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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
A compelling read. Vivid, captivating writing that takes you on an adventure alongside Markham. There's a wonderful sense of place. The colonialist sensibilities made me, reading this in 2020, uncomfortable, but Markham does seem to have a genuine respect for the indigenous people she describes.
This took me so long to read. There were parts that held me rapt-- I most enjoyed sections that were straight forward/anecdotal storytelling, including the final few chapters detailing her journey to London and then her flight across the Atlantic. I loved how it bothered her that she didn't arrive in NY in her own plane...and then gradually she got over it.
Basically, I want to hang out with Beryl at the bar and hear more about her life.
Basically, I want to hang out with Beryl at the bar and hear more about her life.
Very enjoyable read - well written prose, gave me a glimpse into Africa I would have never seen. And a unique view of life during an era I’d never read about from quite this perspective - a woman, both in her youth and early adulthood, living closely with native people and alongside the open wilderness, training horses and flying planes. It was quite amazing.
Well, I didn't have as much fun reading this as I thought I would. And it's all right. It wasn't for me right now but it's nice it's here.
The author lived a life that basically led me to read the whole book imagining her as Phryne Fisher? In probably less insane clothes. But all of her stories have that same sort of shine in which she is so outside of her time, so good at everything she tries, so untouched by cultural consequences, so fearless and well-liked, it grates after a while. Her stories are true (at least, I imagine, they all are true enough) and truly heroic, and it's great -- here we are reading about British East Africa just before it was known as Kenya, with this girl who grows up getting mauled by lions and making pals with the Nandi tribe and training racehorses and flying planes. It's not unimpressive. I feel so glib, being like "I didn't really enjoy these stories of fabulous experiences and heroic attitudes," but I didn't, today.
Actually, I genuinely think there's good appeal here for younger readers, maybe around the 10-14 range in particular. A lot of the chapters are simplified adventure, which didn't especially excite me -- I outright skimmed over the hunting expeditions, and I really don't do that -- but the author's narrative enthusiasm could definitely pull in younger readers, even if it isn't aimed at them. (However, a few wise words about imperialism would be necessary, in my opinion.)
It also doesn't hurt that she makes a fantastic figure of a female role model without that being the main focus of the book. I liked that -- it's not writing that's about a woman having accomplished these things, it's writing about these accomplishments, and she is a woman. It's glossed over enough, in fact, that I couldn't help but wonder about the underside of her experience. In this book, she has all these admiring, respectful male mentors and colleagues in these masculine professions she excels in. Was it really that easy? She was very privileged, so, perhaps? But I'm thinking it's more likely that when writing in the 1940's she found it easier to highlight the thrill and excitement and fun and glory of it all, and never mind the bollocks.
There is some unfortunate portrayal of her relationship to African people, growing up when and where she did. This isn't particularly surprising but it still isn't great to read, though often it's so gently done that perhaps not all readers will feel it's cruel. But she grew up and became this fabulous, successful woman within the environment of imperial domination. There are many overt comments on the lesser intelligence of the tribal Africans: "I couldn't help wondering what Africa would have been like if such physique as these Kavirondo had were coupled with equal intelligence -- or perhaps I should say with cunning equal to that of their white brethren." Er, no. But mostly this bias is written into the background of her day to day life -- one surrounded by kind, happy natives who are thrilled to include this white girl in their hunting rituals and protect her when she is a child, and once she is older, be employed by her. When she is raising horses, she speaks of the limitations of her dozen-odd "syces," how good and loyal they are but that the most expert tasks "are for me." Her best friend, a Nandi boy who is her childhood playmate, grows up to clean her plane and serve her tea and dispense tribal wisdom.
And once she leaves it behind, flies to England with her white male friends, they drink "a toast to Africa because we knew Africa was gone." Oh yeah? You just closed that book yourself, did you?
Anyway, this privilege problem isn't a dealbreaker, nor is it a shock to hear in the author's voice within its historical context. With perspective, I could have enjoyed the book in spite of it, but in fact I found the book a little too boring. It's odd, because the author's writing style is often noted as the finest thing about the book (and there is the famous Hemingway endorsement), but despite its occasional beauty, at times I found it stilted and barely coherent. Just, really, not for me. But I'm going to keep it around in case it's good for somebody else, someday.
