Out of Africa (1937)

This charming memoir discusses the time that Isak Dinesen lived on a coffee plantation in Kenya. With lush, vibrant prose, Africa really comes alive under her pen. I have heard that this book was turned into a movie back in the eighties with Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, but I had never heard of it before. I was talking about the book and people would mention a movie, and I was surprised, but I should not have been. I mean, they made Under The Tuscan Sun a movie and that had nothing to do with the book besides the fact that it took place in Italy.

There are some horrific scenes in this book as well, so don't think it's all sunshine and lollipops. At one point, a child accidentally shoots another set of children with a shotgun. She describes everything as she sees it, and talks about how they had to rebuild a child's jaw. Africa is quite a nice sounding place. However, I don't think I could go there and appreciate it like this woman does.

On another aside; I initially thought Isak Dinesen was a man. I suppose it doesn't really matter. ( )

Nope. Not having it. I lost faith in the book awhile ago, but I kept trying anyway and there's no surer way of spoiling a book. ( )

I was surprised to discover that the book is nothing at all like the move starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. Written in English (Blixen was multi-lingual), there is no real hint of the marriage to Baron Bror Fredrik von Blixen-Fineck and their separation in 1920-21 and subsequent divorce in 1925. Nor is there anything more than a subtle hint of the affection for Denys George Finch Hatton (as portrayed by Robert Redford in the movie). And who could have known that Blixen suffered from syphilis, courtesy of her philandering husband. This is an interesting work and reads in part like a diary. Various scholars consider the style and arrangement of the book into certain themes and chronological devices, but this didn't strike me as anything special. It was Blixen's obvious feeling and emotion and love for life in British East Africa (Kenya) that drives the stories. One cannot help but be sad when she leaves the farm. One can only imagine, too, what it would be like to live in that timeless place. Having said that, the attitude toward the original inhabitants of Kenya reads like any other historically-inspired work of the 1930s, with frequent literary comparisons - as opposed to overtly racist vilification - of some of the characters to monkeys and other animals of the area. Indeed, it is hard to escape the imperialist attitudes of the times and how, given the people had lived on the land for generations, Colonialism suddenly relegates them to the status of squatters (six months of labour in exchange for living on and utilising the uncultivated land of the white farmers). There is much of the admiration for "the noble savage" that permeates the work, despite Blixen's obvious love for Africa. More interesting are the stories of Blixen herself - partly captured in the movie - and that she was nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature several times, losing out to John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway. Blixen was quite the character, and her other works might be worth investigating. But it is difficult to identify with her in her Colonial context. Blixen was quite the character, and her other works might be worth investigating. But it is difficult to identify with her in her Colonial context. To be sure, the work captures the place and times, but living in the post-Colonial era, one can only wonder at the past. ( )

Clearly one of the best books I have ever read. This is not really a novel. It's a storybook, filled with the interpretations of life, of a brilliant women. I have fallen in love with her Africa, with her people and her farm. I have come to understand a part of this woman's life, as I never thought I would. This is why stories are important, no matter how trivial they seem, stories always matter. ( )

Kenya