Saturday 10 December 2011

Dinesen, Isak/Blixen, Karen "Out of Africa"


Dinesen, Isak/Blixen, Karen "Out of Africa" - 1937

Who didn't watch the fantastic film "Out of Africa"? I often read a book and then watch a movie which really is the wrong way around because you never really like the film if you've read the book and see your own images.

Now - "Out of Africa". I think I would have liked the movie even if I'd read the book first. Meryl Streep captures the narrator's language so beautifully, I don't think one can imagine it any different.

Isak Dinesen, aka Karen Blixen, moves to Africa where she marries a good friend and wants to start a dairy farm with him. Nothing happens as planned but we get to know a smart and wonderful woman with a big heart who really gets to like the continent and its inhabitants. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel.

From the back cover:

"From the moment Karen Blixen arrived in Kenya in 1914 to manage a coffee plantation, her heart belonged to Africa. Drawn to the intense colours and ravishing landscapes, Karen Blixen spent her happiest years on the farm and her experiences and friendships with the people around her are vividly recalled in these memoirs. Out of Africa is the story of a remarkable and unconventional woman and of a way of life that has vanished for ever."

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