The author lived a life that basically led me to read the whole book imagining her as Phryne Fisher? In probably less insane clothes. But all of her stories have that same sort of shine in which she is so outside of her time, so good at everything she tries, so untouched by cultural consequences, so fearless and well-liked, it grates after a while. Her stories are true (at least, I imagine, they all are true enough) and truly heroic, and it's great -- here we are reading about British East Africa just before it was known as Kenya, with this girl who grows up getting mauled by lions and making pals with the Nandi tribe and training racehorses and flying planes. It's not unimpressive. I feel so glib, being like "I didn't really enjoy these stories of fabulous experiences and heroic attitudes," but I didn't, today.
Actually, I genuinely think there's good appeal here for younger readers, maybe around the 10-14 range in particular. A lot of the chapters are simplified adventure, which didn't especially excite me -- I outright skimmed over the hunting expeditions, and I really don't do that -- but the author's narrative enthusiasm could definitely pull in younger readers, even if it isn't aimed at them. (However, a few wise words about imperialism would be necessary, in my opinion.)
It also doesn't hurt that she makes a fantastic figure of a female role model without that being the main focus of the book. I liked that -- it's not writing that's about a woman having accomplished these things, it's writing about these accomplishments, and she is a woman. It's glossed over enough, in fact, that I couldn't help but wonder about the underside of her experience. In this book, she has all these admiring, respectful male mentors and colleagues in these masculine professions she excels in. Was it really that easy? She was very privileged, so, perhaps? But I'm thinking it's more likely that when writing in the 1940's she found it easier to highlight the thrill and excitement and fun and glory of it all, and never mind the bollocks.
There is some unfortunate portrayal of her relationship to African people, growing up when and where she did. This isn't particularly surprising but it still isn't great to read, though often it's so gently done that perhaps not all readers will feel it's cruel. But she grew up and became this fabulous, successful woman within the environment of imperial domination. There are many overt comments on the lesser intelligence of the tribal Africans: "I couldn't help wondering what Africa would have been like if such physique as these Kavirondo had were coupled with equal intelligence -- or perhaps I should say with cunning equal to that of their white brethren." Er, no. But mostly this bias is written into the background of her day to day life -- one surrounded by kind, happy natives who are thrilled to include this white girl in their hunting rituals and protect her when she is a child, and once she is older, be employed by her. When she is raising horses, she speaks of the limitations of her dozen-odd "syces," how good and loyal they are but that the most expert tasks "are for me." Her best friend, a Nandi boy who is her childhood playmate, grows up to clean her plane and serve her tea and dispense tribal wisdom.
And once she leaves it behind, flies to England with her white male friends, they drink "a toast to Africa because we knew Africa was gone." Oh yeah? You just closed that book yourself, did you?
Anyway, this privilege problem isn't a dealbreaker, nor is it a shock to hear in the author's voice within its historical context. With perspective, I could have enjoyed the book in spite of it, but in fact I found the book a little too boring. It's odd, because the author's writing style is often noted as the finest thing about the book (and there is the famous Hemingway endorsement), but despite its occasional beauty, at times I found it stilted and barely coherent. Just, really, not for me. But I'm going to keep it around in case it's good for somebody else, someday.
If you read a biography of Beryl Markham, you'll know that she was married three times and had numerous romances over the course of her life. But the book *by* Beryl Markham is about the three true loves of her life - Africa, horses, and flying.
There's a bit of the British colonial racism which is common in books of this period early on in her descriptions of the various African peoples she encountered, but that is quickly left behind for wonderfully written prose describing the parts of Africa she knew, her early life training horses, and her extensive experience flying.
The title event, her flight west from England to Canada, comprises only the penultimate chapter of the book, but it was a fitting capstone of the events to that point in her life - a culmination of all her experiences and sense of adventure.
There's a bit of the British colonial racism which is common in books of this period early on in her descriptions of the various African peoples she encountered, but that is quickly left behind for wonderfully written prose describing the parts of Africa she knew, her early life training horses, and her extensive experience flying.
The title event, her flight west from England to Canada, comprises only the penultimate chapter of the book, but it was a fitting capstone of the events to that point in her life - a culmination of all her experiences and sense of adventure.
You can find me at BIO Markham in the Biography section of the library.
adventurous
inspiring
I've long wanted to read this book on which other narratives are based and enjoyed it. Markham had a great writing style, descriptive and matter-of-fact, while telling about impressive things with a blunt tone that refused sentimentality. I enjoyed her.