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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
loved her descriptions of the land, especially in terms of her relationship to it. It seemed that these were the only moments where she shared her inner world and I would have loved it if she let us in more. The aeroplane scene was very captivating, I thought.
I tried hard to see past her shortsighted representations of the Natives since they were of her time, but it did unfortunately bring the book down in my esteem.
After watching the preview for the movie, Out of Africa, I had different expectations of this book. I've always heard you should never judge a book by its movie, but you shouldn't judge it by the movie preview either. What I expected isn't important. What I found was what felt like an autobiography of a woman's experiences living in Africa (Kenya). She shares her encounters with the indigenous tribes, animals, friendships and trying to making a living. I was very sad when she left to return to England. This was a beautiful story and enjoyable to listen to.
Popsugar Challenge #21 A book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym.
Popsugar Challenge #21 A book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym.
Lush, wry, and elegant. Moved a little slow, but I think the slower paced worked. It echoed the lifestyle of the farm - stories, relationships, and experience which build up over time and change in meaning with perspective. I particularly liked the chapter on visitors to the farm and excerpts from the author's notebook. They provided fascinating glimpses into that time, experience, and era.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
slow-paced
I really liked this book, it was an amazing description of Africa, but it's clearly a book of the past, it described a past world. You know how some books were written centuries ago, but they still feel relevant today? For me, Shakespeare, Corneille, Racine, Victor Hugo, Dickens are like that. This book is the opposite.
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
The Countess Blixen spent a decade and a half running a coffee plantation in colonial Kenya, most of the time on her own. This book is about some of those experiences.
The writing is beautiful, recreating the Kenyan landscape as Blixen knew it as if in watercolors. The stories related are fragmentary in nature, dashing back and forth across the plains of memory, but each small part of them quite distinct. When the author takes leave of Africa, you feel her longing and pain so potently it chokes.
The writing is beautiful, recreating the Kenyan landscape as Blixen knew it as if in watercolors. The stories related are fragmentary in nature, dashing back and forth across the plains of memory, but each small part of them quite distinct. When the author takes leave of Africa, you feel her longing and pain so potently it chokes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
One of my all time favorite books! Reminds me of our trip in 1989!