blames whites in part for being poor. Seems to me the narrator is still better off at the white school even if she isn't treated as well as the white students. At least she do...more
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Read in January, 2005
A fascinating inside view of family and social structures in colonial Rhodesia through the eyes of a teen girl. I will never forget it.
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This is a strong novel for its on-the-ground first-person account of an adolescent girl's experiences within a patriarchal, colonial culture. As you'd expect, she tells her coming-of-age story after having come of age -- so the big questions for me have to do with where she is now and where she goes from here. If you're thinking about teaching this novel, I'd love to talk with you about how to navigate the long, dense, introspective paragraphs. I think introductory-level literature students c...more
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