Terrible performance

It took me a while to find the unabridged audio edition for this book. I love the story and have read it time and again. Unfortunately the narrator took all the pleasure out of this one, for me at least. She speaks way too fast and her voice remains flat all the while. The real pleasure of reading Karen Blixen is not only in the stories but mostly in her writing style and descriptions of things and people. She needs to be savored like a good, expensive wine. In this narrattive she gets chugged down like cheap beer.

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3 people found this helpful

Atmospheric

I loved this audio book
I thought the narration was quite right
Karen was a wonderful women (apart from all the hunting!)
Her stories ring true, clearly you can see them, smell them, feel them and hear the sounds of Africa.
Perfect escapism

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2 people found this helpful

Great narration, and the text then revield itself.

A great book. It was written with fine observation of the mileu the author in which she in among was quite fulfilled with the indignation of culturalism.

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Perfect for Africa!

Another reviewer complained about the reader but I thought she was perfect. This is a beautifully written and fascinating story but be warned: it's not the love story they made the movie into!

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3 people found this helpful

Beautiful captivating

I have visited Kenya, a lovely country. This book took me back there, the space, the animals and the Masai

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narrator's voice too nervous/loud

narrator's voice too annoying. She almost shouts at times, like she thinks she's on stage

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Beautiful

I loved both the narration and the book it self. What a wonderful story of a lost time!

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Beautiful

This book is a love story between the author and Africa. It will give the reader / listener a deep understanding of Africa and her people. Beautiful

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2 people found this helpful

A wonderful literary and audio experience

Karen Blixen's writings are captivating, beautifully detailed, sensory, and sometimes magical. It it amazing that one person could have had so many and such diverse experiences as Blixon had during her time in Africa. She romantices nothing and tells her stories with great authenticity when one considers the time and ethos of writing. Her approach is obviously questionable today because of how she addressed and viewed the local populations, especially the othering (almost dehumanization) of Africa's indigenous people. It makes one very uncomfortable on many occasions but it is relevant to experience it to gain more insight into the biases and prejudices that collonial settlers brought with them. The discomfort provides one with a better understanding of this sad part of Africa's history.

The narrator did an excellent job of portraying Blixen's personality. Her intonation and accent sounds uncanningly like several of my Danish friends. Every second of the the 16 hours and 35 minutes was captivating and time well spent. I will surely listen to this audio book again just like I re-read the original books several times over the years.

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2 people found this helpful

Fascinating

I really enjoyed this audible book and decided to listen because of my liking of the film out of Africa.

I thought the narrator was excellent and her Danish accent for me gave it authenticity while reading a memoir of a Dane.

The story itself had many great moments. Her descriptions of when Denis took her flying are some of my favourite visions of the book.

This book is now a period of history that is gone forever and although reviews are not so kind to her in regards to her opinions on the various tribes and native populations. I think they are probably fair and just for what she experienced at the time. Throughout the book she gives me no reason to doubt her sincerity when describing what she saw around her. I also found this is be refreshing as I don’t think someone no matter if they wanted to in modern times, due to obvious reasons of her description and background would be aloud now to write so bluntly and to speak so truthfully about a indigenous population.

This is therefore a must read for not only anyone who is interested in this ladies memoirs but for anyone who is interested in Africa and especially East Africa during the colonial times before the Great War.

My only gripe with this audio book which is why I have not given it 5 stars. Is that this is two books into one! However the chapters have no description and you do not know which book you are reading first. It also fails to tell you when one book finishes and the other starts. Which is just lazy on behalf of the producers.

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1 person found this helpful