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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
Review is on "Shadows on the Grass" only ...
These 4 essays (about 85 pages) are an epilogue to "Out of Africa." The writing is so poignant as to make you want to weep, and still fills your heart with love.
These 4 essays (about 85 pages) are an epilogue to "Out of Africa." The writing is so poignant as to make you want to weep, and still fills your heart with love.
Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass by Isak Dinesen (1989)
Beautiful recounting of Blixen's life in East Africa on a coffee farm she managed. Her love of the country comes through clearly. At times my modern sensibilities made parts difficult to read, but it was worth putting that aside and learning more about life in such a different land and time.
Today would be author Isak Dinesen (nee Karen Blixen)'s birthday. I'm re-reading *Out of Africa* to celebrate. This book (and the movie), in my memory, evokes regard for and connectedness with the environment and an awareness, openness toward others. Dinesen's views may be a bit antiquated, as she was born in 1885 and this book published in 1937, but in her memoirs she attempted to see people whom she perceived as different with a dignity not always affected by her class.
Eventually when the library reopens, I'll be ordering the film. Which brings up the topic of the library being an essential business....My vote would be YES!!! Books, I miss you; please wait for me, I'll be there soon!
April 17, 2020
Eventually when the library reopens, I'll be ordering the film. Which brings up the topic of the library being an essential business....My vote would be YES!!! Books, I miss you; please wait for me, I'll be there soon!
April 17, 2020
This woman knew how to slap a sentence together.
Also, this is testament to how important it is to give a book a second, third, or even fourth chance: I started Out of Africa on three separate occasions over the course of several years and couldn't make any headway. I didn't get it, I didn't like it, I felt like her prose was too heavy, and I had no visual context for what she was describing. But then, years later, when I picked it up in Tanzania, it flowed through me like water -- and I have never, before or since, had a reading experience so powerful. My life was mirroring the book, the book was mirroring my life, and her lyricism was my lyricism.
So basically, if you can, be in East Africa when you read this.
Also, this is testament to how important it is to give a book a second, third, or even fourth chance: I started Out of Africa on three separate occasions over the course of several years and couldn't make any headway. I didn't get it, I didn't like it, I felt like her prose was too heavy, and I had no visual context for what she was describing. But then, years later, when I picked it up in Tanzania, it flowed through me like water -- and I have never, before or since, had a reading experience so powerful. My life was mirroring the book, the book was mirroring my life, and her lyricism was my lyricism.
So basically, if you can, be in East Africa when you read this.
There was no plot to this book and it drove me crazy. It was just a bunch of memories and felt like it should have been a diary entry rather than a novel. There was no story or plot to follow. I ended up flicking through the last 40 so pages out of pure boredom with the writing.
This book took a LONG time for me to get into. I just couldn't connect. But once I did, I found her writings, although slow initially, really beautiful. I was so sad that she lost so many friends and loved ones during her time in Africa.
lyrical writing, but colonialism was awful overall, and I'm not a fan of this memoir style that is all over the place chronologically
adventurous
challenging
emotional
Content Warnings
Minor: Death
This writing didn't age well. I was pleased at the first paragraph of the book, describing the sun coming up over the trees that spread out horizontally in Africa. I could picture it. How pretty it must have been. Like the opening scene of Disney's the Lion King.
WARNING: SPOILER BELOW
And that ended up being very much the problem. The author, while kindly and even what she thought of as respectful of the people of Africa, wrote of the people as if they were as mysterious as animals. It doesn't sit well in these times. After a few chapters you realize that this farm owner has also declared herself doctor (with no medical schooling), judge (with no legal schooling), and caretaker of some people who were probably just fine before the coffee "farm" (ahem, plantation) came and probably displaced her "squatters" who she then benevolently allowed to stay on her land until the ultimate ruin of her farm caused them to be forced to relocate. And it's true, she did advocate for them. But in that sort of "I'm the superior here and they are lost without me so I must advocate for them" sort of way that makes colonial racism stink so much in this day and age.
So, while lyrical, I could not get over that undercurrent of racism and found it more unsettling than enjoyable. You want Africa? Read Trevor Noah's "Born a Crime".
WARNING: SPOILER BELOW
And that ended up being very much the problem. The author, while kindly and even what she thought of as respectful of the people of Africa, wrote of the people as if they were as mysterious as animals. It doesn't sit well in these times. After a few chapters you realize that this farm owner has also declared herself doctor (with no medical schooling), judge (with no legal schooling), and caretaker of some people who were probably just fine before the coffee "farm" (ahem, plantation) came and probably displaced her "squatters" who she then benevolently allowed to stay on her land until the ultimate ruin of her farm caused them to be forced to relocate. And it's true, she did advocate for them. But in that sort of "I'm the superior here and they are lost without me so I must advocate for them" sort of way that makes colonial racism stink so much in this day and age.
So, while lyrical, I could not get over that undercurrent of racism and found it more unsettling than enjoyable. You want Africa? Read Trevor Noah's "Born a Crime".