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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
Beryl Markham is someone who you would want to meet and study, I think. This story is nuts, but at the same time, it lacks the pull of human relationships that generally carry me through a story. People obviously read for different reasons, but for me it is relationships that pull me through a story – not necessarily romantic relationships, you understand, but the way people interact. Will they be friends? Will they fall in love? Will they betray each other? There is none of that in this book, so it is not an obvious fit for me as a reader in that way. It is, however, about a badass woman, who was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west.
For the most part, people have such interesting lives. I mean, even a person who lives the most normal, or the most domestic, life ever has some kind of story, something to say about life, something about betrayal or compassion or just what it means to be a human. And then there are people like Beryl Markham, who are like, Oh hai, did I ever tell you about the time I almost got eaten by a lion? !!! ???? Whaaa? That is very exotic to me. And then there was that time where she went hunting boar with her buddies, who were Maasai warriors. Oh, and that other time where she saved everybody from floods and killer ants and killer elephants using just her wits and tiny airplanes. So, despite the general absence of human relationships in this book, it’s just an inherently interesting story.
Hemingway was a fan of this book, and it is always interesting to me to read the writers he admired. With Hemingway, I always get this feeling that every sentence is seething with emotion just underneath the surface of what it says, and he’s stuffed that emotion down and tried to nail the sentence shut, but the emotion seeps through the cracks. But, the authors he loves always seem to actually be apathetic. Maybe I’m generalizing too much, but that’s how it seems to me from [b:A Moveable Feast|4631|A Moveable Feast|Ernest Hemingway|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41B112Q45HL._SL75_.jpg|2459084]. I think this book is a good example of that. I hadn’t thought about it before, but it seems like it is entirely different to write a memoir where you treat your own story objectively and have compassion for your enemies, and another thing to be generally apathetic. And you don’t get the sense that a woman who flew across the Atlantic, before it was really the thing to do, would have been very apathetic. But, that is what I feel from the writing. Ambition, yes; competitive spirit, yes; but, passion? Not really. It is interesting because I am inclined to assume that Beryl Markham was one of the most passionate people in the twentieth century.
There was another funny thing about this book. I don’t have it in front of me now or I would quote to you. She really back-loads her sentences. I think this might have been something that created the sense of apathy for me. I’m going to give an example of the kind of sentence I’m talking about, even though I don’t have the book, so I can’t give you a quote. It’s something like, “In the heat of the summer, when the warm breezes blew and people sat on their porches drinking lemonade, and before we had heard of airplanes, but after my father had started his flour processing plant, a stampede of elephants flattened our entire village.” It’s like, WHAT? WHOA. That sentence is not about the heat of summer. It is not easy for a stampede of elephants to sneak around, but they got into that sentence pretty stealthily. I guess it is sort of a litotes sentence structure, but I felt tossed about a little bit as a reader.
I read this because my boss and I were talking about the Swahili coast, and how beautiful it is. Markham grew up there and learned to fly planes there. What a beautiful and rough and interesting place to live.
Generally, I think this is a wonderful story. Over and over, I was stunned at how amazing this woman is. And, man, if there is anything that proves that women have always been badass, it is stories like this. I think, for people who love books like [b:A Tree Grows in Brooklyn|14891|A Tree Grows in Brooklyn |Betty Smith|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166668598s/14891.jpg|833257] and [a:Jeannette Walls|3275|Jeannette Walls|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1188356528p2/3275.jpg]'s books, this is a great recommendation. You just get this sense that Markham did whatever the fuck she wanted to do, and she could not have cared less if someone told her not to. She just swatted them away and worked with more drive to get what she wanted. I am left with an unfortunate desire to read celebrity gossip about her, though. Who was the woman behind the legend? But, at the same time, I am glad at the dignity of the story, and I am unimpressed at my own unseemly dissatisfaction.
For the most part, people have such interesting lives. I mean, even a person who lives the most normal, or the most domestic, life ever has some kind of story, something to say about life, something about betrayal or compassion or just what it means to be a human. And then there are people like Beryl Markham, who are like, Oh hai, did I ever tell you about the time I almost got eaten by a lion? !!! ???? Whaaa? That is very exotic to me. And then there was that time where she went hunting boar with her buddies, who were Maasai warriors. Oh, and that other time where she saved everybody from floods and killer ants and killer elephants using just her wits and tiny airplanes. So, despite the general absence of human relationships in this book, it’s just an inherently interesting story.
