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1265 ratings, 3.95 average rating, 145 reviews
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published
1996
(first published 1937)
by Barnes & Noble Books
binding
Unknown Binding, 399 pages
isbn
0760703841
(isbn13: 9780760703847)
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1833)
Read in October, 2007
This book captures the charm, the majesty, the beauty of Africa and her native people. A beautiful read full of stories about the tensions arising from the colonization of Kenya, and it's benefits (things like better medical care).
However, as far as biography, I found the book rather shadowy. There is reference to a husband, but no discussion of him. Reference to sickness but no clarity as to what caused it. Raferences to male friends, but no insight into their relationship with the author. ...more
However, as far as biography, I found the book rather shadowy. There is reference to a husband, but no discussion of him. Reference to sickness but no clarity as to what caused it. Raferences to male friends, but no insight into their relationship with the author. ...more
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Read in October, 2007
This has been on my "must read" list forever. When I picked it up, I'm embarrassed to say, I wasn't immediately aware that it was a memoir. I knew about the movie, and just assumed it was a novel based on Dinesen's experiences. So - it felt a little slow in the beginning, as I got my bearings. But Africa quickly seduced me, and I found myself fighting a low-grade fury that the Africa of her day was lost forever. How often does this irritation rattle me? All these places and times and I...more
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a memoir written about her experiences in Kenya Africa before and just shortly after WWI. She owns a large coffee plantation by herself. There is a husband mentioned briefly but he is gone, but she never elaborates. The book covers the same time period as The Flame Tree of Thicka, which I really liked. Dinesen’s story takes place somewhat north of Nairobi and the Thicka is somewhat south. In about the same area. I wondered often if the two families ever knew each other. Dinesen tells th...more
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Read in April, 2008
Out of Africa is Karen Blixen's memoir about her years in Africa, writing as Isak Dinesen. She recounts the world of Africa, specifically Kenya. It is, like the England of her friend Denys Finch-Hatton, "a world that no longer existed" even then and certainly as she left it. The memoir is a slow read, yet a book with prose in which you can luxuriate, or languish perhaps as it seems to mirror the mammoth African landscape. Reading like a pastoral novel, the narrator interested me with h...more
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Read in October, 1999
I chose to read this book in high school as one of those free-reading things for which you later have to give a presentation. This is a book about Africa for white people who want to go on a safari and see the cool animals, which is basically what the author did. I kinda hated Karen Blixen for her condescending attitude towards the "natives" and I felt the whole book was nothing but pretentious, self-aggrandizing bullshit. If I had had any courage, I would have done two things differen...more
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Read in August, 2006
recommends it for:
everyone
I first chose this book because the english section in the french bookshop was very limited. However only after a few pages "Out of Africa" really made me stay in my chair, very unwilling to put it down. It is beautifully written and gives such an insight into the colonial life in Kenya in the early 20th century.
Karen Blixen writes about her life on the farm, the daily running of it, her on-farm workers and her place in it all. As her husband was very rarely there, it was K. Blixen...more
Karen Blixen writes about her life on the farm, the daily running of it, her on-farm workers and her place in it all. As her husband was very rarely there, it was K. Blixen...more
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Read in January, 2001
recommends it for:
everyone
I first ran across Karen Blixen's name in the Janet Flanner/ Solita Solano files in the Library of Congress unpublished manuscripts division. She was a compatriot of theirs in the twenties in Paris. This is the only book of hers that I have read. I enjoyed her descriptions of the wildlife and natural surroundings of Kenya, but I always felt that something was missing from this book. Maybe it was her husband. Maybe it was a feeling I had that she did not tell the whole story about why she ha...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in March, 2008
Author is a brave woman running a farm in East Africa during World War I. She is super smart but rather dry and especially in the first half of the book, impersonal. Even if one hasn't seen the Hollywood movie, you can't help but ask yourself "Where the hell is Robert Redford?" And in fact, even after his character appears in the novel, you're still not sure it's him, since Dinesen writes as if she is sexless. In this sense, the film does sort of kill the book, b/c without such exp...more
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Read in March, 2008
B Isak Dinesen moved to Africa to farm with her husband, who she separated from, and lived alone on her farm with "the Natives" or "my squatters," having her lover visit her occasionally. It's a very interesting portrayal of a white European colonist living in Africa, with her unique experiences. At times, it bothers me a bit (the Europeans living in Africa at that time were racist), but her writing really is lovely and fascinating. Tidbit: I found out about this book from re...more
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Read in September, 2004
I loved this book. If I had written it, I would have done it much more conventionally, more as an adventure story. But Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen's real name) has a completely unique voice. Her love of Africa is so vivid that sometimes it's painful. I want to reread it, but it took so much out of me that I'm hesitant to do it all over again.
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There's a reason why people keep reading this book decade after decade. It's a masterpiece, a memoir about life on a farm in Africa that is filled with such humanity, generosity, love, and nostalgia that it is impossible to resist. Dinesen does wonders at telling a rather simple story in ways that keep the reader captive. It's enchanting like a real, bittersweet, exotic, mysterious fairy-tale: with the author's words, her life on the African continent becomes an extraordinary adventure of almost...more
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Read in January, 1996
Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) is an outstanding writer. This book is incredible and much better than the movie. That is saying a lot because I did love the movie!
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Read in July, 2008
I picked up this book from the Local Authors section when I was in Denmark.
Out of Africa is a love letter to the continent from an exile. Isak Dinesen clearly misses her life on the coffee farm in Kenya and the exciting adventures she had. She hunted big game on safari, flew over the jungle in a prop plane, and met with native chiefs.
It's interesting to learn of Africa in the early 1900's. But the colonial settlers are racist and even Denisen seems to treat Africans as “lesser than”. ...more
Out of Africa is a love letter to the continent from an exile. Isak Dinesen clearly misses her life on the coffee farm in Kenya and the exciting adventures she had. She hunted big game on safari, flew over the jungle in a prop plane, and met with native chiefs.
It's interesting to learn of Africa in the early 1900's. But the colonial settlers are racist and even Denisen seems to treat Africans as “lesser than”. ...more
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Read in July, 2008
I read this alongside West with the Night so the review goes for both. I liked them and I learned a lot about what it was like to be a woman in Africa in the early part of the 1900s. I also learned about airplanes and lions. However, I found them slow going. I don't want to attribute this to the books completely though - I have been busy and haven't had time to really sit and read a good chunk of a book. Between work and puppy, I get a couple pages here and there which is never satisfying. So go...more
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Read in January, 1992
This was a different read. One of the few times the movies is better than the book.
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Just read it and absolutely loved it. It is a love story about Africa!
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Read in November, 2008
I chose to read this book as part of a "Search for Meaning" unit in my World Literature class, along with five other books including The Poisonwood Bible and Things Fall Apart. I was disappointed with Out of Africa: I thought this would open my eyes to the wilderness and cultural customs of African countries, but I might as well have watched The Lion King for the umpteenth time. It was a very difficult read: There was no definite plot, and she seemed condescending towards the simpler N...more
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Read in August, 2008
This one really does transport you back to another time. Her visual imagery of Africa is amazing and she uses this poetic language that you don't get tired of. Only complaints would be the lack of her discussion of the failed relationship with her husband and her love affair with Denys. In some ways I loved how she left subtle clues to her feelings about Denys and their relationship but at the same time I was frustrated and wanted to know more. This made the movie satisfying because it explo...more
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Read in August, 2006
recommends it for:
classics lovers
This was a book that I'd been wanting to read, and then my mother found a copy among her things when she moved last summer and gave it to me before *I* moved to PA. It was so good! I'd seen bits and pieces of the film, and was intrigued, but the book gave a lot more depth and feeling--go figure :)
I would like to reread this again sometime, simply because there were a lot of things that I appreciated about her writing and storytelling style that I would love to commit to memory.
I would like to reread this again sometime, simply because there were a lot of things that I appreciated about her writing and storytelling style that I would love to commit to memory.
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What a book -- what a woman. I read this after seeing the film -- and while the film is different it is fairly well-done and relatively accurate -- love it as well. Very revealing of the differences in culture and time -- and the similarites -- in the way women lived their lives relative to parents, siblings, and the expectations of the society around them. Aso an interesting view into the timeperiod regarding Africa and the colonialization of same.
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currently-reading (on 79 people's shelves)
africa (on 27 people's shelves)
non-fiction (on 27 people's shelves)
fiction (on 26 people's shelves)
classics (on 23 people's shelves)
memoir (on 16 people's shelves)
nonfiction (on 12 people's shelves)
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