Wow. It took me a long time to listen to this whole book, so my impression of it is a little fragmented. First off, it's about a girl (12 or 13 years old) named Nhamo (which means "disaster") who lives in a remote village in Mozambique. She's kind of a Cinderella character because her mother is dead and she lives with her aunt who makes her do all the hard work (but she's not as miserable as Cinderella). The story is told in the third person, but Nhamo's POV is definitely primary.

Nhamo's tribe is Shona, so we learn quite a lot about the Shona religion (and Farmer gives us an appendix with more info as well). As Nhamo embarks on a dangerous journey, she relies more and more on her beliefs to give her strength.

The story takes place in the 1980s, so towards the end of the book there is a conflict between modern, Western religion and Nhamo's native religion. We also learn a little about the conflicts between the native Africans of Zimbabwe and the white settlers/invaders.

A lot of Nhamo's story is about surviving alone in the wilderness, a little like [b:Island of the Blue Dolphins|233818|Island of the Blue Dolphins|Scott O'Dell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172966185s/233818.jpg|3215136]. Nhamo tells a lot of great stories passed down from her grandmother. She deals with the absence of her parents. She celebrates her victories by making up songs that are like, "I am Nhamo! I am the best!" It's hard not to love her for being so clever and so brave.

And the audio book was amazing. The reader did wonderful accents, and really gave each character a life, especially Crocodile Guts, Dr. van Heerden, and Ambuya. ( )

I was delighted by this when I was ten or so. I read it a few times in the summer that year, and cheered Nhamo on as she sailed. As an adult rereading it, I discovered I remembered little of it: maybe a paragraph. The book's introduction is about studying and interacting with baboons. Only three chapters are actually dedicated to that, and they're anthropomorphized: a word which I have known for years and been spelling and likely pronouncing wrong this whole time, I just now learned. The bulk of this book is stories within a story, and songs. I was not interested. Nhamo's river journey to find her biological father and his family is perilous and lasts from chapter ten until the last hundred pages of the book. I'm realizing I'm not a fan of "lost in the wilderness" journey books. It's a good realization for me. The last hundred pages are her adjusting to a new life and being nursed back to health. Her culture shock was totally downplayed, but this is a middle grade book and sometimes they do that. The book ended abruptly but I was glad it was over. It was boring overall. ( )

Nhamo's mother was killed by a leopard when Nhamo was just a baby and her father left her village to return to his own family in Zimbabwe, leaving Nhamo to be raised by her grandmother and a hateful aunt. Most of the heavy daily chores are piled on her, and when cholera invades the village, a witch doctor blames her father, who killed another man before he fled, for the vengeful spirit he claims has brought the sickness to them. Nhamo is condemned to be the wife of the murdered man's brother's, which is tantamount to a life of beatings and early death. So, her grandmother helps her to run away in search of her father's family. What follows is an account of her survival for months on her own in the wild before she finally makes it to Zimbabwe and a new life.

An excellent adventure story; think Cinderella meets Island of the Blue Dolphins, with a dash of African folklore and a heroine you'll be rooting for from the first page. Definitely recommended. ( )

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Eleven-year-old Nhamo lives in a traditional village in Mozambique, where she doesn't quite fit in. When her family tries to force her into marrying a cruel man, she runs away to Zimbabwe, hoping to find the father she's never met. But what should have been a short boat trip across the border turns into a dangerous year-long adventure, and Nhamo must summon her innermost courage to ensure her survival.A Girl Named Disaster is a 1996 novel by Nancy Farmer. In 1997, Farmer won the Newbery Honor for the novel, which was also a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature.