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aimeebix 's review for:
Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass
by Isak Dinesen
I really hated the first 3/4 of this book. I didn't like the anecdotal style of writing. I didn't like that there was no chronological order. It read very much like an unpracticed storyteller, "this one thing happened, i'm going to talk about it for 20 pages. but wait, this thing happened before that, and i'll talk about that. i guess i'm going to skip ahead 5 years and tell you this other story, and then go back to the beginning to share a different story." I really disliked that.
I hated the narrator. Reading her insights on the savage, animalistic natives grew tiring. I found the narrator to be narcissistic and pretentious, having the audacity to compare herself to a god more than once, and claiming that she was a sort of idol to the natives. Also, the phrase "All natives..." occurred more times than I could possibly count, and drove me crazy.
I would have given this book 1 star, but I really really enjoyed the ending. I ended the story with a deep respect for the narrator. The last 40 pages were heart wrenching and totally relatable. The way the narrator dealt with loss of that magnitude was inspiring, and nearly the only saving grace of this book. This is a beautifully written novel, especially the ending, so it gets three stars instead of just one.
I hated the narrator. Reading her insights on the savage, animalistic natives grew tiring. I found the narrator to be narcissistic and pretentious, having the audacity to compare herself to a god more than once, and claiming that she was a sort of idol to the natives. Also, the phrase "All natives..." occurred more times than I could possibly count, and drove me crazy.
I would have given this book 1 star, but I really really enjoyed the ending. I ended the story with a deep respect for the narrator. The last 40 pages were heart wrenching and totally relatable. The way the narrator dealt with loss of that magnitude was inspiring, and nearly the only saving grace of this book. This is a beautifully written novel, especially the ending, so it gets three stars instead of just one.