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lmkramer507's review against another edition
4.0
Nothing exciting, but interesting picture of life in Africa in days gone by. Audiobook is well-done.
libellum_aphrodite's review against another edition
3.0
Karen Blixen is a pretty impressive lady, and gives a very vivid account of Africa in the early 1900s. She reminded me of a lady running a store on a lonely highway in Alaska that we met while traveling there. Both were taking care of business and not about to let big scary animals get in their way.
My initially-rapt attention petered out about halfway through the book, but I really loved that first immersion, hence the the 3-star average rating.
It so happened that at the tail end of reading this, the movie showed up on Netflix. Meryl Streep portrays Karen as much less badass than I pictured her (although, to be fair, I was reading Karen's own account of herself). After watching, in an attempt to reconcile the differences between book and movie, I did a bit more background research and reading about the Blixen, Finch Hatton, and others from the story, and about the period in general. https://aelarsen.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/out-of-africa-wonderful-movie-fuzzy-history/ captured a great deal of interesting historical context in its comparison.
My initially-rapt attention petered out about halfway through the book, but I really loved that first immersion, hence the the 3-star average rating.
It so happened that at the tail end of reading this, the movie showed up on Netflix. Meryl Streep portrays Karen as much less badass than I pictured her (although, to be fair, I was reading Karen's own account of herself). After watching, in an attempt to reconcile the differences between book and movie, I did a bit more background research and reading about the Blixen, Finch Hatton, and others from the story, and about the period in general. https://aelarsen.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/out-of-africa-wonderful-movie-fuzzy-history/ captured a great deal of interesting historical context in its comparison.
knod78's review against another edition
2.0
I'm not going to lie, I had a hard time with this book until probably halfway through it when I got used to the writing style. It was all over the place with the thoughts, sentences, and time period. It reminded me of when my husband says, "Focus," when I talk and then go off on a tangent, which I tend to do. This book was a giant tangent of thoughts. She would literally start a chapter with the first sentence about an antelope (which we don't know is an antelope) and then it just went off for three pages about the parks and monkeys before we finally learn that the animal of the chapter name is in fact an antelope. Sometimes, we didn't get back to the original thought and just kept going on with the tangent. One of the sections was just random diary thoughts that had no particular order or theme.
However, I couldn't stop reading this book. At first, I didn't know if I could continue on, but I got used to it and I was enthralled. I wanted to know more about the farm. I was engrossed in the story of the daily life events that happened to her in Kenya. I couldn't get enough. And the last two long chapters took forever for her to end (going back home after a failed farm). I was kind of happy about it.
I just wished Isak could focus more. I mean there is literally only one chapter where she briefly mentions her husband. I mean she was in Africa because of him, I felt like there could have been more about him. Oh well. I don't think I would read this book again, but I definitely ended up enjoying. The movie was awful though.
However, I couldn't stop reading this book. At first, I didn't know if I could continue on, but I got used to it and I was enthralled. I wanted to know more about the farm. I was engrossed in the story of the daily life events that happened to her in Kenya. I couldn't get enough. And the last two long chapters took forever for her to end (going back home after a failed farm). I was kind of happy about it.
I just wished Isak could focus more. I mean there is literally only one chapter where she briefly mentions her husband. I mean she was in Africa because of him, I felt like there could have been more about him. Oh well. I don't think I would read this book again, but I definitely ended up enjoying. The movie was awful though.
abbeyhar103's review against another edition
2.0
i guess i can't really review this because I only got a quarter of the way through, but this book was mega boring.
jenmat1197's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
This is the story of the author's time in Kenya. (Isak is her pen name - her real name is Baroness Karen Blixen who was Danish). She owned a coffee plantation there from 1914 to 1931 and this book covers her tales from the locals, the people who worked for her, and even a visit from the Prince of Wales. Tales are woven among descriptions of the landscape around her.
This is a pretty good book. I love a good non-fiction and this one spun a good story about the author's time in Kenya. There were some dry bits, but overall a fascinating tale in the early 20th century about a very capable woman running a plantation. She saw a young boy shot and killed and the fall out from that. And then finally the collapse of the cost of coffee where she had to sale the farm. It was a heartfelt memoir overall and I am glad I read it.
megangraff's review against another edition
2.0
We bought this book at the Karen Blixen museum in Nairobi. The museum is worth a visit - we had a great tour guide - but see the movie instead of reading the book.