Out of Africa

by Blixen Karen

Out of Africa is Isak Dinesen's memoir of her years in Africa, from 1914 to 1931, on a four-thousand-acre coffee plantation in the hills near Nairobi. She had come to Kenya from Denmark with her husband, and when they separated she stayed on to manage the farm by herself, visited frequently by her lover, the big-game hunter Denys Finch-Hatton, for whom she would make up stories "like Scheherazade." In Africa, "I learned how to tell tales," she recalled many years later. "The natives have an ear still. I told stories constantly to them, all kinds." Her account of her African adventures, written after she had lost her beloved farm and returned to Denmark, is that of a master storyteller, a woman whom John Updike called "one of the most picturesque and flamboyant literary personalities of the century."

411 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 10, 2020

Reviews

[Kasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful story.
Even though this story was written almost a century ago it's still relevant and all the facts about Africa collected by the author are valid and highly interesting.
Karen's message is focused on the land and her people and not so much on her personal life which is admirable. Her deep affection for Africa is so true and understandable to every person who has had a chance to go there.
Must read!

[Anthea Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting view of African life, including running a coffee farm, from around the 1920s.