A review by midnight_blossom89
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

1.0

Contrary to most of the reviews, I didn't enjoy this book. It was okay at first, the characters are admittedly very well-developed and its concern with articulating the effects of colonialism is impressive - especially the decline of Nyasha who was, alongside Lucia, my favourite character. The ending wasn't particularly positive which I suppose is suggestive of the author's progressive state, but perhaps through my own immaturity I could not get past the anger I felt at the men in the novel and the patriarchal society that Tambu bowed down to. Granted it was all she had ever known and should obviously be looked at from a culturally objective point of view, but I couldn't get past it enough to enjoy the reading - though in some instances she appeared very strong, she was often and quickly broken down again and not just by the Whites: hers and all of the other women's inferiority was perpetuated by their own men, and despite her one rebellion on the day of her mother's wedding, she never fully emerges with the strength Nyasha embodies - even Nyasha herself calls Tambu 'spineless' and yet Nyasha is the one who ends up having to see a psychiatrist, eventually regressing and claiming that her father is as much a victim as she is despite the fact that, by his own standard of behaviour, he puts her down, accuses her constantly of promiscuity, beats her to a pulp and threatens to kill her when all she ever does is study, achieve the highest grades and speak her mind. Personally, I was unsatisfied.