Sunday, September 18, 2011

A Girl Named Disaster - ORR 3

Title: A Girl Named DisasterAuthor: Nancy Farmer
Genre: Historical Fiction
This week, I continued reading the book A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer. In the next fifty pages of the book, Nhamo has escaped her small village, and avoided marrying a cruel man. She is travelling to Zimbabwe by boat, but she gets into a lot of danger, and faces many problems. At first, things seem to be going well for Nhamo, as she comes upon many small islands scattered across the river, where she discovers guinea fowls, which are birds that are common in that geographical area. The guinea fowsl help Nhamo survive, as it is very difficult for her to find other food. She also sees an electrical light somewhere in the distance, and believes that she could be nearing Zimbabwe and nearing her father and his family. However, afterwards, once she starts going again, she falls asleep on her boat, and finds that she doesn't have any idea where she is once she wakes up. This is the part where you have the opportunity to learn a little bit about the religion of Shona people in the 1980s. Nhamo believes that she was lost because of the njuzu, or the spirits of the water, that the Shona people believed in. Nhamo believed that she was very ungrateful and rude to the njuzu, and that she insulted them in some way, and that is why they were causing her trouble. It was believed that the njuzu were far wiser then humans, and that they kept the bodies of water from drying out.
Nhamo then decided that she needs to keep going, if she wants to make it to Zimbabwe, so she starts rowing her boat to the west, following the setting sun. It so happens that afte rrowing for a very long time, Nhamo comes upon a big island, which is full of different fruits, vegetables, etc. Once she starts exploring it further, she finds an abandoned house, where she discovers a Portugese man's body, who, Nhamo believes, has been killed in the civil war. However, that doesn't stop her from staying on the island, and enjoying it's many delicious fruits, including figs. She also pays respects to her ancestors and to the njuzu by offering them some of her food. After a few days, she decides to continue her journey, but due to bad weather conditions, and the restless waters, Nhamo finds herself lost and confused, but also realizes that she has entered the great lake Cabora Bassa. She is also very scared, as she cannot see land at all. At the end of the fifty pages, Nhamo finds herself on the brink of starvation, and very tired, depending only on peanuts and yams to survive.
I really like this book, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes adventure stories, as well as historical fiction. I like that this book tells us about Mozambique and Zimbabwe in 1980's through a very interesting and creative way. This book is also really good because you never know what is going to happen next, and how might the story finish at the end. It is also very uniqe that at the end of the book there is a glossary, where the meanings of Shona words used in the book are stated in English. As for Nhamo, I really admire how she copes with many difficulties, and how, throughout the book, the author makes her become a stronger person because of all her experiences.

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