Out of Africa & Shadows on the Grass

By: Isak Dinesen

Narrated by: Susan Lyons

Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Out of Africa:

In this audiobook, the author of Seven Gothic Tales gives a true account of her life on her plantation in Kenya. She tells with classic simplicity of the ways of the country and the natives; of the beauty of the Ngong Hills and coffee trees in blossom; of her guests, from the Prince of Wales to Knudsen, the old charcoal burner, who visited her; of primitive festivals; of big game that were her near neighbors - lions, rhinos, elephants, zebras, buffaloes; and of Lulu, the little gazelle who came to live with her, unbelievably ladylike and beautiful.

Shadows on the Grass:

Isak Dineson takes up the absorbing story of her life in Kenya begun in the unforgettable Out of Africa, which she published under the name of Karen Blixon. With warmth and humanity, these four stories illuminate her love for the African people, their dignity and traditions, and the beauty and wildness of the landscape. The first three were written in the 1950s and the last, "Echoes from the Hills", was written especially for this volume in the summer of 1960, when the author was in her 70s. In all they provide a moving final chapter to her African reminiscences.

©2015 Random House Audio; 2011 Isak Dinesen

A compelling story

I truly enjoyed reading this book. I read it, keeping in mind the times in which it was written and from the perspective of the author who lived during it. I would definitely recommend. A poetic narrative.

Insanely unwoke and colonialist but beautiful

This is such a period piece, written by a titled and entitled European who was nonetheless pretty enlightened for her time and class. The author clearly cares about the people who work on her coffee plantation, and takes pains to adjudicate disputes fairly and equitably. She does her best, within the context of the insane colonialist attitudes in which she and the British colonialist government are steeped, to care for her workers and their families. Yet her continual references to "my houseboys" and "my squatters," and the ways in which she attempts to sum up the attitudes and behaviors of entire tribes based on the few she knows, and the horrifying observations about the mental capacities of certain tribes can't help but be severely cringe-worthy. Her description of and buy-in to some of the repressive laws of British colonial Kenya banning certain Kikuyu dances and making it illegal for the Masai to possess spears, for example, bring to mind the worst and most limited white fear-mongering pith-helmeted petty bureaucrats set on trying to control their subjects. It's painful to consider the ways in which colonial governments of that era messed up tribal boundaries and tribal relations, which had worked fine for millennia prior to the arrival of the rapacious white man.

Dineson is at her best when describing wildlife and nature. She has a great eye for the beauty and majesty of the land and its flora and fauna. She is an impressive European female of her era, to be running a farm on her own, killing lions, and working, for a time, running goods for the British government in WWI. Still, this reader, admittedly an animal lover, was nauseated by her wanton killing of wildlife (such as the time she shot an iguana "because I might be able to use its beautiful skin for something" only to discover that its skin turned grey the moment it died). I know those were different times, but the big game hunter mentality is utterly disgusting to me, and there's a lot of that sort of thing in this book.

There's only one mention of her husband, who lived in Europe, and much gushing about Dennis Finch Hatton and others. But the book is really a collection of vignettes about the farm, its workers, and nature.

I'm glad I listened, but at times it was very painful and I almost gave it up. The narrator has a rather piercing upper-class-sounding English inflection, which didn't help. Still, the beauty of the narrative and the fascination for this out-dated way of life are compelling enough to make me glad I stuck with it.

Superb

A marvelous story teller and human being, Karen Blixen brings alive her time in Kenya after WW I. Her generosity of character and superb descriptions of her friends and servants...Somalians, Masai, Kikuyu and Europeans...enriches the reader and shatters preconceptions.

Superb in Every Respect

A terrific story, beautifully presented and narrated. A delight throughout.Highly recommended. The author and main character are presented quite differently in her own hand from the depiction in the movie.

It had my heart from page one!

I could only hope my own life could be rich. I highly recommend filling your life with these stories!

Pleasant Vignettes

This is a collection of many vignettes of a Danish woman's seventeen years on a coffee plantation in Kenya from 1913 to 1930. The vignettes are not quite chronological. The book as a whole explores the Kenyan environment and animals and various contrasts between European and Kenyan thought and customs.

The stories are well written, sometimes interesting, sometimes touching, sometimes beautiful, sometimes limited by cultural stereotypes, often dark, sometimes uplifting. I enjoyed this quite a bit, but I suspect it might be dull to some.

I found the narration excellent.

A life well lived.

Years ago when I first read her words they awoke in me a desire to remember her and those wonderful people each of whom were her family while she drank in Africa. It has given me much to strive for in my own life and to take in all those I’m blessed to know. This Audible production was a joy as it accompanied me through days of routines, driving and quiet rain. I’m most grateful to have been touched so thoroughly.

Lovely book for its time

A gently written and poignant tale from an earlier time, painting a picture of a beautiful place being spoiled by ignorant colonialism. Even though the author was a colonizer herself, her love for the place and the people where she farmed in Kenya shines through some of her outdated ideas. The use of the term "squatter" for the original inhabitants of her farm is particularly grating, even though it was common parlance at the time. Like George Catlin's portraits and descriptions of Native American society, this book leaves me once again wondering how different this world would look if Europeans had never left Europe. I liked the reader's delivery very much. For me she seemed to capture the spirit of the author, admiring, insightful, wistful, but not sad or depressing.

Great Story

Narrator makes it come alive. A life well told and place that time has forgotten.

This was a re-read

I read this book back in 1985 when the movie came out. The book is more about Africa and her adventures than the love story in the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I didn't care for the performance, I have heard tape recordings of Isak. I didn't know if narrator's accent was really the narrator or if she was pretending to be Isak Dinesen. Isak sounds like a difficult person with many issues in her life. We tried to find her house (now a museum in Denmark) but we missed it. I would have liked to see the books that belonged to Denys Finch-Hatton.