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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
There's a lot to unpack about this book. I'll mention a few things.
The prose is beautiful in some places. Description of physical landscapes and the author's own experience of them is visceral.
Blixen's books about her time in Kenya are closer to a series of carefully curated anecdotes than a memoir or a novel. Events described are not in chronological order and Blixen does not include her husband in her books aside from a couple of brief mentions. (I don't blame her for not including the syphilis, though.) On one hand, a single woman running a farm in colonial Kenya is a romantic figure... but it is not the whole story. I had to keep reminding myself that these works were semi-fictional and were embellished or altered in some places for a more satisfying story or for Blixen's personal reasons.
Tons of quotations in Latin, French and other languages without translation. I'm not sure when this sort of snobbery petered out, but I'm guessing it was on the decline decades before Blixen began her memoirs.
The author was writing in an era that is becoming ever more distant and she came from a time, place, and circumstance that made her seem, perhaps, a bit antiquated even in her own time. But it becomes more and more difficult to dismiss a lot of Blixen's literary idiosyncrasies as just sloppy or the folly of an earlier generation. She constantly uses phrases like "All natives are..." and uses "Africa" or "African" when a more specific geographic designation would be much more appropriate. This kind of generalization is especially egregious from an author who created a mythology of herself as an iconoclastic, progressive individual. Woke (for her time) or not, she clearly had a paternalistic colonist mentality and was a hell of a snob.
The prose is beautiful in some places. Description of physical landscapes and the author's own experience of them is visceral.
Blixen's books about her time in Kenya are closer to a series of carefully curated anecdotes than a memoir or a novel. Events described are not in chronological order and Blixen does not include her husband in her books aside from a couple of brief mentions. (I don't blame her for not including the syphilis, though.) On one hand, a single woman running a farm in colonial Kenya is a romantic figure... but it is not the whole story. I had to keep reminding myself that these works were semi-fictional and were embellished or altered in some places for a more satisfying story or for Blixen's personal reasons.
Tons of quotations in Latin, French and other languages without translation. I'm not sure when this sort of snobbery petered out, but I'm guessing it was on the decline decades before Blixen began her memoirs.
The author was writing in an era that is becoming ever more distant and she came from a time, place, and circumstance that made her seem, perhaps, a bit antiquated even in her own time. But it becomes more and more difficult to dismiss a lot of Blixen's literary idiosyncrasies as just sloppy or the folly of an earlier generation. She constantly uses phrases like "All natives are..." and uses "Africa" or "African" when a more specific geographic designation would be much more appropriate. This kind of generalization is especially egregious from an author who created a mythology of herself as an iconoclastic, progressive individual. Woke (for her time) or not, she clearly had a paternalistic colonist mentality and was a hell of a snob.
I read Out of Africa as part of a bookclub, and I have to admit that I was't looking forward to it. By the time I started reading it, I had a week until the bookclub meeting, and I doubted that the book would grab me enough to finish it in time.
So I was surprised when I went to the book store to pick it up how readable it was from Page 1. Motivated by the desire to finish it before the meeting, I got through it pretty quickly. But when that motivation went away (the meeting was canceled) I had a hard time getting through the book. Even though it's very well written, it reads like a bunch of journal entries, quirky events, and observations. The book picks up with little context (Who is she? How did she get there?) and little narrative push, which means that it was hard to get engrossed in the story.
The last section of the book is different, because it does tell more of a story -- and as a result it is the most interesting part of the book. The last section talks about leaving Africa as well as the death of her friend Dennys Finch Hatton. She never says explicitly that they were lovers, but it is clear that they were very close. If she had been more specific about their relationship, the story would've been even more interesting, and that reveals the faults of this book. Only in this last section does it feel like there is more life and feeling in her writing.
There were several passages in the book that I highlighted, because she wrote so beautifully and perceptively. For example, she seems to nail female passive aggressiveness here: "She had to the highest degree, the feminine trait of appearing to be exclusively on the defensive, concentrated on guarding the integrity of her being, when she was really, with every force in her, bent upon the offensive." Or here she on competitiveness in men: "Men, I think, cannot easily or harmoniously envy or triumph over one another."
Overall, while I enjoyed the book, most of all, I thought that it's probably famous because of Karen Blixen's own story as a woman living alone in Africa. I read about her life a little, and it is even more interesting than that -- She was in love with her brother, she married her second cousin only to get divorced while in Africa, and she died of anorexia. This books feels more like the source material for a really fascinating biography.
So I was surprised when I went to the book store to pick it up how readable it was from Page 1. Motivated by the desire to finish it before the meeting, I got through it pretty quickly. But when that motivation went away (the meeting was canceled) I had a hard time getting through the book. Even though it's very well written, it reads like a bunch of journal entries, quirky events, and observations. The book picks up with little context (Who is she? How did she get there?) and little narrative push, which means that it was hard to get engrossed in the story.
The last section of the book is different, because it does tell more of a story -- and as a result it is the most interesting part of the book. The last section talks about leaving Africa as well as the death of her friend Dennys Finch Hatton. She never says explicitly that they were lovers, but it is clear that they were very close. If she had been more specific about their relationship, the story would've been even more interesting, and that reveals the faults of this book. Only in this last section does it feel like there is more life and feeling in her writing.
There were several passages in the book that I highlighted, because she wrote so beautifully and perceptively. For example, she seems to nail female passive aggressiveness here: "She had to the highest degree, the feminine trait of appearing to be exclusively on the defensive, concentrated on guarding the integrity of her being, when she was really, with every force in her, bent upon the offensive." Or here she on competitiveness in men: "Men, I think, cannot easily or harmoniously envy or triumph over one another."
