REVIEW: NERVOUS CONDITIONS

Author: Tsitsi Dangarembga

Genre: African Fiction

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

Year Of Publication: 1988

Number Of Pages: 204

Followed by: The Book of Not

SUMMARY
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 her British-educated cousin Nyasha. Tambu, who yearns to be free of the constraints of her rural village, especially the circumscribed lives of the women, thinks her dreams have come true when her wealthy uncle offers to sponsor her education. But she soon learns that the education she receives at his mission school comes with a price. At the school she meets the worldly and rebellious Nyasha, who is chafing under her father's authority. Raised in England, Nyasha is so much a stranger among her own people that she can no longer speak her native language. Tambu can only watch as her cousin, caught between two cultures, pays the full cost of alienation. ( Sourced from Goodreads )

MY VERDICT
First and foremost, this book was such an eye-opener. It spoke about Feminism so subtly that I didn't notice until I had read a substantial amount of the book.
It isn't your typical coming-of-age story with a boy meets girl, girl and boy fall in love kinda plot etc
It's more than that; it opened my eyes to see that being an African teenager- especially a poor one- isn't a walk in the park. Many underprivileged teenagers have to struggle to get a decent education.
I'm grateful to Miss Dangaremgba for writing this very realistic African story.
My best character had to be Tambu, we have a lot in common.
I look forward to reading the Sequel : The Book Of Not, I'm itching to find out Nyasha's fate.
I guess I gave it 3.5 Stars, because I felt the end was rather abrupt, it needed something more.
You can obtain the book Here and also at the CSS bookshop, CMS, Lagos.

P.S: Check my favourite quotes page for new quotes xx

Comments

THE FULANI CREATION STORY

Right from the moment Mr.Salami -my social studies teacher in year 8- taught us about religion and what different ethnic groups in Nigeria believe the true creation story is ;according to their norms and traditional orientation. I took a particular interest in one story , which was The Fulani peoples' story. I guess my reason was because it was so different from all the other stories. I was captivated by how they incorporated different elements of life ; how it was presented in poem form ,but it isn't a poem lol. Let me spare you the detail . Here is a brief history of the Fulanis , for those who aren't too familiar with who they are and what part of Nigeria they hail from. Fulani, people of Africa numbering about 7 million and dispersed in varying, often sizable, concentrations throughout the grassland areas of West Africa from Senegal and Guinea to Nigeria , Cameroon, and Chad. Their Fulfulde language is closely related to the languages of

REVIEW: A COWRIE OF HOPE

Author : Binwell Sinyangwe My Rating : 3 Stars Genre : Fiction/ Literature Year Published : 2000 ISBN : 9780435912024 Number of Pages : 152 Date Read : 03/12/2017 SUMMARY 'These were the nineties,' reflects the narrator of A Cowrie of Hope , and for the young widow Nasula they are years of relentless economic hardship and privation. She dreams of a better life for her beautiful daughter, Sula, free from poverty and independent of marriage. But when Nasula finds herself unable to pay for Sula's education, her hopes seem to have been extinguished - until a friend advises her to go to Lusaka and sell her last sack of highly sought-after Mbala beans. Nasula makes the journey, but in the city she finds herself exposed to new, and predatory, dangers. MY THOUGHTS The author's writing style was pretty basic. The plot was kind of predictable, nothing mind-blowing, but pretty decent. I especially loved how the story gave me Joys of Motherhood vibes.

REVIEW: BLACKASS

Author : A. Igoni Barrett Genre : Fiction | Satire My Rating : 4.5 Stars Year of Publication : 2015 Number of Pages : 302 SUMMARY Furo Wariboko- born and bred in Lagos - wakes up on the morning of his job interview to discover he has turned into a white man. As he hits the city streets running, still reeling from his new-found condition, Furo is amazed to find the dead ends of his life wondrously open out before him. As a white man in Nigeria, the world is seemingly his oyster - except for one thing: despite his radical transformation, his ass remains robustly black... Funny, fierce, inventive and daringly provocative - this is a very modern satire, with a sting in the tail. MY VERDICT I initially came across this book late last year and the title caught my eye immediately . I in cl ud ed it in the first ever Wishlist on the blog here . So when i was gifted this book by my friend back in July, I was super eager to read it . Now for my review ; T

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