Who are the people who succeed in life? Why do they succeed? Are some people condemned to failure? It is a line of thought that brings the protagonist in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s new book, “This Mournable Body,” close to a point of self-destruction as she engages in a harrowing mental fight against the demons of her own poverty and failure.

We have met her before, this woman. Her name is Tambudzai Sigauke, Tambu for short. We first met her as a child succeeding at school against all odds in pre-independence Zimbabwe in “Nervous Conditions” (1988), the world-famous first novel from Dangarembga. Then we met her again as a teenager and young adult in the follow-up novel, “The Book of Not” (2006). At that point, she was struggling with identity, the trauma of war and how her family reminded her of all she was trying to escape.

Now we meet her again at the end of the 20th century. In this self-contained third installment of Dangarembga’s trilogy, Tambu comes to us unemployed, running out of savings and so self-absorbed by her seeming inability to succeed that her thoughts and intentions constantly teeter on the edge of malice. She harbors ill will for housemates and family. She is a very difficult character to empathize with, despite her dire situation.

Tambu lives in a hostel for young women in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, but is too old to remain a resident there and so must find alternative accommodation. She finally finds a place to live in one of Harare’s wealthier neighborhoods. Her landlady is a widow who lives in a huge house that is falling into disrepair. The other three tenants all have work, and Tambu resents them for this, even as she steals their cooking oil and condiments from the kitchen because she cannot afford her own.

With no friends and no desire to return to her rural home because she is so ashamed, she retreats further into her own world where she is tormented by memories of the family she has left behind, the effects of the war, injustices of her past and questions about why she has failed. Dangarembga writes:

“You are concerned you will start thinking of ending it all, having nothing to carry on for: no home, no job, no sustaining family bonds …. You have failed to make anything at all of yourself …. How, with all your education, do you come to be more needy than your mother?”

She applies for a teaching job, a field she has some experience in. Even though she does not have the right qualifications, she ends up teaching high school biology at a girls’ school. She continues to struggle mentally with the failure she has become. She takes out her frustrations on her students and one day she uses a T-square to beat one of them.

When Tambu is summoned to the headmistress’s office, with the girl’s parents in attendance, she is at the height of mental torment and cannot stand the mother’s crying. She attacks the distressed woman.

This nervous breakdown marks the bottom of Tambu’s descent. She ends up in the hospital and is prescribed antidepressants. It is her aunt and cousin, the very family she is trying to avoid, who come to her rescue and give her a place to stay.

As she starts to find herself again, she realizes she must swallow her pride and make peace with an old school rival who becomes her boss — for the second time in her life. She must also embrace her family as redemption and maybe even the success that has eluded her for so long lie in the murky mess that comes from standing face to face with everything that makes up her mad reality.

“This Mournable Body” is a harrowing psychological journey. Dangarembga does not give her heroine any easy escapes. Like the period of Zimbabwe’s history this story is set in, the pain, false hopes and dashed enthusiasms come in large doses, and victory lies at the end of a very long road.

Fungai Tichawangana is the founding editor of Zimbabwe’s leading lifestyle, arts and culture website, Zimbo Jam.