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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
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inspiring
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Originally picked up as a gift from a flight museum’s gift shop for my dad, thinking it was just about 1930s aviation, West with the Night turned out to be a remarkable memoir that soars beyond simple flying tales. I was quickly swept up in Beryl Markham's rugged childhood in the Kenyan wilderness, her audacious exploits, and the subtly feminist threads in her life narrative. Whether it’s flying solo across dark, wild Africa, delivering oxygen to miners, hunting boar, or surviving a lion attack, Markham’s story is nothing short of legendary.
There’s debate that her third husband, Raoul Schumacher, may have been the actual writer of the memoir, but I like to think that such an extraordinary life inspired equally extraordinary writing. Regardless of who wrote it, West with the Night offers a vivid, lasting glimpse of a fearless woman whose life was as daring as her flights.
“You can live a lifetime and, at the end of it, know more about other people than you know about yourself. You learn to watch other people, but you never watch yourself because you strive against loneliness. If you read a book, or shuffle a deck of cards, or care for a dog, you are avoiding yourself. "
There’s debate that her third husband, Raoul Schumacher, may have been the actual writer of the memoir, but I like to think that such an extraordinary life inspired equally extraordinary writing. Regardless of who wrote it, West with the Night offers a vivid, lasting glimpse of a fearless woman whose life was as daring as her flights.
“You can live a lifetime and, at the end of it, know more about other people than you know about yourself. You learn to watch other people, but you never watch yourself because you strive against loneliness. If you read a book, or shuffle a deck of cards, or care for a dog, you are avoiding yourself. "
Impressive autobiography by a woman who lived life on her own terms. Raised in Kenya by her father, Beryl Markham’s life was anything but ordinary. From training race horses to becoming one of the first women of flight, scouting elephants to transatlantic flight, she is an inspiration. I had never heard of her until I read a historical fiction account of her life, Circling the Sun, which recommended her autobiography. She writes as as beautifully as she lived, with even Hemingway singing her praises. I only wish there was a part two. I’d love to know how she lived the rest of her life.
"As it is, she has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer . . . it is really a bloody wonderful book."--Ernest Hemingway
This is the book I wanted The Snows of Kilimanjaro to be, so I'm glad Hemingway could admit his own deference on this one. The kind of book you could read again and again - especially when setting out on an adventure.
This is the book I wanted The Snows of Kilimanjaro to be, so I'm glad Hemingway could admit his own deference on this one. The kind of book you could read again and again - especially when setting out on an adventure.
Teach me how to write please beryl… or else sit the english paper for me
Folks, 'West with the Night' is a great book. Not "great" as in, "really good," but Great. This book should be part of the reading list of college prep English curriculae. Beryl Markham's prose is transcendent, her adventures exciting, and her world and worldview problematic enough to launch a thousand senior theses.
For examples of Markham's prose, see some of the passages I highlighted on my Goodreads page. Her adventures, such hunting boar in the African Bush, training champion racehorses in Nairobi, becoming the first woman in Africa to earn the equivalent of a contemporary Commercial Pilot License, flying across the Sahara, and becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, speak for themselves. And her world and worldview? She was every bit the colonialist, with all that entails. There is much to savor here, and much to analyze.
In short, this is a Great Book. It deserves to be taught. You deserve to read it. Put it at the top of your list.
For examples of Markham's prose, see some of the passages I highlighted on my Goodreads page. Her adventures, such hunting boar in the African Bush, training champion racehorses in Nairobi, becoming the first woman in Africa to earn the equivalent of a contemporary Commercial Pilot License, flying across the Sahara, and becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, speak for themselves. And her world and worldview? She was every bit the colonialist, with all that entails. There is much to savor here, and much to analyze.
In short, this is a Great Book. It deserves to be taught. You deserve to read it. Put it at the top of your list.