Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Autobiographical, the author accurately describes a life of extreme poverty in the Rhodesian homesteads

…rooms where people slept exuded peculiarly human smells just as the goat pen smelt goaty and the cattle kraal bovine.

Yet, for all their, tribulations, the extended clan happily share their meagre rations and revel in each other's company. But I really wish there was a glossary. The following have no meaning, even in the context of the narrative:

msasa, mopani, matamba, matunduru, mhunga, dara, covo, pada, shumba, masese, mutwiwa, mahewu, mbodza, chikuwa, dagga, tsapi, koya, rukweza, nhengeni, hena, roora, koya, mukwambo, hute, muroora, mwaramu, Hari, ‘Mauya wekuchirungu.

It was very surprising that the author glosses over inter-racial relationships. And this was during the time of apartheid! Here is a young African girl going to study in an exclusive white girls’ convent and the only indication of any disharmony is when all the six African girls (in a school of 300) are put together in one dormitory with space enough for just four students! The protagonist accepts the situation without a murmur. The only oblique comment is

‘It’s bad enough,’ she said severely, ‘when a country gets colonized, but when the people do as well! That’s the end, really, that’s the end.’

Slow moving at times, the narrative gets galvanized with family crises at intervals. Is there a sequel?

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