The Uncertainty of Hope by Valerie Tagwira

A little background on me...when I was on my way to Mozambique for a 2-year posting to U.S. Embassy Maputo, I took along a book of stories by African women (I forget what it was called). There were countless stories of abuse, economic distress, AIDS, and just overall misery. I remember getting off the plane thinking, "What the hell have I gotten myself into by going to Africa?"

The Uncertainty of Hope, a novel of Zimbabwe in the 21st century, had me going down that same path. The main character, Onai, lives in an abusive relationship, which she refuses to leave despite the advice of all of her friends because she thinks it would be better for her kids if she stays. Things get worse and worse for Onai before they get better, and she winds up losing basically everything. Luckily, she has some strong female friends to rely on, and there is a sort of deus ex machina ending, which is, blessedly, happy.

At first I was put off by the stilted style of writing in this book. This is Valerie Tagwira's first novel and some of the dialogue is very artificial, giving information that should be given in the narrative or some other way. An example from page 20:

"Tom continued. 'Just to show you how desperate the fuel situation is, ...the one service station that had petrol and diesel yesterday was asking for payment in US dollars.'
Faith was incredulous. 'Shuwa? That is so unfair! Only a handful of people earn foreign currency, and most of them expats [...] no wonder the public transport situation is worsening [...]'

Who talks like that? But despite this, I became more and more engrossed in the book. I was simply amazed at how bad things got for Onai and some of her acquaintances and kept turning the pages to see if things would get better for her and her children. Luckily, they did, but it was a long, hard, road.

There are numerous subplots in the story, also involving women, some of whom are actually in good relationships. While the women in the story are complex, the men seem one-dimensional, either lecherous abusers or befuddled and amused by their smart women. The book is also amazingly critical of the Zimbabwean government and policies, which surprises me since it was published in the country. I certainly hope that Valerie Tagwira didn't suffer any repercussions, and that she got her happy ending like Onai.