Sketches of Africa

This is beautifully written. We learn about the land, the people, the animals, and the farm. But very little of Blixen/Dinesen. I don't remember if she relates a single experience with her husband. His presence in the book is that slight. As for the other men in her life, they come across here as nothing more than platonic friends. If you want to know what Africa -- well, the part of Africa where Blixen/Dinesen resided -- was like in the early part of the 20th century, this is a must listen. If you're looking for an absorbing narrative -- the print version of the movie -- this will almost certainly disappoint.

25 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

A life well lived.

Years ago when I first read her words they awoke in me a desire to remember her and those wonderful people each of whom were her family while she drank in Africa. It has given me much to strive for in my own life and to take in all those I’m blessed to know. This Audible production was a joy as it accompanied me through days of routines, driving and quiet rain. I’m most grateful to have been touched so thoroughly.

6 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Enthralled by the reality of a well lived life from another time and place

Having listened to this wonderful narration shortly after revisiting the movie for the fifth or sixth time, I’m struck by the vividness of Isak (Karen’s) remembrances. Others have commented on the present day political incorrectness of the mistress-servant relationships, and trophy-hunting safaris of the early 20th century, but the fact that she felt it necessary to publish under a male pseudonym suggests this is simply the reality of the time which she too suffered.
The book is marvelous, and while not temporally constrained can over the course of a dedicated “reading” weave together, with minimal repetition, a bright and colorful tapestry of colonial Kenya. The highlights of which are the stories of the native Africans told with respect and an apparently sincere wish for understanding of traditions and a very ancient philosophy of life with nature.
It is of vital importance that the reader (listener) stay with the story to the end. In the final chapters of “Shadows ...” you appreciate the love felt by and between Karen and her compatriots. The joy she felt in their successes and sorrow in their passing. This picks up where the movie left off, and is the truest example of her love and respect.
Finally, the narrator gives an amazing performance. Whether the accent is real, it matters not, as it transports you to the time and place as did Meryl’s accent in the movie. As for the movie, I’m sure the artistic license taken improved the romance and pathos which the book remains silent on, but that is a private matter. I prefer to believe there is truth in both accounts and hope one day to visit the now suburban setting of “Karen” in a real life pilgrimage.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Great Story

Narrator makes it come alive. A life well told and place that time has forgotten.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

This was a re-read

I read this book back in 1985 when the movie came out. The book is more about Africa and her adventures than the love story in the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I didn't care for the performance, I have heard tape recordings of Isak. I didn't know if narrator's accent was really the narrator or if she was pretending to be Isak Dinesen. Isak sounds like a difficult person with many issues in her life. We tried to find her house (now a museum in Denmark) but we missed it. I would have liked to see the books that belonged to Denys Finch-Hatton.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Lovely book for its time

A gently written and poignant tale from an earlier time, painting a picture of a beautiful place being spoiled by ignorant colonialism. Even though the author was a colonizer herself, her love for the place and the people where she farmed in Kenya shines through some of her outdated ideas. The use of the term "squatter" for the original inhabitants of her farm is particularly grating, even though it was common parlance at the time. Like George Catlin's portraits and descriptions of Native American society, this book leaves me once again wondering how different this world would look if Europeans had never left Europe. I liked the reader's delivery very much. For me she seemed to capture the spirit of the author, admiring, insightful, wistful, but not sad or depressing.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Pleasant Vignettes

This is a collection of many vignettes of a Danish woman's seventeen years on a coffee plantation in Kenya from 1913 to 1930. The vignettes are not quite chronological. The book as a whole explores the Kenyan environment and animals and various contrasts between European and Kenyan thought and customs.

The stories are well written, sometimes interesting, sometimes touching, sometimes beautiful, sometimes limited by cultural stereotypes, often dark, sometimes uplifting. I enjoyed this quite a bit, but I suspect it might be dull to some.

I found the narration excellent.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Superb

A marvelous story teller and human being, Karen Blixen brings alive her time in Kenya after WW I. Her generosity of character and superb descriptions of her friends and servants...Somalians, Masai, Kikuyu and Europeans...enriches the reader and shatters preconceptions.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Disappointing

Any additional comments?

I downloaded this book to listen on the way to/from the office about 1 hrs. drive. It nearly put me to sleep. I was trying very hard to escape into the story but it was so dry. I didn't complete it. I just couldn't get through the long drawn out chapters. I LOVED the screen adaptation and should have just downloaded that one. Live and Learn.

8 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

enjoyed every bit of this book.

What did you love best about Out of Africa & Shadows on the Grass?

described the moon like a silver arch hung on the blue sky.

What other book might you compare Out of Africa & Shadows on the Grass to and why?

green hills of Africa by Hemingway.

What about Susan Lyons’s performance did you like?

peaceful.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Denis was buried in her farm.

Any additional comments?

the book brought my dear memories of Tanzania .

4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile