Welcome to Litsy!

Photo: NPR Interview, 2020. I got the point of this, but at the same time I felt a sustained sense of discomfort while reading due to the combination of Tambu‘s self-centered actions and the unceasing “you” which points the finger back towards the reader. It wasn‘t a pleasurable reading experience. However, the author has lived an incredible life and stood up for what she believes in, and I really admire what she tries to do with her writing.

This has been a difficult read for me but I didn‘t want to bail. So, in the hopes of finishing this today, I went for a walk and did some outdoor reading at a local park/forest. I‘ve got about 50 pages left. My plan is to spend the rest of the afternoon with the cats and finish this up. Hwaiting!

“Everything is nice and fresh now…” I am enjoying this book more than “The Book of Not” so far. I had to get used to the change in POV, but there is more plot happening and Tambu‘s character, though increasingly unlikeable, is taking actions which are driving towards what I suspect is a doomed conclusion. I‘m very interested to see where this goes. I suspect it will be a tragic conclusion.

Being in the perverse habit of reading 17 books all at once, I‘ve started this, ignoring my mile high stack of nonfiction and each of the taunting bookmarks sticking their tongues out at me. I‘m seeing mixed reviews from other readers so we‘ll see how I fair.

Winners! https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/29/zimbabwean-novelist-tsitsi-dangare...

I just could not get through this one: it was too bad, because I found the elements of Zimbabwean history and culture intriguing, especially as I have a childhood memory of news of the revolution. However, the second person voice, the main character‘s bitter life, and the somewhat disjointed narrative were just too much for me.
#ReadingAfrica2022 #Zimbabwe

This an uncomfortable book. After building up our hero, Tambu, in two terrific novels, Dangarembga essentially tosses that away. Zimbabwe is not such an easily wrapped place and her previous construct is here, maybe intentionally, undermined. This is not a Tambu you‘re going to like, nor will you like seeing her struggles from inside your own head in a 2nd person narrative. I‘m partially horrified and partially impressed. A difficult read.

This poor book gets hammered on Litsy. But the first two books of the trilogy were fantastic and this is on the 2020 Booker, so plowing through. (No opinion yet, except there‘s a lot of filth). I‘m hoping to finish before the 2021 Booker longlist is announced.

Written in the second person, set in post colonial, post war Zimbabwe you find the female narrator facing incredible challenges. It can be a bit challenging to read but not overwhelming. The main character isn‘t likable in the traditional sense, unless you read the first two books you have to read between the lines to see why the character is as she is. I found myself compelled throughout and learning about a culture very different from my own.

^^ the second-person narration takes some getting used to (still not sure it works) but serves as both a distancing & call for empathy. Again, in above, the drop into poetic imagery at the end, description of a conflict & then BOOM the umbilical cord, the homestead, tugging. The way hard things are buried, left unsaid then said obliquely.

Book is WORK to read, but then, how do you describe a wrecked postwar society, a defeated protagonist?

Tambudzai‘s fierceness from “Nervous Conditions” now crushed by harsh working life in Harare, but still she hallucinates hyenas. Hard to see a character you 💜 get so disillusioned, failed promise of education & employment. Global capitalism, women & work, individualism, violence against women, family. Hard read, wandering narrative & despairing, hardened MC, but glimpses of the youthful Tambu I loved. End, circling back to homestead= killer. 2018

I would echo what other readers say about this book: slow going, jarring switches of point of view in the writing, etc. In print, I have no doubt that I would have bailed. That being said, by the end I felt like maybe there‘s something to this. If I were a rereader, I would go back again at some point to see if that glimmer materialized into something else.

Not surprised, as it has pretty bad reviews, but I always hope to be the one that "gets" an author. Not here.
Honestly I spent 5 chapters trying to figure out what was going on, then 6 trying to just go with it until I remembered I had 2 other books I was enjoying and bailed.

I liked the natural writing style and sense of place, but did not get on with this one. The second-person narration was off-putting and the main character is glum and dissolute (as best I could tell). I didn‘t understand what the point of the story was, ie what she wanted, why life was such a struggle, or the significance of other characters who randomly appeared. Slow pace & no dramatic tension. I wanted to love it but didn‘t have the patience.

Initial thoughts on this Booker Prize shortlisted title:

1. I wish I had time to read the first two books in this trilogy. This one morphs into a sometimes second person, on purpose because the author was trying to let the reader and herself have some space from it. I think the context of the first two would have aided my understanding of the family and town dynamics but I was pretty much there by the end. ⤵️

I‘m pretty sure most of the problems I had with this book, are because I couldn‘t focus on it 100%. That being said, I found this hard to follow. Apparantly, it is the second in a series, and there were a lot of references to experiences the MC had in the first book, which I didn‘t get. I had a hard time keeping track of the characters, and it felt like A LOT happened. I did like the focus on mental illness, but it wasn‘t enough for me

#bookerlonglist2020

Well, this was hard work (did I expect anything else from a Booker nominee?!)

I also only realised part-way through that it‘s the third in a trilogy and I think that I missed parts of the storyline as a result.

Tambudzai is living in a hostel and reels from one humiliation to another, making the book dark and depressing. Some reviewers say it is a story of triumph but I can‘t see that myself. Not an easy read.

Hello friends! I have been very absent the past week and I‘m quite likely to be more absent the next couple - I just got back from a holiday in Scotland with almost no WiFi and now I‘ve started an intensive teaching course which is, to be honest, significantly more intensive than I was expecting already 🙃 above is what I managed to read while I was on holiday, what I manage in the next couple weeks with this amount of homework is anyone‘s guess!

Tambu‘s story was interesting, but the second person narration felt impersonal, even while the situations Tambu was exposed to were harsh. She struggles against racism, misogyny, and the effects of colonialism and reaches a breaking point. Nothing goes as planned or expected. Apparently book three of a series, though it works as a stand-alone.

I am in Scotland! It‘s so exciting after all this time to be somewhere other than my flat and my parents‘ house. We‘ve come to stay with my boyfriend‘s dad and to go to the Isle of Arran together and I‘m so excited to be here. Hoping to get a lot of reading done!

I didn‘t realize this was part of a trilogy. 🤭 I‘ll probably read it out of order anyway. Anybody read it - should I wait?

Finally finished. It was a good one, Littens. A bit weird, but very good.

Halfway through after just two days. This books is wild 🔥📚

Had the thing happen where you're halfway through, and you take a look at Goodreads and realize it's the third book of a series 🤦 But that didn't stop me from enjoying this for most of the way through- I think it works as a standalone. The characters are nicely drawn, and Tambudzai's path to prosperity takes some unexpected detours. Unfortunately the climax and ending felt forced and implausible, which was a bit of a letdown.

I suffered through the first two shitty novels in this trilogy so as to be all set to sink into this, the third one. Only to bail on it just short of the 50% mark. What a monumental waste of valuable reading time. If you want to read shapely, powerful fiction from this part of the world, go directly to NoViolet Bulawayo‘s We Need New Names and spare yourself the agony I just subjected myself to.

My weekend is all booked! My reading nest is stocked and I‘m ready for a weekend crash course in August 7th releases. What are you reading this weekend? 📚❤️📚

Day 22 of the #Riotgrams Challenge: paperback stacks! A perfect chance to highlight the galley stacks in my office. Books are my life, and I love sharing titles because I want to help readers learn about as many books as I can, so they can find books that make them happy. ❤️📚☺️