Take a photo of a barcode or cover
kikiandarrowsfishshelf 's review for:
West with the Night
by Beryl Markham
Several GR friends read this and enjoyed it, so when it was offer on sale for Kindle I picked it up. It got put to the head of the TBR list after I read Circling the Sun by Paula McClain. McClain wrote quite passionately about the brilliant writing in this memoir, and portrayed Markham as a very interesting woman.
McClain is correct when she writes that it is a shame that Markham’s memoir is far less well known and less read than her quasi rival Karen Blixen’s Out of Africa. While both women are writing about their time in Africa, they approach the issue from different perspectives. With Blixen, I remember how well she writes about her dogs and the various tribesmen. With Markham, I remember how well she writes about horses and hunting.
And no, it’s not hunting in the usual sense of the word. Her chapter about an elephant hunt, that isn’t really a hunt, is one that any teacher should consider using in tandem with Orwell’s often used “Shooting an Elephant”.
But the best chapters, in my opinion, are the ones where she is writing about her horses –whether those she owns, rides, or trains. There is a power in those passages.