West with the Night (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 1942; vuoden 2013 painos)

I LOVED this book. Had to watch the Meryl Streep film Out of Africa after reading this book. ( )

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14349323

rabck from perryfran; TLC book club book that I read after the fact. Sorry I missed the discussion because I'm sure it was good. The author primarily discusses her time in Kenya during British Colonization. Quite interesting to see the rise of safaris (I cringed over the scouting of elephants via airplane), her various aristocratic cronies, training race horses and then learning to fly. The sole flight that was "west with the night" weas relegated to one chapter at the end of the book. Descriptions of the life and landscape were marvelous. I confess that I was using Wikipedia a lot to geographically place the areas she mentioned, such as the Sudd. For a more comprehensive story of her life. you need to read other sources because the 3 hubbies aren't mentioned at all, but the paramours are.
rabck from perryfran; TLC book club book that I read after the fact. Sorry I missed the discussion because I'm sure it was good. The author primarily discusses her time in Kenya during British Colonization. Quite interesting to see the rise of safaris (I cringed over the scouting of elephants via airplane), her various aristocratic cronies, training race horses and then learning to fly. The sole flight that was "west with the night" weas relegated to one chapter at the end of the book. Descriptions of the life and landscape were marvelous. I confess that I was using Wikipedia a lot to geographically place the areas she mentioned, such as the Sudd. For a more comprehensive story of her life. you need to read other sources because the 3 hubbies aren't mentioned at all, but the paramours are. ( )

The 1942 publication of West With the Night witnessed the arresting arrival of a skilled, wise, worldly storyteller into the public consciousness. Beryl Markham certainly had an interesting story to tell. The British-born girl was moved to British East Africa (later Kenya) in 1906, at the age of four. Living on her father’s farm - something Americans would tend to call a “spread” - she became familiar with horses, agricultural production, and local native tribes. More remarkable, she became active in native hunts, where various tribesmen would bring the teen-ager along to witness the predators and game of East Africa.

And of course on top of all this, she was the first aviator to fly west across the Atlantic, from England to Nova Scotia, where she survived landing under duress in a crippled airplane.

But: West With the Night is so much more than a simple re-telling of a memorable life by an indomitable woman. It’s irrefutable evidence that the gift of telling a story dwells in certain individuals, and cannot be denied. Markham shows a grace, a natural flow, and an undeniable logic in her memoir. She also sprinkles short speculative nuggets throughout, in which she tackles philosophical subjects: life, family, morals, character, history, politics. And I want to affirm the two essential features of these études: they come just at the moment where they belong for the flow of her narrative, and they display the deep wisdom, sophistication, and wit of their author.

The Africa of primal and primeval forces comes alive under her treatment. The safaris, the deadly hazards, natural and human, the paternalism of subjugators, the intimidating fauna, from elephants to insects - all these form the backdrop of Markham’s life. Her willing spirit takes them all on; she suffers a lion’s mauling and a stallion’s pummeling hoof, among much more, and goes on to achieve local and global celebrity as a pioneering aviator. Africa at this transitional time cannot have a clearer guide than this eyewitness.

This memoir is a distinct pleasure, from beginning to end. Read it, and you will take a flight of your own. Its joys are manifold, unflagging and rewarding. Come for a re-telling of a remarkable life; stay for the pure reading pleasure.

https://bassoprofundo1.blogspot.com/2020/05/west-with-night-by-beryl-markham.htm... ( )

Beryl Markham approaches the story of her remarkable life with the mindset of a literary novelist and the result, West with the Night, possesses all the advantages and drawbacks of such a strategy. The book is often lacking as autobiography – it omits or undersells a great many important events and relationships in Markham's life, and its non-linear, anecdotal approach allows for little appreciation of the chronological arc of her life. A novelist, in comparison to a memoirist or diarist, is more reticent about being part of the story. They put themselves into the writing, of course – it cannot be helped – but they leave much unrevealed about their character. A memoirist, in contrast, is meant to deliver their whole personal character on the page; Markham, whether consciously or not, chooses the approach of the novelist.

It has mixed results, but largely positive ones. The narrative can be disorientingly vague at times and, like many a first-time writer, Markham tries some things which don't come off. For the most part her writing is pleasingly clean and understated, but some lines which are meant to sound regal instead sound inflated. That said, such lines are relatively few, and for the most part Markham delivers exemplary prose. Ernest Hemingway praised the book, saying its author could 'write rings around all of us', and Markham certainly possesses keen powers of observation, writing particularly vividly about animals, aviation and Africa. You can be reading the book through at times, only to suddenly realise that she's just told you a really immersive story in an understated way. More than any autobiographical achievements – and Markham certainly led an impressive life – it is these immaculate examples of anecdotal writing which I will remember most about West with the Night. ( )