Out of Africa: and Shadows on the Grass (Vintage International)

Now eclipsed by the Streep-Redford film presentation that appropriated its title, Karen Blixen's memoir of life on her Kenyan coffee farm speaks movingly of the more benign side of colonialism in Africa and of one European's self-evident love for the land she had made her own. Sadly, Blixen's lush descriptions of 'her people' are often judged too quickly by modern criteria of racial attitudes, a game that is like asking this early twentieth-century writer to wrestle with one arm tied behind her back. If it can be granted that there was anything good about Europe's colonization of Africa, then Blixen (Isak Dinesen was her pen name) is its face. She loved the land and its people, entering about as far as was plausible in her time into the remarkable rhythm of both. What more can be asked of any of us, all children of our moment and enveloped in its limitations? This is a book for lovers of Africa, no matter whence they come. Blixen not only pushed an eloquent pen, she was herself shaped in the biblical and classical language of educated Europeans in a way that prepared her to bridge Africa and Europe in a day when few were equipped to do so. Blixen's Africa no longer exists, as she already realized within the window of her writing of OUT OF AFRICA and SHADOWS ON THE GRASS. Yet the Africa Blixen knew has children, not to be disinherited for the generations that have passed and the unsavory disease that a legacy of failed leaders has wrought upon this great continent. Though the primary fruit of reaching behind the celluloid to *read* OUT OF AFRICA is the satisfaction of the read itself, it is also true that today's Africa and today's Africans can be glimpsed in the great-grandparents who knew and lived in proximity to this enigmatic and uniquely gifted Danish colonist in a land she mistreated only by calling it hers.

Out of Africa is more or less a classic, so I am glad that I've read it. As most people would say, it's not like the movie. It is something else entirely. That's great. The movie is not supposed to BE the book. They are two separate entities. As a historian, I was especially enthralled with the chance to sit inside the head of an intelligent, well-meaning white colonial in the early 20th century. This book did more than anything I've ever read to get a close look at the attitudes of those who attempted to dominate Africa,, after its initial conquests. The picture is not a pretty one. For example, the author has no problem using the term "squatters" to refer to those "natives" who live on HER land, though the land had been theirs for thousands of years. The colonials who were her friends were not the initial conquerors; they did not come in with guns or engage directly in the slave trade, yet they still maintained a view that they had a perfect right to dominate. Ah, I said to myself, this really is colonialism. I see it so much ore clearly now, see the long term, harmful, painful effects. Amazing.

So glad to find a good copy of this book available. It’s about a time long gone, which some might find unacceptable; a time when exotic animals were basically just a commodity but the story itself and the writing about the experiences are superb. The author, an adventurous, courageous female, released her stories under a male pseudonym, l believe in order to get readers and obtain acceptance. I have great admiration for her. She overcame great obstacles and lived a life that only a few women would ever attempt to live at that time or even now. She lived exuberantly, experienced tragedy, love, excitement, respect, peace, sorrow and joy. Her stories were her children, as she could not conceive after contracting an STD from her unfaithful spouse and barely surviving the cure of arsenic treatments. Out Of Africa is one of my favorite movies of all time. I watched it with my husband who has passed away and now the magnificent music scores always bring bittersweet memories when l listen to them. Meryl and Robert did a great job of depicting the adventurers. Anyway, it was nice to find the book and get a deeper look at the lives of people who lived in a time of freedom that people probably will ever know again.

A trip to Kenya is incomplete without reading this book. Her descriptions are honest and delightful and give so much insight into the character of the land I would be lost without it. Her observations on the Kikuyu people hold as true today as they did then. The only way to really understand the Somali people is to read what they were like before colonization and see how little they have changed. Africa of old is the Africa of late, only with different clothes and better technology. That which was enchanting about them still enchants, that which was terrifying or pathetic remains the same. I have walked her estates and sat where she sat. I have driven through the Kikuyu lands she begged and bartered with the government to give to her once loyal workers. The town bustles and prospers, all because of her behind the scenes successful negotiations. I have lived with the Somali and can attest to their loyalty as individuals well as their fierceness when aroused in a group. She predicted her book might become a historical document someday, and I assure you it is. Looking over the valley of Nairobi from the Ngong Hills is a thrilling experience and a sad one at the same time. Sad that a woman who planned to die and be buried in Africa was taken from the home she loved and thrust back to where she hailed. We are the benefactors of her exile. Her book stands as monument to her own charity and a looking glass into a time forgotten.

Though Isak Denisen's work is fabulous, well crafted describing a life style so different from what I've know... I did not finish the book. I cannot stand stories of big brave hunters with guns shooting wild creatures...for no other reason than to kill them, display their heads or paws. If villages are attacked it makes sense, otherwise this slaughter is ugly. I did not finish the book...don't even want to give it away. Karen Blixen's (Isak Denisen pen name) story is unusual and I admire her attempts to create a life for herself and others...helping the natives to find meaningful work. Other than that... am glad I could put it down.

