Nervous Conditions explores the coming of age of Tambu, a girl growing up in 1960s Rhodesia in the midst of British colonialism. Tambu is determined to break free of the oppressive and impoverished world she lives in and knows that education is her means to an end. After some set backs, she's offered a grand opportunity from an uncle who has become ell educated and the headmaster of a school that could take Tambu farther than the little school in her village. Tambu also tries to reckon with the cousin, Nyasha, she was once close to when very young girls but has been highly affected by her British education and overtly challenges her status as a young woman in a rigid patriarchal society.


Dangarembga opens the novel diving immediately into a feminist agenda by having the main character, Tambudzai (Tambu) proclaim that while her journey stems from the death of her older brother, her “story is not after all about death, but about [her] escape...; about [her] mother's and Maiguru's entrapment; and about Nyasha's rebellion.” Nervous Conditions is a story of women succumbing to and struggling against a society that devalues women. While women worked in the fields seeding and harvesting crops for consumption alongside male family members in the domestic sphere, many of them achieved some public autonomy by tending their own small plots, often passed on from their mothers, from which they would go to bus terminals to sell to white tourists their harvests. Tambu attempts to do this on a small portion of her mother's garden in order to raise money for school fees or else she will have to discontinue her studies. Studies that her older brother and her father believes are a waste of time on her. They have a traditional, marginalized view of women that dictates that their goal is to secure a husband as her father suggests questioning and heeding: “Can you cook books and feed them to your husband? Stay at home with your mother. Learn to cook and clean. Grow vegetables.” 
 
Tambu's successful uncle returns to Rhodesia after several years in England attaining a Master's degree in hopes of helping the rest of his family rise from poverty through education. After the mysterious death of her brother who was chosen to be his family's academic savior, Tambu's uncle still wanted to make good on his mission. However, his deciding to take Tambu back to his school and to live with his family was treated more like a consolation prize than a gift. Tambu never let the negative attitudes of the men in her family deter her sober attitude towards getting an education.
 
Tambu's cousin and her uncle's daughter, Nyasha, represents the female challenging gender roles as well the traditional dynamics of parent child relationships that typically demand a high degree of respect from children for their parents. Tambu tries to reconcile her feelings for the now “Anglicised cousin” whose behavior she classifies as “embarrassing” and “disrespectful.” Yet, she sees the weight which Nyasha is rumbling under as she unsuccessfully teeters between the British manners and language she had become attached to and her traditional Rhodesian family life. As one of a number of times, the issue of menstruation and sexuality comes up when Nyasha offers Tambu a tampon because she becomes wary of the use of the more cumbersome menses rags. While this also ushers in the shift towards a more western mindset regarding odors and cleanliness for Tambu, the repeated idea of menstruation as “nastiness” and Nyasha's mother, Maiguru's belief that “tampons are offensive” and that “nice girls didn't use them” is a testament to the trivialization of female sexuality and reproduction.


Maiguru, Tambu's aunt, is the ultimate representation of the trapped woman as she keeps quiet that she has attained the same level of education as her husband. What she does do is dote on him and their daughter as expected of a wife. Much of Nyasha's angst and rebellion comes from the from the fact that her mother has been socialized to a stereotypical gender role even after she achieved a high level of education in spite of her family's chagrin. 


Tambu's journey into young womanhood and towards freedom are very much shaped by the women in her family who are at various places and stages with their statuses as women in a patriarchal society.  

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Challenges:
Reading Africa
POC Reading
African Diaspora
Women Unbound

Riverhead Books set my mailbox ablaze a few days ago with three ARCs set to be released over the next three months. It didn't occur to me until I got my package that Riverhead boasts a mean number of literary fiction by authors of color on including two of my new faves Girl In Translation by Jean Kwok and The Book of Night Women by Marlon James. 

Ama Ata Aidoo gives a glimpse into post-colonial life in Ghana. The eleven short stories are well written vignettes revealing a nation and its people in transition. Higher education abroad is highly sought after. Massive conspicuous wigs become an unfortunate symbol of a loss of confidence. The ubiquitous "big man" is a role once played by white men but now one of black Africans deemed to have status and wealth. Probably my favorite and the most telling story of the changes occurring at the time is "For Whom Things Did Not Change." Zirigu, a servant, and his wife, Setu discuss the social acceptance of young girls sleeping with "big men" because of the material possessions they can provide. Zirigu also struggles with his past as servant to white men for whom he prepared English dishes and the young black man he now serves begs for traditional Ghanaian cuisine. The character driven stories of No Sweetness Here are entertaining and informative on a country in the midst of change to a western-influenced society.

My WRITE Way

The first thing I discovered when deciding to self-publish is that by and large, the marketing and selling of my books was up to me. Did I say me? Trust me when I say I didn’t learn this overnight, in January 2006 when I published my first book I was as green as I could be and I innocently thought that joining groups and paying everyone who said they had a sure way for me to sell books. I tell you I spent hundreds of dollars before I got it. It being that you really have to put in work, you must make your targeted audience know who you are and what you offer and recognize that most people in ‘groups’ are trying to do what you do, sell their work, not purchase others work.

