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common_household_mom's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Colonisation, and Classism
ihamster's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Racism, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and Classism
fromlindenmere's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Classism
caskraft's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, and Colonisation
Minor: Eating disorder, Infidelity, and Classism
now_booking's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
It’s hard for me to rate this book because on the one hand, I really resonated with this story and the characters and as an African, it was a story told with a lot of heart and nuance and reflexivity. We get the benefit of Tambu’s older self editorially providing wisdom and reflection as she looks back at her younger self. And this is helpful in casting Tambu as a sympathetic character because with time and with age, there’s clearly been a lot of analyses of how she sees things. But despite her promising start in this story, I couldn’t help but feel that she wasn’t really the main character in her own narration.
The premise is that when Tambu loses her brother, who happens to be her nemesis, she inherits his opportunity to move in with their wealthy uncle to pursue her dream of an education and a better life for her family. But she finds that life isn’t as perfect as she believed in the household of her god-like uncle and aunt, and she finds that in the pursuit of her dreams, she may be losing her identity.
This was set up like it was going to be Tambu’s coming of age story, but it didn’t really deliver on that expectation. In the end, it was kind of a collection of incidents and events about family expectations, gender inequity and coloniality and the legacies of compromising oneself for the Western gaze in order to be successful enough to look after one’s family. Yet even though my expectation for a connected story about Tambu wasn’t met, and even though this was very “slice of life,” I think it articulated experiences that were very realistic and pertinent to a Zimbabwean and more broadly, African, experience. The character development was stellar, the scenes and reflections were on point, the scenarios and ways of thinking resonated. I could see the experiences of my own family, friends and neighbours in the grievances and hurts and expectations and hopes and responsibilities that lay in this book. I loved the complex family dynamics and the imperfect characters. If I’m removing one star, it’s because this did not feel entirely cohesive to me. I enjoyed the stories but I did feel it felt a little incomplete and “so what” at the end. It left me as a reader wondering what the author wanted to accomplish with this story which ended as abruptly as it started, kind of in the middle. The focus was very much on the themes and the characters demonstrating the themes, but there wasn’t really an overarching plot or a main story. I could enjoy the pieces of story and the slices of experience and these are themes I care about, so it worked for me. But I also felt like this wasn’t really anchored and it only worked for me because I liked older Tambu’s editorializing voice. The story wasn’t allowed to tell itself without older Tambu/the author’s voice inserting itself into my consciousness to make decisions on my feelings about the story for me. Indeed, my favourite character was the peripheral Aunty Lucia, whose boldness, wisdom, open sexuality and cunning made her engaging and powerful in a world where the women were subdued by nervous conditions. Specific to this edition, I thought it was a strange choice to include a spoiler-ridden introduction at the start of this book and I think that could spoil the book for people who are vehemently anti-spoiler.
My understanding is that this is the first book in a trilogy of books featuring Tambu which might explain why this felt so abrupt and somewhat incomplete. But I also felt like this didn’t end on a cliffhanger or with any express trigger to pick up the next book. That said, overall, I really liked the story and would like to see what older Tambu’s foreshadowing will lead to, so I plan to check out the other books in the series. I recommend.
The premise is that when Tambu loses her brother, who happens to be her nemesis, she inherits his opportunity to move in with their wealthy uncle to pursue her dream of an education and a better life for her family. But she finds that life isn’t as perfect as she believed in the household of her god-like uncle and aunt, and she finds that in the pursuit of her dreams, she may be losing her identity.
This was set up like it was going to be Tambu’s coming of age story, but it didn’t really deliver on that expectation. In the end, it was kind of a collection of incidents and events about family expectations, gender inequity and coloniality and the legacies of compromising oneself for the Western gaze in order to be successful enough to look after one’s family. Yet even though my expectation for a connected story about Tambu wasn’t met, and even though this was very “slice of life,” I think it articulated experiences that were very realistic and pertinent to a Zimbabwean and more broadly, African, experience. The character development was stellar, the scenes and reflections were on point, the scenarios and ways of thinking resonated. I could see the experiences of my own family, friends and neighbours in the grievances and hurts and expectations and hopes and responsibilities that lay in this book. I loved the complex family dynamics and the imperfect characters. If I’m removing one star, it’s because this did not feel entirely cohesive to me. I enjoyed the stories but I did feel it felt a little incomplete and “so what” at the end. It left me as a reader wondering what the author wanted to accomplish with this story which ended as abruptly as it started, kind of in the middle. The focus was very much on the themes and the characters demonstrating the themes, but there wasn’t really an overarching plot or a main story. I could enjoy the pieces of story and the slices of experience and these are themes I care about, so it worked for me. But I also felt like this wasn’t really anchored and it only worked for me because I liked older Tambu’s editorializing voice. The story wasn’t allowed to tell itself without older Tambu/the author’s voice inserting itself into my consciousness to make decisions on my feelings about the story for me. Indeed, my favourite character was the peripheral Aunty Lucia, whose boldness, wisdom, open sexuality and cunning made her engaging and powerful in a world where the women were subdued by nervous conditions. Specific to this edition, I thought it was a strange choice to include a spoiler-ridden introduction at the start of this book and I think that could spoil the book for people who are vehemently anti-spoiler.
My understanding is that this is the first book in a trilogy of books featuring Tambu which might explain why this felt so abrupt and somewhat incomplete. But I also felt like this didn’t end on a cliffhanger or with any express trigger to pick up the next book. That said, overall, I really liked the story and would like to see what older Tambu’s foreshadowing will lead to, so I plan to check out the other books in the series. I recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, and Physical abuse
abbie_'s review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
I bought and read the third book in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions trilogy back in 2021, so it was about time I found myself a copy of the first book! I enjoyed Nervous Conditions slightly more than This Mournable Body, but did struggle with the writing in both a little 😭 I swear, anything published before 2010 has me struggling these days - Nervous Conditions was published in 1988. I saw a review that said it felt like it had been written to be studied at school, and honestly, I can see that. There’s a lot to unpack in it, mainly to do with class and gender (which is a good thing!), but occasionally the characters will just break out into a monologue that feels a bit unnatural. Nevertheless, I did appreciate its commentary on colonialism, education, and sexism!
I will probably read The Book of Not, seems rude not to having read #1 and #3!
I will probably read The Book of Not, seems rude not to having read #1 and #3!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Eating disorder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, and Classism
ruthmoog's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
I loved Tambudzai!!! This book deals with challenging themes yet it's heartening and enjoyable. Through the experience of women in Tambus life, and their relationships with men and societies that favour men, Tambu narrates her aging and education from the late 60s onwards as a teen.
I thought it was just brilliant.
I thought it was just brilliant.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder and Sexism
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Pregnancy