Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

Reading Zimbabwe: Education as a Path to a Better Life

I have to be honest—when I chose Nervous Conditions, it was purely by chance. I had no idea it was considered a modern African classic. But as our book club began reading The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon, I was struck by a realization: I had read very little literature from Africa, and I felt a strong urge to change that. That’s what led me to select this novel as my pick for Zimbabwe. You can imagine my delight when I read the opening epigraph, a quote from Fanon’s own work: “The condition of the native is a nervous condition.” It felt like fate. The story follows Tambudzai, a thirteen-year-old girl growing up in Zimbabwe during the era of white minority rule. She is fiercely driven, hungry for knowledge, and carries the immense weight of trying to lift her family out of poverty.

As Tambu shares her coming-of-age story, we are gradually introduced to life in Rhodesia—its complex social hierarchies, the stark economic divides, and the influence of missionaries on the local population. At times, I found myself questioning Tambu’s desires: her distancing from her parents, especially her mother, and her strong wish for independence felt misguided—perhaps even something she might come to regret later in life. And yet, I appreciated the raw honesty in her voice and her thought process. After all, how else would a teenage girl think? Her perspective, shaped by youth, ambition, and circumstance, felt both authentic and deeply human.

Through Tambu’s story, the novel explores a wide range of powerful themes: patriarchy, colonialism, and the tension between preserving African traditions and embracing Western influence.

I’m so grateful I discovered this book. It sparked in me a long-overdue desire to learn more about African history and literature—something I now realize I should have done much earlier.

---