bhnmt61 's review for:

West with the Night by Beryl Markham

---

Markham’s story is fascinating and her writing is lyrical, but the elephant hunting turned my stomach, and no matter how often she expresses her affection and respect for her native servants, they were never not servants. She speaks with pride of how her father set up the region’s first sawmill, and you can’t help but think sadly of the destruction of a forest, something that never occurs to her. A mixed bag, entirely worth reading as a portrait of the times, but often upsetting.

I stopped giving star ratings to memoirs about a year ago and I’m so glad that means I don’t have to rate this beautiful, brilliant, disturbing book.