Nervous Conditions

  I just finished reading Nervous Conditions. I am actually surprised that it turned out to be a good book. The beginning was kind of slow, but towards the end everything started to speed up. I actually grew to like the characters in the story. I felt for their situations because with the descriptions given of these characters I felt like I knew them. It was a difficult story to read, because it is full of conflict and sadness with the occasional bit of happiness. I would describe this story as a tragedy in some ways because all of the characters end up in a difficult situation that they have to fight through.
 I feel like the beginning of the story should have given more details about the actual plot because I felt like the end was rushed. I think the author should have spent more time talking about Nyasha's condition at the beginning of the book rather than just focusing it in the very end of the story. I really liked that I got to see what it was like for a African family trying to survive in this time period. I am sure that there were many cases just like this families in this particular time period. I also couldn't help but think about what it is like in Africa today. I am sure that there are still problems with society and women's rights. I also like that the book was mostly focused on the life of females. It was interesting to learn about this culture, and I wish that I could learn more about what happened after she stopped writing the story. For example, I want to know if Nyasha ended up living. I also want to know if Tambu is successful in her life. These are things that were left out of the story, and I wish they would have been included. Overall, I think this story was Ok.