Part 3 of the novel follows Tambu as she finds her way at the Green Jacaranda- an eco tourist business. Here, Tambu still shows signs of struggling with her temper and her feelings of jealousy towards people who are doing better than her. In this part we meet Pedzi, a young girl who presents a great idea to Tracey which leads to her success. Tambu goes to great lengths to explain how and why this situation frustrates her. The main problem, she finds, is that she wishes to have the same success Pedzi has acquired. Tambu eventually finds this success when Tracey enlists her to take her tours to the village (where Tambu was born and has constantly shown she has problems with)to provide tourists with a more interactive and “African” event while still keeping the guests safe. A problem arises, though, when Tambu is warned constantly (and even realizes herself) that this project is extremely distasteful- Tracey’s request to commodify the village into something that is stereotypically African and even implying that the village is dangerous highlights how much she does not know about the country she is inhabiting. Tracey even goes as far as to ask the women in the village to perform a dance for the guests without their shirts on (something I found very problematic as it highlights how white people have only seen BIPOC as entertainment). Tambu follows the orders in an attempt to achieve success, but things quickly devolve when her mother becomes upset at a guest taking photos of her. The outburst causes Tambu to be massively embarrassed and she submits her resignation letter. The novel ends with Tambu working for her aunt and finally accepting that her knowledge isn’t just about what is in her mind, but about the experiences she has lived through.

Quotes I Found Important:

• “You place mental bets on the possibility of Pedzi being successful, at the same time entertaining horrible visions of the erstwhile receptionist becoming a codirector with Tracey and firing you.” (201)
  • This quote stuck out to me for a myriad of reasons. First, I think it is one of the best examples as to why Tambu is constantly disappointed with herself and her work. Instead of seeing Pedzi as a person to positively compare herself to, she immediately denigrates her and wishes for her downfall. Also, this quote manages to highlight how Tambu never really has faith in herself and the work that she is doing. Throughout the novel, it becomes clear that Tambu sees anyone else having success as an immediate threat to her.
• “Could this be a way out? you wonder” (209)
  • Here Tambu is contemplating if apologizing to Elizabeth, the student she maimed, and her family will help to relieve the guilt that she constantly feels. This quote actually caused a physical reaction within me. Tambu does these awful things throughout the book (ignoring Gertrude’s pleas for help, taking advantage of the widow, beating up a woman in the club because she resembled Tracey Stevenson…) and it seems like the only consequences for her actions are her own mental deterioration which is genuinely unfortunate. The problem, however, is that Tambu believes she can be absolved of the terrible things she does by a simple apology. Elizabeth’s family rightfully tells her that this line of thinking is ludicrous. No apology will ever be able to repair the damage to Elizabeth’s ear or the trauma she inevitably received from that. To conclude, this quote really struck me because I feel like Tambu rarely takes accountability for her actions and seeing it so plainly in print just furthers my dislike of the character.

Things I liked:

• I liked that we were able to return to what happened to Elizabeth.
• Seeing Tambu excel at something (even if it was only for a short time)
• Tambu’s mom yelling at the guests- Tracey asking the women of the village to do that dance was in poor taste and someone should have said something earlier

Things I did not like:

• Tambu’s driving- her recklessness and overall lack of care for the pedestrians exacerbates how selfish she is
• The return to the widow’s story. Though the widow took up a great portion of Tambu’s story I felt that returning back to her did not have the same impact of returning back to Elizabeth
• The parade of characters- I started to lose track of who was who