Gwen's review of West with the Night

West with the Night
by Beryl Markham

Gwen's review

rating:

bookshelves: book_club, memoir

status: Read in May, 2008

This is a book about how Beryl Markham viewed the way she grew up on a farm in Kenya (then British East Africa) and the wonderful adventures she had that lead her to become the first woman to fly solo from east to west across the North Atlantic. This was probably the most readable memoir I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It was so full of wonderfulness that I really have a hard time grasping everything about it as I have such divergent feelings. And like so many memoirs, it's told through the very narrow lens that the author wants to share with us.
This book made me wish that I had grown up hunting lions with my bulldog in the bush of East Africa. The way that the prose comes off the page practically sings of the love Ms. Markham had for those that raised her. No women populate her stories, she is practically the only female mentioned in the entire book, which is odd for an English woman who was born in Edwardian England. Even if she was raised in Africa.
She doesn't tell anythi...more This is a book about how Beryl Markham viewed the way she grew up on a farm in Kenya (then British East Africa) and the wonderful adventures she had that lead her to become the first woman to fly solo from east to west across the North Atlantic. This was probably the most readable memoir I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It was so full of wonderfulness that I really have a hard time grasping everything about it as I have such divergent feelings. And like so many memoirs, it's told through the very narrow lens that the author wants to share with us.
This book made me wish that I had grown up hunting lions with my bulldog in the bush of East Africa. The way that the prose comes off the page practically sings of the love Ms. Markham had for those that raised her. No women populate her stories, she is practically the only female mentioned in the entire book, which is odd for an English woman who was born in Edwardian England. Even if she was raised in Africa.
She doesn't tell anything of her personal relationships at all, it simply skips those in favor of the adventures as a horse trainer and bush pilot. I really do love that section. I now hope to some day have the chance to go and see some of the sights that she describes from her cockpit. The beauty is breathe-taking, but it's always tempered by realism with her humor. She's not really English, just English enough.
The shortest section of the book is devoted to the event that earned Beryl Markham her place in history, her 36 hour solo flight across the Atlantic. It's presented as all of her other great accomplishments, almost as an afterthought. As though the reader might be interested to know how it came about and what really happened along the way.
Sadly, this book has been plagued for the last 22 years with accusations that Ms. Markham was not in fact the real author and that much of the story was not true at all. But I chose to ignore that. It's a wonderful tale. A great read and she chose to tell a fantastic story....less

Like this review? yes flag

comments

No comments have been added yet.

Gwen's review of West with the Night

comments

flag abuse