Parts 1 and 2 of this novel chronicle the journey of Tambu. We see her first in a hostel where she details her indifference towards her roommates and the importance of her finding new accommodation as she has aged out of the hostel. She moves on to a room in a widows house where she avoids the roommates due to her being jealous about them having jobs. She also has to deal with the widow’s tumultuous family life and a predatory male roommate. She manages to find a job teaching, but that quickly goes sour when sh befalls into patterns of alcoholism and abusive tendencies toward her students. Things come to a head when she (I think) brutally beats a student with a ruler and then proceeds to attack the students mother after being confronted. She lands in a psychiatric hospital where she remains mostly catatonic. When she is released, she goes with her cousin- a person she has criticized throughout the novel. Part 2 ends with Tambu having a meeting for a new job after seeing Tracey Stevenson, an old boss that she despises.

Things I liked:

• I enjoyed the metaphor of the ants being Tambu’s guilt. At first, I interpreted it as genuine ants since she has described the places she lived as less than clean, but later I realized that these ants that crawl all around her and almost consume her is a physical manifestation of her disappointment in herself/ guilt.

Things I did not like:

• Tambu being an unreliable narrator- it made the narrative harder to understand especially with the flashing back
• The use of “you”. Menon mentioned how Dangarembga uses “you” in the text to draw the reader in to the text which I thought was a very interesting concept but I actually did not like its use in reality
• Tambu’s contradictory attitude- in many instances she says how she has had the fortune of getting a good education but landed in an unfortunate education. However, when she meets up with her cousin she relentlessly talks about how Nyasha ruined her chances at a good life by coming back to Zimbabwe and marrying a white man.