My favorite movie of all time. The book is not as good as the movie.

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 her myriad experiences. It presents people, cultures, landscape, and wildlife through her eyes, sometimes noble, sometimes paternal. The culture of the various tribes and religions with whom she had contact on her coffee farm became almost real, so that as I read certain moments became funny or sad or wistful. The reader comes to view animals differently, the fecundity of life struck me particularly. The different forces at work are both natural and foreign; the paradoxical nature of the presence of two churches (Roman Catholic and Church of Scotland) is sometimes presented as working for good yet other times it is in conflict. Blixen's memoir is truly literate and the importance of books and writing is evident throughout. Early in the memoir she tries to explain her wirting a book to a native. Near the end of her stay as she is selling off the furniture and other estate provisions their is a poignant moment when, as she sits on her remaining books, she comments:
"Books in a colony play a different part in your existence from what they do in Europe; there is a whole side of your life which they alone take charge of ... you feel more grateful to them, or more indignant with them, than you will ever do in civilized countries." (p.373)
Blixen's memoir of this "uncivilised" land is both memorable and effective in sweeping the reader away into a very different world. Definitely a worthwhile read.

The two-cassette abridgment was way too limiting for such a magnificent book. Also disappointing was the fact that the product was a rejected one from a public library, and the second tape was stretched and half of the second tape was not able to be heard. This product should never have been sold in this condition.

This was the first of many books I've read about Africa. At the time, I had a romanticized view of The Dark Continent, a naieve view.
After doing some more research, I realize Karen Blixen's view was VERY romanticized....to the extent that many of her contemporaries thought her somewhat odd and out of touch with reality.
If you want a lyrically told story colored with emotion...this is for you.
If you're interested in Africa as it really was, read the many accounts extant by settlers who spent far more time, and ranged over a wider area.

The book, "Out of Africa," is a memoir of the Danish Baroness Karen Blixen's habitation near Nairobi in Kenya from 1914 to 1931 on a fertile 6000-acre coffee plantation, "at the foot of the Ngong Hills" (1992: 3). Blixen writes under the pen-name Isak Dinesen. Karen Blixen went to British East Africa (in a location in present-day, Kenya) to join her German husband (Baron Bror Blixen), and upon separation she stayed in Kenya to manage the farm by herself. The extent of her adventures in Africa, and to what extent she is a feminist is borne out by the book, as well as the film "Out of Africa," that is based on the book. This piece will examine such, as well as comparisons between the book and the film.

Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) presents geographical detail, oftentimes comparisons and contrasts within this fertile land of the Kikuyu people that would several decades later be the crux of the Mau-Mau rebellion over whites' displacement and dispossession of natives from their land. Dinesen also compares features with those of her native Europe. Dinesen writes of the equatorial habitat, "Everything that you saw made for greatness and freedom, and unequaled nobility...Up in this high air you breathed easily, drawing in a vital assurance and lightness of heart: Here I am where I ought to be" (1992: 4). Dinesen writes of "heavy-scented lilies," of "long-rains," "ever-changing clouds," of "hills from the farm [that} changed their character many times in the course of the day, and sometimes looked quite close and at times very far away" (1992: 4). Dinesen, in precise and elegant language displays love and fascination for the geography, the clean air, the animals, the beauty of this African environment; she becomes possessed by the place.The movie captures the large, picturesque, mysterious, and varied eastern equatorial Africa where the eland, the buffalo, and the rhino are quite common sights; the movie impressively and unanimously earned, Oscar, "Best Picture of the Year."

In the end Dinesen is forced to give up her plantation, this scenario elicits a heartache and sadness. Dinesen's memoirs, years after she had left Africa could be a reflection of her nostalgic dealing with her loss of the farm as well as overall experiences in Africa. Dinesen stands out as a courageous and strong woman, one who is in the feminist direction. She lost her philandering husband, but stayed on bravely, for nearly 20 years in a foreign harsh environment, one with languages and cultures far-fetched from her own. Dinesen worked well at being appreciative of an environment that was new to her, during an era of colonialism in Africa, a time when Darwinian relegation of black Africans to the lowest of human species and elevation of whites to the upper rung was very strong. Dinesen cuts through the female traditional roles, she tries flying in planes, the goes on safari, she learns how to shoot and even shoots and kills game. She is open and welcomes countless visitors from all over the world to her home and farm. This was an age of exploration and acquisition of "Dark Africa," by Europeans and Asians. Dinesen is quite aware of her feminine strength. She rescues and adopts a wounded antelope she names Lulu; Lulu becomes a celebrity on the farm; Dinesen searches, discovers and celebrates the feminist strength in Lulu: "But Lulu was not really gentle, she had the so-called devil in her. She had, to the highest degree, the feminine trait of appearing to be exclusively on the defensive, concentrating on guarding the integrity of her being, when she was really, with the force in her, bent upon and defensive" (1992: 74). Also, "Lulu of the woods was a superior, independent being...she was in possession. If I had happened to have known a young princess in exile, and while she was still a pretender to the throne, and had met her again in her full queenly estate after she had come into her rights, our meeting would have had the same character" (1992: 78).

The book displays that Karen Blixen exemplified the Europeans with the upper hand in colonial world conquest and politics. It is to be recalled that the three weapons used by Europeans to subjugate Africans were the gun, the Bible, and the anthropologist. Karen used guns to protect herself. Catholic (mostly Belgian and French), Protestant (mostly British), and Muslim (mostly Arabic) agencies vied for power in Africa. The Germans were in present-day neighboring Tanzania (German East Africa) to the south. They would be ousted during this significant, "Scramble for Africa." The book illustrates how Karen Blixen took great interest in which religious group the young natives (some of whom served her) adhered to. Many native followers, taught to kneel and pray to an invisible white Almighty god, became converted to the political/ religious groups, as they became dispossessed of their land resources. The anthropology aspect, as mentioned, involved relegation of black Africans to the lowest rungs of evolutionary mankind...the white was relegated as the superior, the master, the savior, the benevolent, the genius. The movie is great at casting Meryl Streep as the beautiful, rosy-cheeked clean, statuesque woman amidst muddy, black African paradise! The real Karen Blixen likely had more rugged looks and likely often got "down-and-dirty," than is depicted in the movie. An equatorial Africa of long and heavy rainy seasons, of continuous tropical sun, and of limited running water would not leave the Danish heroine so clean and collected.

It is to be recalled that Dinesen is writing from an overly European point of view, hence, negative criticism of her will not be short. Her attitude to black Africans is racist and condescending. In the movie, Denys Finch-Hatton (Robert Redford) rebukes her for instructing native porters to get off her belongings by "shooing," them off!. Finch-Hatton, in shock, remarks to her, "Shoo?" as if telling her, "I do not believe you addressed these people that way!" Finch-Hatton (who became Dinesen's lover) knows the native languages (Kiswahili and Kikuyu), and goes on to communicate her instructions to the porters. Black Africans are prevalently depicted in the movie as poverty-stricken servants, laborers and porters, as helpless people close to animal nature. In tune with the movie, here Dinesen writes, "They were poor people, small and underfed; they looked like a pair of badgers on my lawn...I could hardly distinguish them against the grass. They were sank in deep grief; their bereavement and their economic loss melted into one overwhelming distress" (1992: 108). Dinesen is surprised that the, "Natives," are strikingly open, adapting, welcoming and unprejudiced. Yet, as prevalent in the colonial fashion, she does not attribute this to the inner traditions and workings of indigenous African society, but from influence from foreigners including slavers! "The lack of prejudice in the Natives is a striking thing, for you expect to find dark taboos in the primitive people. It is due...to their acquaintance with a variety of races and tribes, and to the lively human intercourse that was brought upon East Africa, first by the old traders of ivory and slaves...and...by the settlers and big-game hunters" (1992: 54).

Dinesen wishes the natives would understand and appreciate her more. It is always presumptuous to be confident of having fully understood a foreign culture and people; she does not seem to believe she is prejudiced and why the natives to a good extent regard her as a foreigner far different from them, and difficult to comprehend. She writes, "If I know a song of Africa,---I thought,---of the Giraffe, and the African new moon lying on her back, of the ploughs in the field, and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me?" (1992: 83). At the same time, Dinesen quite often acknowledges that newcomers from Africa are from a noisy and rushed world, they do not have the patience and connectedness of native Africans. European colonialists imposed on the natives an alien system of forced dispossession and displacement and of monopoly. So much of this colonial intrusion was quite new to the prevalently communalist and family-oriented, egalitarian way of native African subsistence.

Karen Blixen's marriage starts out as more of a convenience than of romance. She left Denmark to marry the German Baron Bror Blixen (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and start a dairy in Kenya. Bror is actually the brother of her lover. Karen is offering her fortune for companionship and adventure (and for the title of, "Baroness") much more than for enjoying the security of a man. So, from the outset, Karen's feminist inclinations are strong. The husband changes his mind about the diary, and instead invests her money in a risky venture of growing coffee. The husband is unfaithful, philandering, gives her syphilis that will disable her from having children; the marriage breaks up. Karen is left to manage the farm, she has to battle with floods and fire. Hardly anything of British big game hunter Denys Finch-Hatton's romance with Dinesen (Karen Blixen), is mentioned in the book; the movie likely borrows from other sources depicting the life of Karen Blixen. Unfortunately the English accent of Denys Finch-Hatton is not conveyed by Redford, compared to Karen's excellent outflow of a Scandinavian accent. Yet, the movie depicts their chemistry, Denys is impressed by her strength and independence, Karen's ability to tell and weave stories, they kiss, and in one scene have sex. Karen does seem to desire long-term companionship and commitment from Denys, desire for a man who will sacrifice to be with her. She stands against having a man like Denys who wants to be "free-wheeling," one who will come and go depending on need and desire, he loves the African outdoors. Finch-Hatton is mysterious, elusive and emotionally distant, but he is miscast in that in the movie: he seems to represent an all-American jock that waywardly found his way into Africa. Karen was wounded before, and this encounter with Denys is only a brief moment of ecstasy, but she bravely soldiers on, appreciating more of what is around her. Karen is indeed confident, stoic and creative in face of the odds. She did resist going on safari with Denys, but she eventually succumbed to his quite undeniable invitation. Eventually, they got closer, she broadened her horizons, she better adapted to and better accepted foreigners and their ways.

In conclusion, the movie emphasizes the romantic issues and episodes in Karen Blixen's life in Africa (romance and sex sells in Hollywood), much more than the book does. The book seems to be constructed from a breadth of notes of what Blixen put together while in Africa, and weaved them into a good fairy tale. The truth is that Blixen dealt with aspects like fluctuating coffee prices, sometimes drought and heavy rains, discontented dispossessed natives, scrambles for Africa amongst several European agencies, African diseases and sometimes unsanitary conditions, wildlife from untamed neighborhoods. The movie does display the exquisite beauty of tropical Africa which Blixen did dwell on, but not on the colonial wranglings. There is lyrical beauty in Blixen's writing, and the movie does elicit an African peaceful mood through the excellent music. Blixen, in both the movie and the book is a strong and opinionated woman, yet flexible and open to ideas, people, and adventure. She is a significant precursor of modern-day feminism.

It's tough to bungle a memoir set in Africa - early 20th-century, a hilltop coffee plantation, with lions, hyenas, giraffes, zebras and views of Kilamanjaro - and Karen Blixen largely avoids it. Surrounded by offbeat adventurers and Kikuyu retainers, the author has innumberable sources of interest to draw from.

I saw the movie when it premiered in 1985 and, maybe because of my youth, found it to be quite a sleeper. Some twenty years later, I find the book, as is often the case, to be significantly better. But, this doesn't disguise the fact that Blixen's written work can be somewhat disjointed. She skips hither and yon and too often casts aside a recollection before it's much anticipated completion. Kamante, a cherished and endearing Kikuyu child, a seemingly essential component, disappears without trace though ostensibly remaining within the author's immediate employ. One is left disappointedly pondering where this disarming youngster has gone.

All things considered, however, the period and place overpower any literary shortcomings. Blixen's scattershot approach still manages to bestow a palpable sense of wonder. It feeds the pull a person feels for the savannah, the safari, the elemental mystique which is the continent of Africa. I recommend it. 4+ stars.

After watching the movie, I was eager to read the actual story it was based on...Oh my....a bit of a "yawn". Didn't make it even 1/3 through; just couldn't stay interested. More of a day to day diary of her life on the coffee plantation and not nearly as interesting or historically the same as the movie...I think the movie may have taken a lot of creative license to make it interesting. However, it does give a very good description of life in Africa in the early 1900's.

Dinesen was really good at describing the beauty of the land and the animals in Africa and at telling the story of her African adventure of running her own farm with the Natives. She seems to be a European woman who is delighted to be expanding her freedom to explore new country and act independently as a woman. She managed her farm without a husband and was even a good shot with a gun. Unfortunately, her expansion of freedom came at the expense of the Natives living there. They could no longer roam about the land freely and were eventually put on reservations by the colonial government. One of life's dilemmas is your own expansion of freedom and quality of life means the diminishment of others' freedom and quality of life, and vice versa.

Dinisen's love of Africa is one of taking visual delight in the territory and feeling that she was comfortable in Africa. She mentions the glorious views of Africa which are immensely wide: "Everything that you saw made for greatness and freedom, and unequalled nobility" She could breathe easily in the air of the highlands and felt she was supposed to be there: "Up in this high air you breathed easily, drawing in a vital assurance and lightness of heart. In the highlands you woke up in the morning and thought: Here I am, where I ought to be".

Dinesen got along with the natives well by learning the rhythm of Africa and was fascinated by its people. She learned the rhythm of Africa, which would help her in dealing with the Natives: "When you have caught the rhythm of Africa, you find it is the same as all her music. What I learned from the game of the country, was useful to me in my dealings with the Native People". She says that "the discovery of the dark races was a magnificent enlargement of all my world". She says that the Natives are Africa "in flesh and blood" and are one with it, whereas the immigrants are hurried and jar the landscape. When they "...work the soil, or herd the cattle, or hold their big dances, or tell you a tale, it is Africa wandering, dancing, and entertaining you".

Dinesen adopts an antelope and names it Lulu and brings it into the house after having second thoughts about not rescuing it. Lulu became a celebrity on the farm: "On the strength of this great beauty and gracefulness, Lulu obtained for herself a commanding position in the house, and was treated with respect by all". The dogs would move out of the way of Lulu if they were at the milk bowl or in her resting spot. Dinesen compares her to a feminine, noble lady.

Lulu became discontent with her surroundings and the inhabitants of the house: "But Lulu was not really gentle, she had the so-called devil in her. She had, to the highest degree, the feminine trait of being exclusively on the defensive, concentrated on the integrity of her being, when she was really with every force in her, bent upon the offensive. Against whom? Against the whole world...Sometimes when the spirit came upon her and her discontent with her surroundings reached a climax, she would perform for the satisfaction of her own heart, on the lawn in front of the house, a war dance, which looked like a brief zig-zagged prayer to Satan".

Her discontent was largely due to her growing pains of maturation and once she runs away and returns with her mate, Denison says: "Lulu of the woods was a superior, independent being, a change of heart had come upon her, she was in possession. If I had happened to have known a young princess in exile, and while she was still a pretender to the throne, and had met her again in her full queenly estate after she had come into her rights, our meeting would had had the same character".

Dinesen thinks that Lulu makes her house and property connected to wild nature: "Lulu came into the wild world to show that we were on good terms with it, and she made my house one with the African landscape, so that nobody could tell where one stopped and the other began". The years that Lulu and her family visited her farm were Denison's happiest years in Africa. She thought that their appearance was a good omen for her and a sign of a bond of friendship between her and Africa.

Denison feels she knows Africa so well and wonders if Africa knows her well too: "I know the song of Africa--I thought--of the Giraffe, and the African new moon lying on her back, and ploughs in the fields, and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me?". Commenting on her years in Africa, Dinesen says, "Now, looking back on my life in Africa, I feel that it might be altogether described as the existence of a person who had come from a rushed and noisy world, into a still country". She enjoyed her expeditions through Africa and sees herself as part of it: "The grass was me, and the air, the distant invisible mountains were me, the tired oxen were me. I breathed with the slight night wind in the thorn trees".

Originally, Dinesen wanted to write a much more outspoken critique of how the English treated the natives under colonialism, but chose instead to tone done this message. Some critics have been concerned about the rosy view of Colonialism that Dinesen presents. Dinesen was a "kind colonialist" who would not remove the squatters off the land to make it profitable by raising cattle and corn there. The colonial government, however, would tax the Natives which forced them to work for Whites and would not allow them to grow cash crops to achieve financial independence.

Karen Blixen's wonderful writing actually reminds of another Dane, Hans Christian Anderson, for its magical quality and ability to make the most ordinary things latent with mystery. Africa becomes a fairy-tale world in the Dinesen's book, and the setting for her great love with Denys Finch-Hatton. One feels her love of him and of the countryside, and especially her devotion for the people who live all around her. A truly beautiful and mystical writer, who could see beyond the surface of things, she has the skill of imparting joy as well as tragedy.

Karen Blixen's wonderful writing actually reminds of another Dane, Hans Christian Anderson, for its magical quality and ability to make the most ordinary things latent with mystery. Africa becomes a fairy-tale world in the Dinesen's book, and the setting for her great love with Denys Finch-Hatton. One feels her love of him and of the countryside, and especially her devotion for the people who live all around her. A truly beautiful and mystical writer, who could see beyond the surface of things, she has the skill of imparting joy as well as tragedy.

I've long been fascinated by Isak Dinesen's life and with this book she lovingly describes the very heart of it, her sixteen years running a coffee plantation in the African highlands. She tells the reader almost nothing personal; but her descriptions of this vanished place and time are nothing short of magic. By "erasing" herself from the landscape, you are really and truly experiencing her life there. It was a mesmerizing experience and I hated to finish the book. Fortunately, it's now mine and I can re-read it any time I want to!

Denisen's ability to take you into Africa and make you know it as she did is astounding--she captures feelings very difficult to describe, and makes you want to see Kenya for yourself, the Hills of Ngong. She is a story-teller, yes, but she does not tell her stories in any way conventional; much of the time you have no idea as to the chronological order of things. Yet it doesn't matter, because she is conveying feelings and emotions which are not limited by time. And when time does come to play a role in her stories you are informed of it as is necessary. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to experience life as it should be experienced, confusing the primitive life of the Natives with the sophisticated Europeans come to visit Isak on her farm. Through the course of the novel, conflicts arise, celebrations take place, nature's best is described in full detail, and living things die as is natural. Denisen ends her work as beautifully as she began it, and you feel as though you have been through something really important when you finish.

Out of Africa, once read, is not easily forgotten. Karen Blixen writing under the name Isak Dinesen tells the story of the 17 years on her coffee plantation in Africa. This is a book written from the heart and my emotions were moved more than once by the prose and thoughts on the written page. What I did find very disconcerting was the flat out racism toward the native people of Africa, acceptable among Europeans at that time but so strongly outdated in this time as to be offensive. She has a most superior attitude, towards all peoples other than Europeans and even towards most Europeans. In additon the total disregard for wild life and the environment would make many of us cringe today. This is her true experience, those were her beliefs and feelings and Karen Blixen makes no excuses or apologies for her life but simply states what was and how she felt about it. If taken for what it is; a wonderful collections of vignettes of a life loved and well lived, it is an excellent addition to any collection

Others have explained the book well enough. I won't repeat them here.

This book is for people who love to read; who love to linger over beautifully written sentences. Dinesen's writing has a beauty, an elegance, that is impossible to describe, but also impossible to ever forget. It is elegantly spare, elegant in its moderate pacing, and elegantly rich. No other author writes like Dinesen (Blixen). Read her to enrich your own life.

Karen Blixen, the author, managed a six thousand acre farm in Kenya, of which some six hundred acres were used for growing coffee, apparently for all intents and purposes all by herself from 1914 to 1931. The movie depicts her moving there from her native Denmark rather haphazardly with an accidental husband, who leaves for his own escapades soon after they arrive, only occasionally returning for a visit. The book hardly ever mentions her husband, and does not run in a chronological sequence like the movie, but consists of a series of mostly time-unrelated stories.

The most beautiful and touching section to me is the opening one entitled "Kamanate and Lulu". The author has been criticized to some degree for assimilating the racism of the day and for her priviledged position as a Baronness in a time of European Colonialism. She writes that in her very young days, "I could not live till I had killed every specimen of African game". A curious attitude for a young woman - perhaps reflective of the coming World War when armies lined up and executed each other for no memorable reason; and perhaps reflective of what was happening in Africa and Asia where Native people were forced off their land, leaving them no choice but to be utterly dependent on menial work for a pittance. But in these opening stories of this young native boy whom she helps to cure of a debilitating illness that nobody seems to pay attention to, and adopts an orphan bushbuck fawn, it becomes clear from the start that she had a real heartfelt love for the Native people and a strong and abiding connection to the harsh beauty of the land and its unbelievable variety and the wonder of its wildlife. She became dependent on the Native people in many ways, and recognized their dependency on her. There is a sense of humility, learned no doubt from the difficulties of being alone in a dangerous and risky place. She knew that she could never know these people for certain, that they would always be somewhat unfathomable, but she cared enough to find out quite a number of things about them and to admire them as well as sometimes being amused by their ways. That the name of the native boy and the bushbuck are juxtaposed lends credence to a criticism that the author does not distinguish between the humanness of the Natives from the animal, or at the very least cannot view them as more than children. But I do not think that criticism is valid here. Her point was that to understand the Native people of Africa one must first understand the land.

Ernest Hemingway (in A Moveable Feast, if I recall) mentioned this as the finest book about Africa he had ever read - and who am I to argue with Hemingway?

That being said, there is something colossal about Africa that simply impels world-class writing: in addition to Out of Africa, notable are Beryl Markham's West With The Night and, of course, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Also noteworthy are Things Fall Apart and On To Kilimanjaro (sadly out of print).

I highly recommend all of theses for a true sense of the adventure, tragedy and sheer humanity of Africa.

Out of Africa is the author's own narrative of her years spent on an eventually unsuccessful coffee plantation near Nairobi, Kenya, during the early years of the 20th century. It is obvious that the author's goal in writing this book was to express her sincere love of Africa to her audience. She succeeds beautifully.

While I was hoping this narrative would be little more educational and/or exciting than it actually was, I was still left with a very notable and lasting impression upon reading this book. My overall image and perception of Africa during this era will now forever include scenes and images described by the author.

Readers should recognize three things before reading this book. First, political correctness was not an issue at the time the author lived in Africa. Second, the number one reason to read this book is to enjoy the beautiful language the author so masterfully employs. Third, be prepared to either ignore the foreign language references (all of them untranslated) or take the time to learn their translations and their significance.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable book which I highly recommend to anyone who has interest in Africa or excellent literature.

Out of Africa is the author's own narrative of her years spent on an eventually unsuccessful coffee plantation near Nairobi, Kenya, during the early years of the 20th century. It is obvious that the author's goal in writing this book was to express her sincere love of Africa to her audience. She succeeds beautifully.

While I was hoping this narrative would be little more educational and/or exciting than it actually was, I was still left with a very notable and lasting impression upon reading this book. My overall image and perception of Africa during this era will now forever include scenes and images described by the author.

Readers should recognize three things before reading this book. First, political correctness was not an issue at the time the author lived in Africa. Second, the number one reason to read this book is to enjoy the beautiful language the author so masterfully employs. Third, be prepared to either ignore the foreign language references (all of them untranslated) or take the time to learn their translations and their significance.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable book which I highly recommend to anyone who has interest in Africa or excellent literature.