Mind you I did sell a few books that way, but not enough to make a difference. What I did garner from the groups such as RAWSISTAZ and BlackExpressions2005 is a plethora of information from other authors who had taken the route I was trying to take about how to truly self-publish. I would often say little; but I absorbed the wisdom and information that went before me. I also discovered that regardless of what anyone else had done. I would have to do it for ME.

So by 2007 when my second, third and fourth books was published I had learned to work what I knew, my community, local book clubs, my church, the libraries, local radio and print and guess what? People became interested and began to purchase my books and talk about my work to others who were not local and they in turn purchased my work. Many still felt I should do it differently but I knew what I needed and wanted and I am methodical. My intent is to write books for a long time and to do that I am taking my time; creating an audience and working on providing a product that will make readers come back and bring other readers with them.

To date I haven’t tried traditional publishing and am not saying I never will, however, for now while my cup runneth over with so many things I am quite pleased to be known as a local author who sometimes appeals to a much broader readership.

www.angeliamenchan.com

www.acvermen.blogspot.com

Angelia Vernon Menchan considers writing to be the elixir of her soul. Since learning penmanship at age four, most days have found her jotting down thoughts in a notebook. After decades of journal-keeping she decided to try her hand at writing and publishing books, from which was born her small publishing company, M.A.m.m. Productions through which she publishes her own books that she has coined, 'Fictionalized Truths, Ageless Fiction and Ramblings.'
When not writing, Angelia is a wife, mother, mentor and nana who loves reading almost as much as writing. Angelia is also an Avid Blogger and posts blogs most days to her blog, RAMBLINGS at http://acvermen.blogspot.com or for Skirt Magazine at http://skirt.com/angel08. 

Follow the tour:
Monday, July 19        Books And...Chat 
Tuesday, July 20       BrownGirl Speaks
Wednesday, July 21  Notorious Spinks Talks
Thursday, July 22      Books on the Train
Friday, July 23           Glamazini's Natural Hair Journey

Precious Williams is practically born into foster care. It's at ten weeks old that she's brought to Mrs. Taylor whom she'll call Nanny. Meanwhile, Precious Anita Williams will be known as "Nin" in reverence of Nanny's beloved literary character, Topsy who is described as a pickaninny in Uncle Tom's Cabin. This sentiment adds to the propriety of this seemingly loosely regulated and trendy practice She's placed with Nanny by her Nigerian mother via an ad in a publication specifically for arranging foster care. The practice was often done between the birth parents and the foster family while the former attended school in England. These arrangements were typically between African parents and white foster parents.

Precious' mother however, is not a student and is descended from Nigerian royalty. She  simply doesn't want to be a mother. Yet, she maintains this inconsistent presence in her daughter's life for most of her childhood. Her complaints that Precious is "dull" and the taunting of schoolmates about her being "coloured" leave Precious floating aimlessly between two worlds. One world sees her as Nigerian though she has no connection with this side of herself and the other world is the one she lives in surrounded by white caretakers and school children. She feels thoroughly British but longs to have a sense of blackness. 

Color Blind is a fascinating, though often heartbreaking, memoir of a girl navigating race in that she not only wants to find her identity as a person of color, but also who she is beyond the color of her skin.

Disclosure: This book was supplied by the publisher.

About the author
Precious Williams was first published aged eight when her poem took first prize in a poetry competition (she won £2).

Since then she has been a Contributing Editor at Elle, Cosmopolitan and the Mail on Sunday. Precious' work has also been published in The Times, The Daily Telegraph, the Financial Times, Glamour, Korean Vogue, New York magazine, Wallpaper and several other publications. Her journalism focuses on health and lifestyle features and celebrity interviews. Notable interviewees include Nina Simone, Yoko Ono, Jon Bon Jovi, P Diddy, Bryan Ferry, Lenny Kravitz and Naomi Campbell.

Born in the UK, Precious is of Sierra Leonean and Nigerian descent and she has lived in London and in New York. She studied Periodical Journalism at the London College of Printing and English Language & Literature at Oxford.

Her first book, Precious: A True Story is a memoir about her childhood in foster care. The book is titled Color Blind in the US. Both editions will be published by Bloomsbury in August 2010.
www.preciouswilliams.com

Giveaway
Now I'd like to extend a chance to my readers to win a copy of this amazing memoir. In keeping with a central theme of Color Blind, I'd like the comments to respond to this question: What defines you? This does not have to be a dissertation but a simple statement on how you self-identify. Entries will be accepted through 11:59 pm (CST) Sunday, July 18 and a winner announced Monday, July 19.  Open to U.S. residents.

Shoneyin's debut novel of a modern Nigerian polygamist family is refreshing. Though some may be turned off by the idea of polygamy, it is a revelation to read of the dynamics of such a relationship. Baba Segi has four wives, Iya Segi, Iya Tope, and Iya Femi, and the newest, Bolanle. Bolanle is college educated unlike the other three wives and this brings her much jealousy and animosity. All the while the first and third wives, Iya Segi and Iya Femi, respectively, are plotting Bolanle's demise,  their own secrets are about to be exposed. Things start to unravel for the first three wives when after years of trying, Bolanle does not get pregnant. Bearing offspring is a great source of pride for Baba Segi and Bolanle's supposed barrenness is hurting it.

How the story unfolds is in chapters that reveal back story on each wife before and after she married Baba Segi. Each of these women were filled with various desires like learning to read and being educated, the affections of a young man, and even wealth. The wives are the important characters here and that's fine because a tale involving polygamy does bear more implications on the status of women.  It's pleasing that the female characters are fully realized and even the two most vindictive are shown to have some humanity. Baba Segi was probably the type of characterization you'd expect of a wealthy polygamist-- demanding and unattractive. Shoneyin has written this novel with great honesty and realism and it was a joy to read.  The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives is a fabulous piece of literature from a fantastic writer poised to have a brilliant career.

disclosure: I received this book from the publisher.

In 2006 Alice Walker, working with Women for Women International, visited Rwanda and the eastern Congo to witness the aftermath of the genocide in Kigali. Invited by the antiwar group CODEPINK, Walker traveled to Palestine/Israel three years later to view the devastation on the Gaza Strip.

While those of us who sit comfortably in front of our televisions to learn of the devastation occurring in the areas of focus in Overcoming Speechlessness, Walker was on the front lines sharing in the pain and the healing of those affected. She believes "whatever is currently happening to humanity, it is happening o all of us." This is the essence of this very brief work. But its brevity reveals the real meaning of humanity. Walker allows her voice to be that of the survivors of these tragedies. Overcoming Speechlessness also gives us glimpses of humanity in persons like the woman she meets in Kigali who was a sex slave and claims that Women for Women International "saved" her or the sacrifice of life made by a young woman attempting to save the home of her Palestinian friends from demolish. It's a moving piece that should force any reader to re-think remaining silent about atrocities committed against our global mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and children.

McFadden's sixth novel, Glorious, opens with the historical win of boxing legend Jack Johnson against James Jeffries on July 4, 1910. Though seen as a victory for blacks as a whole, this event set off a series of unfortunate events in the life Easter Bartlett. Family tragedy sends her literally walking away from her hometown of Waycross, Georgia. Her journey from the rural Georgia to Harlem includes a stint living with her aunt and her being eyewitness to one of the most horrific acts of violence of the time. A very bright and well read young woman, Easter finds solace in writing. A chance encounter with a childhood friend brings her to Harlem just as its black arts scene is blossoming. Easter falls right into place with the literary notables of the time and their patronage by white benefactors. An ill-fated writing contest brings Easter more misfortune but an unlikely discovery decades later brings her redemption and peace.

This novel spanning four decades was so captivating from the onset. I could not put it down. I found myself tearing through the pages and fearing I was reading it too fast. Glorious is a master's course in writing narrative. Every character is fully realized and relevant. The story moved gracefully and without trepidation as McFadden unabashedly explores the realities of the Jim Crow era South and the status of women. Bernice McFadden broke and healed my heart in 235 pages and when I closed the book, I felt changed.

Synopsis
A race of women have lived in relative peace for centuries. But strange forces have come through the ages to finish what was started.

Review
"She was a memory. She was a warning. She was everything they never wanted to remember, everything they worked hard to forget. Yet, she was their sister, and a part of their world."

The synopsis of this short but thoughtful piece of speculative fiction is simple but doesn't quite do it justice. I came across When We Were One after RAWSISTAZ tweeted that they were having a live chat with the author, Zaji.

I thought the book had a unique premise. I just had to know how such a place could exist that only women inhabited. It's through a scientific phenomenon known as parthenogenesis (a type of asexual reproduction found in females) and a derivative of the term, Parthos, is the name of the land they inhabit. The most fascinating part of this story was the dynamics of how these women related to each other and their environment. They had managed to harness a beautiful balance between themselves and nature through characteristics like "mind-talk" and being almost completely uninhibited by time. They maintain a Hall of Words which houses remaining books mostly of laws that the "sisters" find ridiculous and exemplify how humans of centuries past were intellectually bereft. An inevitable change ushered in by the late gestation of an elder is one that will put the sisters to an unimaginable test. A test that reveals the essence of their existence.

Zaji's writing is very poetic and accessible. When We Were One has definitely kept my interest piqued in speculative fiction as this genre often offers up some interesting social and political commentary. While I found its social criticism lacking in a certain cleverness, it still makes for an insightful read.

When We Were One is available as a download or paperback from LuLu.