The Fiction Spot
A snapshot review of a book related to the Non-fiction Feature
Also in this Weekly Bulletin:
The Non-fiction Feature: Saving Capitalism by Robert Reich
The Product Spot: A Starting Point
The Pithy Take
Tsitsi Dangarembga, author of This Mournable Body, wants to make you uncomfortable. The main character, Tambudzai Sigauke, will make you uncomfortable. As she navigates and embraces new forms of capitalism in a post-independent Zimbabwe, Tambudzai makes dreadful decisions for herself and even more dreadful decisions for other people. She constantly tries to pull forth her self-worth, but is intimidated by other seemingly more accomplished women. Dangarembga grapples with many questions, paramount among them: How does capitalism force people to evaluate themselves? What will people sacrifice—family, dignity, heritage—to appease whatever capitalism demands of us?
‘With this solid second-class degree of yours,’ the headmistress continues, ‘it is good you are still here and not in South Africa or Europe. Or even Botswana. Imagine,’ she says, ‘now Zimbabweans are going to that little place and other little places like Zambia. Some are even opting for Mozambique and Malawi. All of it is happening within living memory, a couple of decades after our independence.’
This Mournable Body
Author: Tsitsi Dangarembga
Publisher: Graywolf Press
304 pages | 2018
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