I decided to read this book because in the book "Catcher in the Rye," Holden says that he "wouldn't mind calling this Isak Dinesen up." So anyway, I agree with him for the most part, and there's no doubt that Baroness Blixen would have some interesting stories to tell over the dinner table. However, the book Out of Africa is a bit less enjoyable than a one on one chat, and her descriptions in general are pretty objective. There were two main things that bothered me:
-Much of the beginning of the book is a sort of 'how Europeans are different than Africans.' I understand that her second class treatment of the natives was an accepted attitude of the time, but it seems that her observations about race take up a goodly chunk of her book.
-Another thing that irked me was that she quotes many secondary sources in the book, and many of them she doesn't translate into English. I unfortunately don't speak either French or German, and so I wasn't able to interpret much of the poetry and references she included.
Aside from those two things, the book is still an interesting, albeit occasionally slow, read. It was hard to really connect with her at the beginning, because she seems to view herself as some kind of high and mighty princess, and I just wasn't that insterested in her point of view. However, I think as the book progresses she opens up more about her own life, and you really start to understand how much she truly loves Africa, her workers, and the farm that she poured her heart into. She tells about the people she befriends and their adventures and quirks. She also does an amazing job describing the African scenery. I'd reccommend it, but keep in mind that it starts off slow.

Judith Thurman in her biography of Isak Dinesen writes about ' Out of Africa.' "I think that 'out of Africa' does not describe Karen Blixen's life onn her African farm as it was in a documentary sense, lived. The serene perfection of the style, the spareness of detail, the attendance of gods all signal that we have escaped from the gravity of practical questions and have gotten up into a purer element, one that offers less resistance to the ideal. The point of view in ' Out ofAfrica' is that "overveiw" which KarenBlixen called " the one thing of vital importance to achieve in life." What we see is a landscape from the air: time and action have been tremendously compressed and telescopes.So whwn she writes, " We grew coffe on my farm. The land itself was alittle too high for coffee and it was hard work to keep it wgoing, we were never rich on the farm, " we are , in effect, taking in eighteen years of drought, mismanagement, and struggle, the endless petty quarrels with the shareholders and intrigues with bankers, the terrible fluctations of international coffee prices, and the vagaries of weather .And to describe how she was driven to write by these misfortunes she begins simply: "When times were dull on the farm.. This phase is like a seed. It contains a complete lifetime of boredom and loneliness, and the brief visits and precipitous departures of her lover".

I believe what Thursman is saying is that Isak Dinesen in 'Out of Africa' did not write about her life literally, but instead shaped into a story a fairy tale a work of magic. She transformed her life into a higher realm that of romantic legend. And this explains at least in part its great appeal, for what the reader is really getting is a kind of miraculous picture of a world they can long to be a part of .
Magic, mystery and romance in great art make this a unique classic , the story of a great storyteller.

Judith Thurman in her biography of Isak Dinesen writes about ' Out of Africa.' "I think that 'out of Africa' does not describe Karen Blixen's life onn her African farm as it was in a documentary sense, lived. The serene perfection of the style, the spareness of detail, the attendance of gods all signal that we have escaped from the gravity of practical questions and have gotten up into a purer element, one that offers less resistance to the ideal. The point of view in ' Out ofAfrica' is that "overveiw" which KarenBlixen called " the one thing of vital importance to achieve in life." What we see is a landscape from the air: time and action have been tremendously compressed and telescopes.So whwn she writes, " We grew coffe on my farm. The land itself was alittle too high for coffee and it was hard work to keep it wgoing, we were never rich on the farm, " we are , in effect, taking in eighteen years of drought, mismanagement, and struggle, the endless petty quarrels with the shareholders and intrigues with bankers, the terrible fluctations of international coffee prices, and the vagaries of weather .And to describe how she was driven to write by these misfortunes she begins simply: "When times were dull on the farm.. This phase is like a seed. It contains a complete lifetime of boredom and loneliness, and the brief visits and precipitous departures of her lover".

I believe what Thursman is saying is that Isak Dinesen in 'Out of Africa' did not write about her life literally, but instead shaped into a story a fairy tale a work of magic. She transformed her life into a higher realm that of romantic legend. And this explains at least in part its great appeal, for what the reader is really getting is a kind of miraculous picture of a world they can long to be a part of .
Magic, mystery and romance in great art make this a unique classic , the story of a great storyteller.

Who could read, "I had a farm in Africa," without being intrigued immediately? Best opening line since "Call me Ishmael" in Moby Dick. Out of Africa makes one feel like a farmer in Africa much in the same way that "The Agony and the Ectasy" turns on into sculptor. Great read for all. I loved it and the movie, too.

It's amazing how each media gives a completely different feel of this fabulous book. Dinesen's book gets 5 stars. The movie gets 5 stars for telling the stories in the book as well as its beautiful handling of the relationship between Karen and Denys. The audiotape of the book would get 5 stars as well, if it was unabridged. Julie Harris gives me goosebumps (in a good way!)

If you want the full version of Out of Africa, this is not the audio book for you - its abridged.

Blixen writes beautifully. It is interesting to note that English was not her native tongue but that she paints with it a beautiful portrait of Kenya between the world wars, its people and its landscapes.

But unlike Conrad, another non-native English speaker who wrote of his Colonial-era experiences, Blixen has neither written a book nor really told a story. She begins very well, and beautifully. And her description of the loss of her friend and then her farm are wonderfully and poingnantly done. But the middle of the book is a series of short - often less than a page - vignettes, largely unconnected, many of which are frankly nonsensical.

This, very unfortunately, is not a story of her life; she is the autobiographical protagonist but there is no insight into her, her life, her love or even her loss. Nor is it a story of Africa in transition. it starts out to become these things, but it does not succeed.

It's a lovely, easy read but it is not history nor is it literature.