Overall, while I enjoyed the book, most of all, I thought that it's probably famous because of Karen Blixen's own story as a woman living alone in Africa. I read about her life a little, and it is even more interesting than that -- She was in love with her brother, she married her second cousin only to get divorced while in Africa, and she died of anorexia. This books feels more like the source material for a really fascinating biography.
I had seen the movie adaptation of this book and loved it for the landscape. It's a poor advertisement for the book. The landscape is still there, but the story is almost completely different. While the movie is very overtly a love story between a man and a woman (and a pretty good one) the book is a love story between a woman and a continent. The man who is her lover in the movie appears in the book, but she never explicitly states that he is her lover, and she certainly never discusses the details of their relationship. And her husband isn't in the book at all.
That said, it's one of the most lyrical, lovely, beautifully-written books I've ever read. She has a dreamy sort of prose that demands you read it slowly, and savor every sentence. She writes about her life in Africa, her relationships with the people there, the wildlife, her dogs, and the landscape with a lush, vivid language that brings them all to life. There is no central narrative to the book, only a series of stories about her time in Africa, starting about when she bought the farm and ending about when she left Africa forever, but telling stories in an organic, looping manner so that nothing is ever strictly chronological.
Several people here have complained of the way she handled race. I was intrigued by both her handling and some of the reaction to it. For her time, she was quite progressive in not thinking of the native Africans as being inferior to the white Europeans. For our time, of course, she seems racist, as she judges whole races to be one thing or another rather than individuals. It's extremely interesting to see through her eyes, and to hear he thoughts on the different tribes of Africans, and watch her explore her relationships with them and with her fellow transplant Europeans.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves beautiful writing or is interested in the history of Africa.
That said, it's one of the most lyrical, lovely, beautifully-written books I've ever read. She has a dreamy sort of prose that demands you read it slowly, and savor every sentence. She writes about her life in Africa, her relationships with the people there, the wildlife, her dogs, and the landscape with a lush, vivid language that brings them all to life. There is no central narrative to the book, only a series of stories about her time in Africa, starting about when she bought the farm and ending about when she left Africa forever, but telling stories in an organic, looping manner so that nothing is ever strictly chronological.
Several people here have complained of the way she handled race. I was intrigued by both her handling and some of the reaction to it. For her time, she was quite progressive in not thinking of the native Africans as being inferior to the white Europeans. For our time, of course, she seems racist, as she judges whole races to be one thing or another rather than individuals. It's extremely interesting to see through her eyes, and to hear he thoughts on the different tribes of Africans, and watch her explore her relationships with them and with her fellow transplant Europeans.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves beautiful writing or is interested in the history of Africa.
I liked Out of Africa better than Shadows on the Grass.
In the first book the author tells of her time of working on a farm and doctoring in Africa in the early 1900s. The second book is a sequel to the first and she writes about her friends she had met and has a “where they are now” feel.
One thing that I thought was interesting is that the author ends the book saying she will miss the women in the farm the most- but women aren’t mentioned in the book ver often. And it made me think about how yes she went hunting with men and did business with them the activities worth writing about. But the everyday life and conversations are the sweetest and it’s a different kind of treasure that we have.
The book resonated with me in the sense that I too have spent a significant amount of time in another culture and how a person adapts to the culture and doesn’t come back home the same. I would recommend this book to other people who have lived cross-culturally or who loves history. It’s interesting to how life was like in Africa around the time of the First World War.
The book does have some slow parts and uses Swahili,Dutch, and French saying and doesn’t always translate them which was a little frustrating so heads up to have google translate ready while reading.
In the first book the author tells of her time of working on a farm and doctoring in Africa in the early 1900s. The second book is a sequel to the first and she writes about her friends she had met and has a “where they are now” feel.
One thing that I thought was interesting is that the author ends the book saying she will miss the women in the farm the most- but women aren’t mentioned in the book ver often. And it made me think about how yes she went hunting with men and did business with them the activities worth writing about. But the everyday life and conversations are the sweetest and it’s a different kind of treasure that we have.
The book resonated with me in the sense that I too have spent a significant amount of time in another culture and how a person adapts to the culture and doesn’t come back home the same. I would recommend this book to other people who have lived cross-culturally or who loves history. It’s interesting to how life was like in Africa around the time of the First World War.
The book does have some slow parts and uses Swahili,Dutch, and French saying and doesn’t always translate them which was a little frustrating so heads up to have google translate ready while reading.
A lyrical memoir of Africa at the turn of the 19th century. The voice of the narrator was perfect, the pace easy, and the emotion factor is 5 stars. I loved it.
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Beautiful listening and what a life! So many little stories within. If you love the movie, you will love the more in-depth meandering thoughts of Karen Blixen. Not for those looking for a fast-paced novel!
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
The Blixens had 600 acres for their coffee plantation near Nairobi.
Karen Blixen wrote about her time in Africa and described the beauty of its landscape. There was a lot of sport killing of wildlife.
This memoir was published in 1937 and is dated with aristocracy and racist colonialism. Even though she felt great affection for her servants, especially Farah, she still saw herself as their “god” and superior; the people on “her African land” were “squatters and natives”.
The story itself is a collection of vignettes without chronological order.
A slow and sometimes dull read.
Karen Blixen wrote about her time in Africa and described the beauty of its landscape. There was a lot of sport killing of wildlife.
This memoir was published in 1937 and is dated with aristocracy and racist colonialism. Even though she felt great affection for her servants, especially Farah, she still saw herself as their “god” and superior; the people on “her African land” were “squatters and natives”.
The story itself is a collection of vignettes without chronological order.
A slow and sometimes dull read.
adventurous
slow-paced
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced