This excellent novel tells the story of Tambudzai, a young girl growing up in Zimbabwe (then known as Rhodesia) and her struggles to gain an education as a female in a patriarchal family beset by rural poverty and the premature death of her brother. When at school, her narrative interacts with that of her cousin Nyasha, initially raised in the UK and whose Western influences conflict with the traditions and disciplinarian values of her teacher father Babamukuru and threaten to tear the family apart.
Dangarembga expertly uses and transforms the formal techniques of the bildungsroman novel and applies them to a postcolonial environment. Nervous Conditions powerfully reveals the devastating effects that arise from the collision of two cultures and how these impact upon two young woman seeking to develop into adulthood while overcoming the pressures of academic achievement, eating disorders and parental turmoil
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