Blixen writes beautifully. It is interesting to note that English was not her native tongue but that she paints with it a beautiful portrait of Kenya between the world wars, its people and its landscapes.

But unlike Conrad, another non-native English speaker who wrote of his Colonial-era experiences, Blixen has neither written a book nor really told a story. She begins very well, and beautifully. And her description of the loss of her friend and then her farm are wonderfully and poingnantly done. But the middle of the book is a series of short - often less than a page - vignettes, largely unconnected, many of which are frankly nonsensical.

This, very unfortunately, is not a story of her life; she is the autobiographical protagonist but there is no insight into her, her life, her love or even her loss. Nor is it a story of Africa in transition. it starts out to become these things, but it does not succeed.

It's a lovely, easy read but it is not history nor is it literature.

Upon hearing of this book from catcher in the Rye I decided to read it on a whim. Isak Dinesen's love for the land that she called home shown through in every remarkable story she told about her farm. The smell, feel, look, and even life of the land was so wonderfuly painted that I lost myself in it. I found myself not wanting to stop reading, but dreading the approaching end of the book. A must read for those who love to travel even if it is only in their minds.

Out of Africa is the very best of many memoirs of Africa in the early part of this century, the era before two World Wars changed that continent completely. For 15 years, between 1914 and 1931, Baroness Karen Blixen ran a coffee plantation in Kenya. Her unhappy marriage and her much happier, though tragic, love affair are not prominent subjects in her book, as they were in the movie of the same name (excellent, with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford so excellently cast). Isak Dinesen (Blixen's pen name) is primarily a story-teller, and this lovely book is a collection that elevates her stories to mythic, poetic, and epic levels. While one of the first of the era's feminists, she was also gifted with sensitivity, the ability to form deep and lasting friendships, awareness of what was being lost in Africa, and an appreciation for both the mundane and the magical. It all comes through in her writing.

Out of Africa is the very best of many memoirs of Africa in the early part of this century, the era before two World Wars changed that continent completely. For 15 years, between 1914 and 1931, Baroness Karen Blixen ran a coffee plantation in Kenya. Her unhappy marriage and her much happier, though tragic, love affair are not prominent subjects in her book, as they were in the movie of the same name (excellent, with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford so excellently cast). Isak Dinesen (Blixen's pen name) is primarily a story-teller, and this lovely book is a collection that elevates her stories to mythic, poetic, and epic levels. While one of the first of the era's feminists, she was also gifted with sensitivity, the ability to form deep and lasting friendships, awareness of what was being lost in Africa, and an appreciation for both the mundane and the magical. It all comes through in her writing.

how can the reader not adore her? ten stars for karen blixen........and 100 for africa........where we honeymoned in 1970. i went back to nairobi with izak dinesen.

Isak Dinesen's novel Out of Africa is a recollection of her time spent in Africa while struggling to cope with the immensely different cultures and struggling to run a coffee farm at too high of an altitude. This book is a collection of her stories most of them about her adventures shared with lover Denys Finch-Hatton. Many of the stories are very dangerous, like when they go lion hunting. These stories show the wild side that Dinesen posses. These stories are in no chronological order and at times make the book hard to follow. The best part of the book is the astounding imagery used. The imagery describes the breathtaking views from the on top the Ngong hills and allows you to feel the lack of oxygen, smell the coffee plants and feel the strong African sun beating down upon your skin. The down side to this book is, even after experiencing many adventurers with Dinesen you will probably feel that you do not know much about her personality. This is due to lack of character development since she is telling the story and never describes herself. You do however learn about the struggle she faces being a European woman living in a minority, in a place with very different and diverse cultures. She has to adapt to these cultures and even though she finds her European traditions very different from those of the Africans, she realizes that there is some common ground between the two. Even though this book can be at times hard to follow I highly recommend reading it. The magnificent imagery makes up for the down sides to the book and causes you to realize why Dinesen fell in love with Africa. You will probably find yourself falling in live with Africa and its people just as Dinesen did. A truly remarkable book.

This book is not longer than other books, but it is not a fast read. It is not such that you cannot put it down. Yet it is the best book I have ever read. The language is precise and elegant in the way it makes you picture and feel the mood of the places and situations described. It is a book you will remember and read again.

Since she herself wrote the english and danish editions (i.e. the two are as she wanted them to be) my comments should apply equally well to the english edition.

For anyone who's ever had to leave somewhere and never forgotten it, this is a must read.

You really get a strong sense of heartache here when Blixen is forced to give up her plantation toward the end of the book. I think the final pages of this story are some of the saddest ever written in literature. And yes, you can call someone's memoirs literature.
While the fine film version is based on three books, this is the definitive, haunting one which expertly, more than any visual medium, describes what it's like to be possessed by a place. More than Blixen being in Africa, this is more like Africa being in Blixen.

Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) has been elevated to star status by the feminists for her independent stance and courage, but don't read this book because of that. Don't look for the tragic story of her misguided marriage and the heartbreak and barrenness it brought her, or for descriptions of her love affair with adventurer Denys Finch-Hatton. None of that appears here.

Instead, "Out of Africa" is a storytelling book woven in the imaginative Danish style. Dinesen's finely tuned sensitivity is revealed here, as well as her (again typically Danish) well-developed gift for friendship with many kinds of people. In her case this gift extends to African animals as well, like Lulu, the beautiful gazelle who graced her plantation for years.

Her descriptions of the Kenya of her day are exquisitely written, factual and magical at the same time. Africa is the star of the book, not Dinesen herself, not the tribespeople or the colonials, not her struggles with raising coffee in land "a little too high", nor her political dealings with the government officials. Her writing evokes the Africa she knew well and loved deeply.

I think that when someone writes his/her memories or an autobiography, more than sharing an experience with the readers he / she wants to come to terms with something that happened and Writing can be a very helpful shink sometimes. When it comes to "Out Of Africa", it seems that in the whole book Karen Blixen -- aka Isak Dinesen or Tania Blixen or Pierre Andrezel -- is trying to come to terms with the lost of her farm in Nariobi.

In my opinion, the last part is the most important a nd I had the feeling that all the others are a preparation for what would happen. The novel bounces between naive humor and native costumes in Africa. It is very clear that the writer is deeply in love with the continent, so it is not possible to have an anlytical approach to the subjet. But, of course, we have to keep in mind that she is telling us part of her live, so who would be able to be analytical ? the writing is nice, but sometimes heavy and boring. It came a time while reading that I had the feeling I was `reading' in circles -- I mean it seemed that I'd been reading the same thing over and over again. But I think I could see her point: she wants to tell the more experiences and life in Africa she can. I liked the first pages vey much, they are very lyrical and funny somehow, but after a time all these things become boring and very hard to be followed.

Anyway, the book can be read as a prortrait of the portrait of the colonialism in Africa and its impact on natives's lives. But I wonder how accurate it is. We cannot forget that the story is told by an European's point of view, and many times she addmits not undertanding many costumes of the natives.

However, I cannot forget to mention the high points of the book. It is very admirable to see a woman living and managing a farm by herslf in such a hostile continent. It is very interesting to see how she tackle with so many problems that crop up.

All in all, it is not the kind of reading for eveybody. Many people may find hard to follow it, once there is no plot, nor actually a story, but many memories which are much more linked by their subject than by the chronology.

After reading this book, Hemingway said in an interview that Dinesen is more deserving of the Nobel prize. It should be remembered that this remark did not come from a modest man, but from someone who was fond of talking about beating Tolstoy in the ring, having defeated Stendhal. Nor, for that matter, was Hemingway known for respecting women.
But being a learned and disciplined writer,Hemingway was after all able to appreciate good stuff when he saw it. Literary excellence is rare indeed, and here, in this book, you have it in the unadulterated form. Dinesen undoubtedly had something to say, but more importantly the means--or should I say the genius--to say it. Out of Africa would do very well as a textbook of English prose. Now in some of the other reviews I found words like "colonial," "racist," "conservationist," and so on. Of course, the reader should not be distracted by these words, but read the book first and form her independent opinion. Meanwhile, my opinion, clearly personal and subjective and limited by my time and place and social class and sex (oops,i mean gender) and whatever you'd like, is that these reviewers don't know what they are talking about. So buy this book and forget about them. Or if you don't want to take the risk, borrow it from the library first. Then you'll want to buy it.

Isak Dinesen has in this work brought to life the beauty of living in the African wild. Her story told through the eyes of heart break is able to take the reader into the wilds of Africa, and create a respect for the land, its people and its wild. Her love for every aspect of the land is openly apparent from the very beginning of the book, and we see it even at the very end when she begs the British Governor to allow the natives to remain on her land. This far away land had taken her into its arms when she needed its love the most, and this was her way of paying it back. She broke tradition in many ways - her eventual admittance to the 'mens club' in Nairobi reveals the amazing strength of this woman. She had a farm in Africa, and she truely loved it for everything it was and everything it had shared with her and she with it. This is a book that my mother read, and now I have read and love it. It transported both of us to this far away land and made us fall in love with its beauty - this maybe the reason why my mother returns to Africa every few years to visit the plains of Masaimara. I assure you, you will not regret reading this work - it is one of a kind!

Baroness Karen Blixen's famous memoir of her years on the coffee plantation high above Nairobi is significant for her description of what today's Kenya was like in the early part of the 20th century, for the book's influence for attracting and shaping the reactions of many who followed her to Kenya like Dr. Jane Goodall, and her engaging personality for taking on the challenges, trials, and problems of others while grasping their perspective on her. Although a progressive thinker for her day, sex, and class, nevertheless Ms. Blixen's views on the native Africans will not sit well with most modern readers (from referring to men who worked for her as "boys" to her inclination toward seeing native Africans as perpetually apart from the machine-inventing and using Europeans). Conservationists will be appalled by the casual shooting of lions who might have been chasing domesticated cattle.

The book is also notable for its lack of organization, often scanty details, and rapidly shifting focus. There are several places about 70 percent of the way through the book where you will wonder why she included the material at all, and even more why there in that particular spot.

The book's ultimate appeal is to the concept of being a young woman on her own in a beautiful part of African with the freedom and resources to explore herself and Africa.

I should like to have known her. A woman with such warmth and empathy for others must surely have made a wonderful friend. There's an element of Don Quixote in her as she pursues her impossible dream of a coffee plantation in the wrong place that's also appealing.

After you finish reading the book, I suggest that you think about where you could go today and have such a close connection to your new neighbors. Would you like to do that? What would you be willing to give up for this emotional resonance?

See yourself as others probably see you! Let humility be your guide.

Out of Africa is an literary accomplishment that will remain in history as portraying Africa as it really was in that era. Karen Blixen was so in touch with the native tribes of Kenya. Her deep respect for their customs and lives is obvious in this book, which wasn't common then among the new European settlers. The way that her fascinating stories unfold is remarkable, making long hours of the night spent trying to put the book down without success.

I saw Out of Africa as a child, and read the book in college, which inspired me to go to Kenya when I graduated. I visited the land that Karen Blixen donated upon her departure from Kenya, which was turned into a town named "Karen", and her home and everything in it have been preserved, down to the lantern she would leave on for Finch-Hatton. Still today the town's people speak of Karen Blixen in great admiration, perhaps giving back what she unconditionally gave to them.

I would recommend this book to anyone who knows how to read!

I found this book to be overrated, although it provides an insight into the lives of the native Kenyans, i disliked the 'preaching' side of the book.

This is one of my favourite novels (although technically it is actually not a novel but a memoir, i.e. an idealized account based on a more or less true story). I am biased, having spent time in Kenya, but even so it must carry universal appeal for all. It is in essence a bittersweet love story, a search for the most meaningful life. But also remember that this is a far cry from the reality of 'Baroness' Blixen's life in Africa - the truth is much less romantic. None the less, it is a pity that Karen Blixen never received the Noble Prize for her work, even though Mr. Hemingway thought she should have - in place of himself!

Oh, my! I got this recorded book out of the library as what seemed to be the best out of a dubious selection of mostly insignificant books. Expecting only a reasonable distraction from my commute from a book I figured I'd never get around to reading, I was instead confronted with one of the best books I've ever encountered.

As others have said, this is a love story, not between two people but between Blixen and Africa. She was entranced with everything about the country--the air, the countryside, the natives--and it shows in every word. Not that this is some sort of breathless, overwritten memoir. Blixen instead adopts a very matter-of-fact tone, which only adds to its strength. When she describes something extraordinary, it doesn't sound overwritten but instead very real. Though she is struck by the natives, she is plain about their eccentricities as well as the European eccentricities that they show up.

She described in detail many of the people she encountered, both Europeans and natives, and one feels that one knows them and mourns when some of them die. Beautifully written with a fascinating subject, it is a book that I will have to read in text form, and soon.

I should add that the reader of the recorded book, Wanda McCaddon, provides just the right tone for it with her careful, straightforward, but never bland, enunciation.

Never wrote a woman a better book in my opinion, where epic, liric and ethic intermingle into the most beautiful prose ever written, only a spark away from poetry self. And not only art and beauty are comprised within the landscapes, characters and adventures, but also the hints of profound respect, gratitude and understanding of life and fellow partisans.

Isak Dinesen, nee Karen Blixen, lived in East Africa for almost twenty years making a living as the proprietor of a coffee plantation. Out of Africa is a memoir of her experiences there. But the book is so much more.

The stories are interesting to be sure. They relate to the plantation or the people and events that one way or another impacted her life there. But it is Blixen's writing that I found so sublime. I have never read anything like it. The way Blixen turns a phrase is both lyrical and enchanting all at once - you become literally swept up in the words and imagery. It is obvilious that Blixen loved Africa - something about the continent got under her skin. In a similar fashion her words have gotten under mine. I have read Out of Africa several times; each time I marvel at the beautiful language she uses. Read this book and I am sure you will feel the same way.

A quintessential, lyrical love poem to East Africa. Karen Blixen's years of joy, discovery and struggle unfold beautifully in "Out of Africa"...which she wrote years later (under the pseudonym Isak Denesen) after returning to her native Denmark. What is absent from the book which one finds in the Oscar-winning film are the relationship struggles with her long-time companion Dennys Finch Hatton. Here she keeps her focus on the many friends, employees and characters she met along the way in the operation of her coffee plantation during the early 1900s...and avoids writing romantically about Finch Hatton. Her love affair with Africa though is beautifully and eloquently expressed throughout "Out Of Africa." Those readers who may be interested in reading more about her and Finch Hatton might be interested in reading her "Letters From Africa."

"Out Of Africa" is essential reading for those contemplating a journey to Kenya or Tanzania. It reads like a very colorful and sometimes haunting work of fiction, and is all the more fascinating because this remarkable woman and writer actually experienced it all.

I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills. The equator runs across these highlands, a hundred miles to the North, and the farm lay at an altitude of over six thousand feet. In the day-time you felt that you had got high up, near to the sun, but the early mornings and evenings were limpid and restful, and the nights were cold. -Isak Dinesen, Out of Africa

Why is it do you suppose, that these should be among the most moving and recognizable opening lines in all of literature? I used to think that they lingered in memory just because of the creepy way that Meryl Streep recites them in the movie. But even contemporaneous reviews often mentioned their haunting quality. I think that ultimately it must be because the book is so specifically about a unique time and place and that this introduction serves to place us there so completely. That after all is what makes the book special, the way that it captures, in minute detail, the brief moment of Colonial splendor in Kenya and turns it into something out of a fairy tale.

Of course, we now know that Isak Dinesen's version of this colony is in fact more mythical than factual--that she was actually Karen Blixen, that in reality the husband who is virtually nonexistent in these pages gave her venereal disease, that Hatton-Finch was not just a buddy but a lover and that the natives, for all her seeming love and respect for them, probably would not appreciate the way she continually compares them to animals. And it is because we know all these things that a book which when it was written seemed merely elegiac now seems truly deluded. But despite all that we've learned in the intervening years, it remains, on it's own terms, a beautiful and heartrending book. I actually prefer Beryl Markham's similar but superior African memoir West With the Night (1941) (read Orrin's review, Grade: A+), but this one's well worth reading too.

GRADE: B+

It's maybe one of the best books I've ever read, and I think it is because it's so human. It's not only that the small things that happen became important throughout its pages, but because the atmosphere that reflects the book transports you to a very real place where life is as crude and simple as everywhere else in the world.

I really had a great time reading it, and I will do it again without any doubt.

This is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. The writing is beautiful and delicate and brilliant. One of the miracles of the book (and I hope I don't scare anyone off by saying this) is that there are many incidents where not a lot is happening, but the writing is so fantastic, it keeps you reading. (There is plenty of drama in the book, too.) And Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen paints the characters wonderfully. As Truman Capote said of this book, "Every page trembles like a leaf in a storm." I lived in Kenya for a year when I was a boy, which increased my interest in the book. But even without that experience, I know I still would have loved it.

Forget the movie and read the book instead. Isak Dinesen's love for Africa and her adopted homeland shines through every page as she helps us to vicariously experience like on a Kenyan farm. The book is loosely plotted and Dinesen is not shy about expressing her personal views, so expect some opinionated writing from this lady. She doesn't romanticize Africa, as many writers do. She tells it like it is, which is great, as far as I'm concerned. If you're looking for King Solomon's Mines, foget it, but if you have any interest in Africa, past or present, you're sure to like this book.

This book, (actually autobiographical) is a very enjoyable read that takes the reader to the time and place that it was written(early 20th century Europe colonized Africa). From this perspective, it also provides a great outlook from that time of what the future could hold for European/African and in fact human/earth relations. The only drawback is that at times, the author focuses too closely on some non-important characters and side stories and looses focus on the larger and more interesting picture of her existence in Africa and her interaction with the people there.