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Out of Africa (Modern Library) Review

"Out of Africa" is the beautiful memoir of Isak Dineson. I went into the reading of it with high expectations-because I had watched the movie. "Out of Africa" the movie contains high drama, a mystical score, and a passionate love story that streaks the cheeks in tears.

The book doesn't follow a dramatic through line, as the movie did; rather, it is a delicate sweep over the whole of Isak's decade and a half in Kenya.

Dineson doesn't touch particularly close upon any subject. Rather, she hops from topic to topic, discussing the Somali women, the Swahili numeral system, an earthquake, deaths, drought, tragic friendships, birds, myriad visitors from Europe and the Masai Reserve, the Kyama (an assembly of elders of a farm in her day, which was authorized by the government to settle local differences among squatters), a visit by the Prince of Wales (he is given far less coverage than the visit and later death of her friend Chief Kinanjui of the Kikuyu people), Nairobi, coffee-farming, the geographical position of her farm, safaris, giraffes, majestic lions, her medical practice on the farm, Kamante (her Kikuyu cook), and Ngomas (native dances.)

Isak Dineson was a poet, and every paragraph of her memoir is a song. You could open to any page in Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" and hear a melody. So too you hear music in Dineson, on any page and upon any subject. Her phrasing is so spiritual and fragile it seems to weep from the pages, and yet in that weeping is very deep love and very deep respect-so deep that she cannot separate one memory from any other. It's for this reason the through line isn't there. There is no start, finish or climax to her memories. It's one continuous thought.

Out of Africa (Modern Library) Feature

ISBN13: 9780679600213
Condition: New
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Out of Africa (Modern Library) Overview

In this book, the author of Seven Gothic Tales gives a true account of her life on her plantation in Kenya. She tells with classic simplicity of the ways of the country and the natives: of the beauty of the Ngong Hills and coffee trees in blossom: of her guests, from the Prince of Wales to Knudsen, the old charcoal burner, who visited her: of primitive festivals: of big game that were her near neighbors--lions, rhinos, elephants, zebras, buffaloes--and of Lulu, the little gazelle who came to live with her, unbelievably ladylike and beautiful.

The Random House colophon made its debut in February 1927 on the cover of a little pamphlet called "Announcement Number One." Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, the company's founders, had acquired the Modern Library from publishers Boni and Liveright two years earlier. One day, their friend the illustrator Rockwell Kent stopped by their office. Cerf later recalled, "Rockwell was sitting at my desk facing Donald, and we were talking about doing a few books on the side, when suddenly I got an inspiration and said, 'I've got the name for our publishing house. We just said we were go-ing to publish a few books on the side at random. Let's call it Random House.' Donald liked the idea, and Rockwell Kent said, 'That's a great name. I'll draw your trademark.' So, sitting at my desk, he took a piece of paper and in five minutes drew Random House, which has been our colophon ever since." Throughout the years, the mission of Random House has remained consistent: to publish books of the highest quality, at random. We are proud to continue this tradition today.

This edition is set from the first American edition of 1937 and commemorates the seventy-fifth anniversary of Random House.

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Customer Reviews

Great...but could be better - PuroShaggy -
The sum, in this instance, is not greater than its parts.
"Out of Africa" is essentially one woman's personal account of years spent living in Africa, surviving and struggling to maintain a farm and the number of people dependent on it. Isak Dinesen, also known as Karen Blixen, is a talented writer and does a wonderful job conveying both the objective reality and the subjective effects of each scene she describes. She writes about her own personal struggles maintaining her farm, describes the natives she encounters and, with much respect and obvious admiration, records some of their rituals and habits. In many ways, the work is a love letter to Africa because even in times of hardship and doubt, Dinesen's respect and awe for the land and its people is never in doubt.
Unfortunately, each of the individual stories- and that is really what this book consists of, a collection of stories- does not really add up to a whole that transcends its parts. Because Dinesen's reverence for the land is obvious from page one, the reader is not privvy to any growth or spiritual journey that she undergoes. There are hints of romance, tales of overcoming obstacles, and the closing stories do find her packing up and moving back to Holland, but she, as an individual, does not really change.
This is an excellent book and not only highlights Dinesen's strength as a writer and the ease with which she manipulates the language, but pays great homage to the land and the people of Africa. It could have been more, however, and ultimately leaves the reader a little unsatisfied.

Beyond My Expectations - Aaron K. Adkins - Houston, TX USA
I decided to read this book for two reasons. First, I liked the film from the 80s that was based on the book. Second, I have visited Africa several times (six and counting). I anticipated that the style of writing would be old fashioned but that I would enjoy the subject matter (Africa) enough to make it enjoyable.

My expectations were far exceeded. The author "paints vivid and beautiful pictures" with her story telling. For example, some of the sad tales left me feeling personally sad. The book was very enjoyable.

For those interested in the history of the British Kenya Colony, I also recommend the books "Something of Value" and "Uhuru" by Robert Ruark, set at the time of the build up to, and then, independence.

Brilliant Writing! - J. Wund - Tennessee
When I ordered this book, I thought that I had previously read it and was simply replacing a lost volume. Apparently, I had confused Dinesen's work with that of Markham's "West With the Night", another excellent chronicle about the same time and place. As much as I loved Markham's book, this one is better!

The book not only offers sensitive portraits of a range of characters who played a role in the daily life of Blixen (Dinesen)when she lived on her famous farm (at the foot of the Ngong Hills), but it also reveals, thereby, the surprising depth of Blixen's empathy with the people around her. Blixen, a Danish baroness, gives us a truly remarkable rendition of West Africa in the era of early European colonialization, as the traditional lives of the Somalis, the Masai and the Kikuyu were just beginning to be impacted by "modern" civilization. Her language is beautiful.

This fond and poingnant look into the past gives one a new and expanded insight into the condition of Africa and its sons and daughters in today's world, as well as an appreciation for the complex personality of at least this one specimen of European aristocracy. The book is so VERY much better than the movie.

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Friday, September 3, 2010