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tamriella's review
adventurous
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
5.0
It's fascinating and I couldn't put it down..
book_concierge's review
2.0
This is a memoir of a “hit-by-a-truck-in-LUV” Swiss/German woman and the Masai warrior she lusts after. Despite her protestations of love (both she for him, and he for her), there is no love here. Love requires knowing one another and mutual respect. She’s just infatuated.
She spends the first third of the book telling us over and over how handsome “my Masai” is, despite his occasional bouts of moodiness. She spends the middle detailing all the problems they have getting the paperwork done for … a car, a shop, a passport, a marriage. The last third is her bemoaning her own stupidity as she realizes she has married a lazy, alcoholic, mental case and is reduced to sobs every other page.
PUHLEEZE!
Yet, this horror is strangely compelling. I give it 2 stars for keeping me turning pages.
She spends the first third of the book telling us over and over how handsome “my Masai” is, despite his occasional bouts of moodiness. She spends the middle detailing all the problems they have getting the paperwork done for … a car, a shop, a passport, a marriage. The last third is her bemoaning her own stupidity as she realizes she has married a lazy, alcoholic, mental case and is reduced to sobs every other page.
PUHLEEZE!
Yet, this horror is strangely compelling. I give it 2 stars for keeping me turning pages.
uhambe_nami's review
2.0
Gripping and honest account of a European woman who falls in love and marries with a native from Kenya and is confronted with more cultural differences than she had bargained for. What astonished me was that she was so totally unprepared for her stay in Kenya; apart from her lack of understanding of the local culture, she apparently even forgot to get her yellow fever vaccination... not once, but for each of her three trips to the country. At least, this book serves as a warning for female tourists in Kenya: don’t ever do what Corinne Hofmann did.
paulienjz's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5
leemac027's review
3.0
I have very mixed feelings about this book. My first impression was that I was quite shocked at how Corinne, in a mere glimpse of this Masai warrior, decided that was it, she was getting him regardless of what anyone else thought, despite being on holidays with her current boyfriend.
She then proceeded to insert herself into his life and that of his family. I thought her arrogance / naivety / fantasy had driven her to a state where common sense and logic just disappeared.
I could not make up my mind whether she really had fallen instantly in love, or was she driven by some need for adventure?
Yes it is a tough life in remote Kenya and yes she had to adapt and face many many challenges but something did not resonate with me. No surprises that this union did not last and Corinne returns to Europe and follows her first book with another two that continue the narrative of her marriage and life with a Masai tribe.
I believe the next two books have received more favourable reviews and fill in some gaps that were left out of this first tome, but sadly this is not enough incentive for me to look them up.
I felt sad for Lkentinga and his family that seemed to be swept inside this tornado of a woman with a tunnel vision of what she wanted and how she thought her world should be.
She then proceeded to insert herself into his life and that of his family. I thought her arrogance / naivety / fantasy had driven her to a state where common sense and logic just disappeared.
I could not make up my mind whether she really had fallen instantly in love, or was she driven by some need for adventure?
Yes it is a tough life in remote Kenya and yes she had to adapt and face many many challenges but something did not resonate with me. No surprises that this union did not last and Corinne returns to Europe and follows her first book with another two that continue the narrative of her marriage and life with a Masai tribe.
I believe the next two books have received more favourable reviews and fill in some gaps that were left out of this first tome, but sadly this is not enough incentive for me to look them up.
I felt sad for Lkentinga and his family that seemed to be swept inside this tornado of a woman with a tunnel vision of what she wanted and how she thought her world should be.
margaret21's review
1.0
I've read 83 pages. Out of 307. That will have to be enough.
This book is the testimony of a young Swiss woman, who narrates her own story. She's a victim of 'love at first sight' with a Masai tribesman whom she sees across a crowded room whilst on holiday in Kenya with her boyfriend. She gives up everything to be with this man and join his tribal existence.
While the accounts of life with the Masai are interesting, and while Hoffman is undoubtedly brave, I became increasingly irritated by her. Hoffman seems to be the victim of a lustful crush. She pursues her 'warrior' as she calls him, with an intensity that shows little understanding of him, or his culture. She's willing to live with him in his village, but seems to have litle inkling of the impact her appearance in his community has on either him or his community.
I've skipped to the end. I know it will all end in tears. I just don't want to spend any more time in Corinne Hoffman's company to find out where and how it all goes horribly wrong.
This book is the testimony of a young Swiss woman, who narrates her own story. She's a victim of 'love at first sight' with a Masai tribesman whom she sees across a crowded room whilst on holiday in Kenya with her boyfriend. She gives up everything to be with this man and join his tribal existence.
While the accounts of life with the Masai are interesting, and while Hoffman is undoubtedly brave, I became increasingly irritated by her. Hoffman seems to be the victim of a lustful crush. She pursues her 'warrior' as she calls him, with an intensity that shows little understanding of him, or his culture. She's willing to live with him in his village, but seems to have litle inkling of the impact her appearance in his community has on either him or his community.
I've skipped to the end. I know it will all end in tears. I just don't want to spend any more time in Corinne Hoffman's company to find out where and how it all goes horribly wrong.
gregg_macdonald's review
4.0
Though some of the descriptions to me seemd a bit racist, this tale is soo intriguing. I really want to know what happened afterwards. As well, this book went to a really dark place that was unexpected and I've been left wondering about the legality and morality of what Corinne did.
600bars's review
Truly one of the most batshit insane things I have ever read. this is the other thing i did not include on goodreads for the year out of shame lmao. I found it shelving in the travel section and i was like. What the fuck is this. I started reading it immediately on my lunch break. Then i got covid a couple days later and read the whole thing on my phone in bed in one day. It's about a white woman who gets so obsessed with a Masai (actually he is Samburu but they kept Masai for marketing purposes bc the name is better known) who she sees one time on vacation. She drops EVERYTHING, including her man that she's on vacation with, to be with him. It's a Lust at First Sight situation and of course things don't go very well. This is all a true story, they have a child together, there are photos. There's a lot obviously wrong with her behavior and her fetishization of Leketinga, I don't even need to get into it. because i had covid when I read this I ended up writing a super long diary entry about the ethics of traveling at all as a westerner and where does one draw the line in cultural relativism white saviorism etc. I don't know how to rate this bc I feel anything positive would be an endorsement of her behavior bc clearly I do not, she reaches levels of white womanhood heretofore unheard of. The narrative was not always so simple and I spent a long time thinking about it in so many ways, probably because of how much time on my hands I had when I was sick. I had expected just to read it as a "ha ha ha what the hell" like when I read that book about Vanishing Twin Syndrome but it was enthralling to read in its own way. I admittedly picked this up in a voyeuristic car wreck 90 Day Fiance type of way but even/especially 90 day fiance has a ton of food for thought.