The Reality of the Situation

Shocking and disappointing as the ending of this novel might have been, as an autobiographical work, it was totally necessary. As is the case in most real-life situations, not all things ever do end perfectly or with the most anticipated outcome. The Book of Not clearly serves as representation of this and the harsh reality of what life was truly like for most Africans, and more specifically- most African women, of her time.

As most would agree, Tambu’s actions throughout most, and particularly towards the end of the novel, were rather infuriating, as she moved forward in life passively through her final days of Sacred Heart, and the entirety of her first career. All throughout the novel we hear from Tambu of the resentment she holds towards her mother and her fear and strong desire to not turn out like her. From her childhood she had always seen her mother as rather weak and lazy, getting nowhere in life due to her lack of work and effort. Amongst other factors, this particularly was what drove Tambu to work harder and harder at those things of which she did have the power to control. In the end, however, we find that she did not actually even have as much control over this as any of us had imagined. Working as hard as she did enabled to her to maintain a stable position in this world of the “New Zimbabwe,” but not nearly the type of position which it was obvious she truly deserved. It really was sad seeing all of Tambu’s hard work completely overlooked or covered up altogether, or as was the case with Dick, stolen from her and used for someone else’s benefit. All that Tambu truly achieved was never able to be ostensibly manifested or accredited to her. It would seem that she simply allowed this to happen to her, taking no action in fighting against those that had wronged her. The fact of the matter was, however, that there really was not much else she could effectively do in her situation. As difficult as that may be to accept, that was the reality of her situation, which as might be revealed in the third book, will somehow ultimately be able to work to her advantage in the end.