What is Pride ? Is it `Pride' to Review a Classic ? I've always loved the movie version of `Out of Africa' with Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. Whether it was the character development, or the wild life, or the Mozart throughout the film score, the symbiosis of all of the above consistently moves me & holds my attention. Then there were the excerpted portions of the book I was introduced to in Literature class. Somewhere among the multitude of reviews of this book are plenty of words to describe how I `feel' about the prose and the somewhat dis-similar treatment by the movie. But who can compete with the authors own words ? "The discovery of the dark races was to me a magnificent enlargement of all my world." From the view to promote the perspective of a tribal native, in this country or any other, I'd like to point out that Baroness Karen Blixen/ a.k.a. Isaac Denison has recorded some highly unique perspectives about the Kenya tribal peoples and their respective roles in the predator vs prey aspects of human slavery. How the Mohammedans played the role of predators in concert with Arab slave traders to capture and sell Africans to the European slave ship masters is treated with pragmatism. The proud people of the Masai game reserve were sometimes assisting the Mohammedans, but if captured and sold themselves were unlikely to survive in captivity. The 'prey' class of social strata, named Kikiyu, who were beneath the 'marriage' qualifications that would suit the upwards-mobility of the Mohammedan women were yet accounted acceptable breeding stock as wives of the Masai, noble and proud. These variations are irregular to the politically correct assumptions of our society, yet as real as they may be in middle eastern cultures, they were described in pre-World War I central Africa. What the American descendants of Mohammedan Africans might be 'sensitive' to or 'offended' by in our culture were matters of 'pride' to the Kenyans of the post Colonial era leading up to World War II. Some readers might enjoy discovering what praise Baroness Blixen had to report about her Mohammedan servant Farah, or the Holy man from India who visited her farm, or the virtues of the Mohammedan women in obtaining a husband. Our culture is perfectly content to adopt a presidential canidate for the sake of lauding his skin color, without appreciating any of the virtues of the Kenyan ancestors who brought him to American territory. But this is one author who has uniquely appraised the strengths of the Kenyan people she knew, from living with them and learning to respect and love them. Consider a bit she writes about 'pride', "...Very proud things were about, and made their presence felt...Pride is faith in the idea that God had, when he made us. A proud man is conscious of the idea, and aspires to realize it. He does not strive towards a happiness, or comfort, which may be irrelevant to God's idea of him. His success is the idea of God, successfully carried through, and he is in love with his destiny...the fulfillment of his fate." "People who have no pride are not aware of any idea of God in the making of them, and sometimes they make you doubt that there has ever been much of an idea, or else it has been lost, and who shall find it again ? They have got to accept as success what others warrant to be so, and to take their happiness, and even their own selves, at the quotation of the day. They tremble with reason, before their fate." [she distils a faith like to, but not to be confused as 'Christian' faith, thus] "Love the pride of God beyond all things, and the pride of your neighbour as your own. The pride of lions: do not shut them up in Zoos. The pride of your dogs: let them not grow fat. Love the pride of your fellow-partisans, and allow them no self-pity." "Love the pride of the conquered nations, and leave them to honour their father and their mother." `Out of Africa' is filled with beautiful descriptive prose. But someone also learned from Africa and her people, and was good enough to leave us a chronicle.

I am updating this review as the digital book does not have these editorial errors. It was the sample that needed editing but I loved the story enough to order the kindle book anyway. I went back to the beginning and it is fine...so far. I no longer see the sample in my collection so it may be in edit process as I write. When I finish the book (1,100+ pages) I will probably give it 5 stars...but will wait. I read the sample and was immediately captivated by the descriptive language. I could visualize the scenery and see the people. Then, my heart broke. As I turned pages on the kindle edition, the next page began with with the last sentence or half od the last sentence from the previous page. Shame on you Random House. My spell was of course immediately broken. Either correct and resend this kindle edition or give me a credit which I will apply to the cumbersome but surely edited original translation in book form. I gave it 2 stars to say "don't judge a book by its unedited kindle edition".

Out of Africa is a remarkably well written memoir about Karen Blixen's life on a highlands Kenyan coffee plantation. One can clearly deduce from her loving reminiscences that this time in her life left a deep and lasting impact on her, mostly positive, though tragedy does sometimes appear as in any person's life. This is a wonderful memoir that tells unique story separated into chapters about the moments that she remembers best about her life in Kenya. One note of caution/interest. This book is substantially different from the film of the same name, the film portrays her story largely as a bidding and tragic romance marred by affair and marital issues. Karen's husband and marriage however is seldom if ever mentioned at all in the book. I highly recommend this read to lovers of nature, foreign cultures and proseful memoires.

After watching out of Africa film and finding it was based on the two books combined. It made me want to read the book.

Buena obra de la literatura. Buena compra. Un libro que merece la pena y es mucho mejor que la película, sin tanta inmoralidad y líos. El libro habla de las relaciones humanas, culturales y de la naturaleza.

Arrived in good condition

Yes arrived in good time and was expected from the description Thanks

A book I wanted to read, very cheap and good condition