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

Lady Q: The Making of a Latin Queen (paperback)
(Chicago Review Press)
By Reymundo Sanchez and Sonia Rodriguez
ISBN: 1556527225
ISBN13: 9781556527225
288 pages

Offering a rarely seen female perspective on gang life, this raw and powerful memoir tells not only of one woman’s struggle to survive the streets but also of her ascent to the top ranks of the new mafia, where the only people more dangerous than rival gangs were members of her own. At age 5, Sonia Rodriguez’s stepfather began to abuse her; at 10, she was molested by her uncle and beaten by her mother when she told on him; and by 13, her home had become a hangout for the Latin Kings and Queens who were friends with her older sister. Threatened by rival gang members at school, Sonia turned away from her education and extracurricular activities in favor of a world of drugs and violence. The Latin Kings, one of the largest and most notorious street gangs in America, became her refuge, but its violence cost her friends, freedom, self-respect, and nearly her life. As a Latin Queen, she experienced the exhilarating highs and unbelievable lows of gang life. From being shot at by her own gang and kicked out at age 18 with an infant daughter to rejoining the gang and distinguishing herself as a leader, her legacy as Lady Q was cemented both for her willingness to commit violence and for her role as a drug mule.

"To this day I wonder what my life would be like if my mother told me she loved me, held me, took my side once or twice in an argument. She made me think the whole world was against me so I had to fight for everything. I've learned that's not the  way things have to be."

While Lady Q presents a solid, engaging narrative, it is not a story to be read for literary value. Instead this is a tale of epic sociological proportions that should be used as a tool to save lives. There are implications of gender, class, and race/ethnicity. Sonia's story is one that is not told enough as girls are just as susceptible to the lure of a false family and false love that gangs pervade. This is the kind of story that should be required reading for every parent, educator, child care provider, social worker, etc. Anyone who cares for or works with children on a daily basis should take this tale to heart and use it to either remedy this generational family dysfunction or take proactive measures to prevent its inception. At the onset of the story, there is that all too familiar glimmer of the hope of education as Sonia's salvation but, in typical fashion, a lack of nurturing quickly diffuses that hope. Looking at the quote I shared above, the love and concern for her well being she sought did not have to come from her mother. Often anyone showing a genuine interest in a young person's success will suffice.

"On more than one occasion during my work with Sonia, I became upset with her over her refusal to           understand the damage she was doing to her son. I tried to get through to her head that she needed to think   about leaving the 'hood and try to give her son, who is an honor roll student, a better life. I reminded her that she herself had been an honor roll student whose  mother's carelessness allowed her to get lost."

Reymundo's criticism is a bit harsh considering Sonia has not good parenting examples. However, I do understand the place from which he comes. He knows Sonia wants better for her children and he just wants her to fight harder. What I take from his criticism, though, is that he's saying "Give a damn!" It's hard when you not only don't know any other way but when the means are not available for you to even attempt a different lifestyle. On a personal note: I grew up in a working class, single parent home. I could have been subjected to the same world from which Sonia came but, my mother sacrificed for us to live in a decent neighborhood with a decent school and just to be surrounded by those with ambition. In essence, she gave a damn and this story gives me an infinite amount of gratitude that she did.

Thanks to Condor Book Tours and the publisher for providing this book.