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ianespiper 's review for:
Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass
by Isak Dinesen
When I picked this up from my parents' shelves to replenish my stash of books to read, I didn't think much about it. I knew it was a book my parents enjoyed a good bit, and that it was well written. As I read it, I realized it was problematic in a number of ways, something that isn't difficult to gather from the blurb that it's about a coffee farm in Kenya owned by European royalty. Doubtless, the author, and proprietor of the farm, treated the inhabitants of the property much better than many of her European counterparts, and was widely respected by the Kenyans she interacted with. Nonetheless, the devastating effects of European colonization are clear. She was a part of this process, and this process was essential to her presence there. The European conception of native populations in this area is present in the book. The author had a tremendous appreciation of the land, and much respect for the culture, that much is clear. But the legacy of extirpation and imperialism is unavoidable, and shouldn't be ignored.
That being said, the writing truly is beautiful. Rarely is so eloquent a romanticism for a landscape found. While begun with crucial privileges, Karen Blixen's narrative falls from bliss into inescapable tragedy, written with the observant perspective of a narrator with enough dignity and composure to confront unpleasant realities.
That being said, the writing truly is beautiful. Rarely is so eloquent a romanticism for a landscape found. While begun with crucial privileges, Karen Blixen's narrative falls from bliss into inescapable tragedy, written with the observant perspective of a narrator with enough dignity and composure to confront unpleasant realities.