Book Review: Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen

Out of Africa

by Isak Dinesen
Published: 1937
Genres: Memoir, Non-fiction
Format: Hardcover (399 pages)
Source: Library

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 l...

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.

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This reads more like a collection of short stories of things she remembers from having a coffee farm in Africa. They are true stories which makes it more interesting to me. It can get a little dry since there is no overall plot, but it’s still a fascinating look at a different life and times. Isak Dinesen was a pen name for Karen Blixen and she was an inspiring and independent woman.  The book is pretty similar to the movie.  I really liked it.

Content Rating: None