Hemingway was a fan of this book, and it is always interesting to me to read the writers he admired. With Hemingway, I always get this feeling that every sentence is seething with emotion just underneath the surface of what it says, and he’s stuffed that emotion down and tried to nail the sentence shut, but the emotion seeps through the cracks. But, the authors he loves always seem to actually be apathetic. Maybe I’m generalizing too much, but that’s how it seems to me from [b:A Moveable Feast|4631|A Moveable Feast|Ernest Hemingway|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41B112Q45HL._SL75_.jpg|2459084]. I think this book is a good example of that. I hadn’t thought about it before, but it seems like it is entirely different to write a memoir where you treat your own story objectively and have compassion for your enemies, and another thing to be generally apathetic. And you don’t get the sense that a woman who flew across the Atlantic, before it was really the thing to do, would have been very apathetic. But, that is what I feel from the writing. Ambition, yes; competitive spirit, yes; but, passion? Not really. It is interesting because I am inclined to assume that Beryl Markham was one of the most passionate people in the twentieth century.
There was another funny thing about this book. I don’t have it in front of me now or I would quote to you. She really back-loads her sentences. I think this might have been something that created the sense of apathy for me. I’m going to give an example of the kind of sentence I’m talking about, even though I don’t have the book, so I can’t give you a quote. It’s something like, “In the heat of the summer, when the warm breezes blew and people sat on their porches drinking lemonade, and before we had heard of airplanes, but after my father had started his flour processing plant, a stampede of elephants flattened our entire village.” It’s like, WHAT? WHOA. That sentence is not about the heat of summer. It is not easy for a stampede of elephants to sneak around, but they got into that sentence pretty stealthily. I guess it is sort of a litotes sentence structure, but I felt tossed about a little bit as a reader.
I read this because my boss and I were talking about the Swahili coast, and how beautiful it is. Markham grew up there and learned to fly planes there. What a beautiful and rough and interesting place to live.
Generally, I think this is a wonderful story. Over and over, I was stunned at how amazing this woman is. And, man, if there is anything that proves that women have always been badass, it is stories like this. I think, for people who love books like [b:A Tree Grows in Brooklyn|14891|A Tree Grows in Brooklyn |Betty Smith|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166668598s/14891.jpg|833257] and [a:Jeannette Walls|3275|Jeannette Walls|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1188356528p2/3275.jpg]'s books, this is a great recommendation. You just get this sense that Markham did whatever the fuck she wanted to do, and she could not have cared less if someone told her not to. She just swatted them away and worked with more drive to get what she wanted. I am left with an unfortunate desire to read celebrity gossip about her, though. Who was the woman behind the legend? But, at the same time, I am glad at the dignity of the story, and I am unimpressed at my own unseemly dissatisfaction.
informative
medium-paced
I actually added this book to my reading list on three separate occasions…first more than 20 years ago when I started paying attention to strong women, again when I flipped through the pages of “1,000 Books to Read Before You Die,” and a third time last January after I finishing (and LOVING) the fictionalized version of Beryl’s life (“Circling the Sun” by Paula McClain).
I had two expectations about this book: 1) I thought it would be mostly about Beryl’s transatlantic solo flight (only the very end covered this incredible feat…and definitely in short) and 2) I thought I would love it (I much preferred Paula McClain’s story).
While Beryl was an excellent writer in terms of language, for me, too much of the book was focused on Africa and she skimmed over the relationships in her life. This is the biggest reason it didn’t get a higher rating from me. (My guess is that’s exactly why Paula McClain was inspired to write her version.)
Beryl’s love of Africa is infectious, so I would highly recommend that anyone going to East Africa read this book on the plane ride over. Although it’s doubtful I’ll ever get there, Beryl definitely made me question this decision. If I could time travel back to the 1920s-1930s, my choice would very likely be a different one!
I had two expectations about this book: 1) I thought it would be mostly about Beryl’s transatlantic solo flight (only the very end covered this incredible feat…and definitely in short) and 2) I thought I would love it (I much preferred Paula McClain’s story).
While Beryl was an excellent writer in terms of language, for me, too much of the book was focused on Africa and she skimmed over the relationships in her life. This is the biggest reason it didn’t get a higher rating from me. (My guess is that’s exactly why Paula McClain was inspired to write her version.)
Beryl’s love of Africa is infectious, so I would highly recommend that anyone going to East Africa read this book on the plane ride over. Although it’s doubtful I’ll ever get there, Beryl definitely made me question this decision. If I could time travel back to the 1920s-1930s, my choice would very likely be a different one!
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
adventurous
medium-paced
I know I read book. It was because I read a book on the Wright Brothers and enjoyed it. This book was like reading a diary. I enjoyed reading, it was just a story of someone's life.
4.5 stars: I first learned about Beryl Markham when I read Circling the Sun. Had I known about this memoir, I would have skipped the historical fiction and gone straight to this. While it does contain the author's biases/language of the time, it is an amazing account of a fascinating and trailblazing woman who was so way ahead of her time. Also, it is beautifully written--which just doesn't seem fair when you consider that Beryl Markham was also an accomplished horse trainer and pilot. So much talent!
informative
reflective
Super well written - worth the read for the prose alone. Add in a fascinating location, life and adventures and it’s a clear winning read. What an amazing woman!
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced