El's review
Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass by Isak Dinesen
Having not seen the movie or read the book, but remembering hearing about the movie that Out of Africa is one of the greatest love stories ever told I went into the reading thinking just that. I was already picturing Meryl Streep and Robert Redford because of the popularity of the movie (though my movie tie-in copy of the book probably did not help).
It took me 70 pages to realize that there is no specific story here, that the book is Isak Dinesen's (pseudonym for Baroness Karen Blixen) memoirs of the many years she lived on and ran a coffee plantation in Kenya. Once I made that realization and yelled at my brother for not telling me sooner (hah) I settled down to read the book as it was meant to be read, and stopped searching for a story to form.
In that light the book got better for me. I'm interested in people's experiences in other times and places, and I began to look at Out of Africa from a more sociological point of view. Dinesen clearly loved the land, l...more
It took me 70 pages to realize that there is no specific story here, that the book is Isak Dinesen's (pseudonym for Baroness Karen Blixen) memoirs of the many years she lived on and ran a coffee plantation in Kenya. Once I made that realization and yelled at my brother for not telling me sooner (hah) I settled down to read the book as it was meant to be read, and stopped searching for a story to form.
In that light the book got better for me. I'm interested in people's experiences in other times and places, and I began to look at Out of Africa from a more sociological point of view. Dinesen clearly loved the land, l...more
