Out of Africa & Shadows on the Grass Audiobook By Isak Dinesen cover art

Out of Africa & Shadows on the Grass

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Out of Africa & Shadows on the Grass

By: Isak Dinesen
Narrated by: Susan Lyons
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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 Fiction Historical Fiction Africa Heartfelt Elephant
Vivid Descriptions • Colorful Tapestry • Masterful Narration • Eloquent Storytelling • Touching Vignettes
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I loved her descriptions of both nature and people. She has great insight and a wonderful command of the English language!

A heartwarming story of love and loyalty.

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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.

A compelling story

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Liked it all. Better than the good movie. You got to see the woman and the real experience.

What an amazing woman.

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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

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A brilliant, special book, worthy especially now of rereading. I have owned this book for many years and reread it endlessly. One of the greatest writers in English, rooted mystically deep and direct to the ancient craft of the tale to be listened to.

The perfect narrator for this book. You can imagine it's really Karen.

Lucid Tales for the End of An Age

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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.

Insanely unwoke and colonialist but beautiful

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I have listened to these books about seven times and never tire of hearing them. Blixen’s poetic sincere writing style and the narrator’s voice join hands perfectly.

Cadence of the Narrator

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

It had my heart from page one!

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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.

Pleasant Vignettes

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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.

Superb in Every Respect

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