Nervous Conditions Thoughts

    Our class question discusses how culture and community affect an individual. Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga fits this description perfectly. The title alone refers how the physiological state of characters in the book are affected by colonization. That leaves the whole book to answer our class discussion question. Even though this book probably has all of the  qualificationst that makes it a perfect book to go along with our class focus I think that, personally, there were still some faults
   The reason that I don't think Nervous Conditions is going to a book that will stick with me is that I couldn't connect with it. Lord of the Flies and Nation  both had non-specific plots, so I could read it and  get the deeper meaning easily. For example, it is fairly obvious that I cannot connect with a bunch of little boys stranded on an island. However, the message is a broad one that I could understand so I will probably remember Lord of the Flies for a very long time. Nervous Conditions, on the other hand, has a plot and theme that neither one really connect with my life.
   This is not to completely discredit Dangarembga for writing a great book. I think that she developed the characters and used them to portray her theme perfectly. I just think that this book would be a better outside reading book or summer reading because it is hard to write papers and takes tests on it.
  As for books that would fill the spot of Nervous Conditions, I don't think that there is one. That is why I think that freshmen should continue to read it (maybe for summer reading though). Although I personally could not relate to the plot that doesn't mean that other students wouldn't be able to.