Details Books In Pursuance Of The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood (Elspeth Huxley's Childhood Memoirs #1)
Original Title: | The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood |
ISBN: | 0141183780 (ISBN13: 9780141183787) |
Edition Language: | English |
Series: | Elspeth Huxley's Childhood Memoirs #1 |
Elspeth Huxley
Paperback | Pages: 281 pages Rating: 4.12 | 5132 Users | 258 Reviews
Identify Containing Books The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood (Elspeth Huxley's Childhood Memoirs #1)
Title | : | The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood (Elspeth Huxley's Childhood Memoirs #1) |
Author | : | Elspeth Huxley |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 281 pages |
Published | : | February 1st 2000 by Penguin Classics (first published 1959) |
Categories | : | Cultural. Africa. Autobiography. Memoir. Nonfiction. Biography. Eastern Africa. Kenya |
Relation Concering Books The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood (Elspeth Huxley's Childhood Memoirs #1)
In an open cart Elspeth Huxley set off with her parents to travel to Thika in Kenya. As pioneering settlers, they built a house of grass, ate off a damask cloth spread over packing cases, and discovered—the hard way—the world of the African. With an extraordinary gift for detail and a keen sense of humor, Huxley recalls her childhood on the small farm at a time when Europeans waged their fortunes on a land that was as harsh as it was beautiful. For a young girl, it was a time of adventure and freedom, and Huxley paints an unforgettable portrait of growing up among the Masai and Kikuyu people, discovering both the beauty and the terrors of the jungle, and enduring the rugged realities of the pioneer life.Rating Containing Books The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood (Elspeth Huxley's Childhood Memoirs #1)
Ratings: 4.12 From 5132 Users | 258 ReviewsEvaluation Containing Books The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood (Elspeth Huxley's Childhood Memoirs #1)
I'm not entirely sure what to make of this one, which has been on my to-read list for years and years. Huxley was young in the events of The Flame Trees of Thika: between six and eight, though her family later returned to Kenya, so this was not the real end of her time there. But Huxley does not write of a child's adventures and experiences. Her focus is much more on the dramas of the adults around her. This makes sense, perhaps; from the sounds of things, her life in Kenya didn't involve many"The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood" by Elspeth Huxley, is an absolutely lovely recollection of childhood as it should be for every child. The daughter of two financially strapped, adventurous, and eternally optimistic parents, Elspeth recounts life in Thika in the bush of Kenya, where she spent her youth amongst the Kikuyu and Masai. She lived with nature, with superstitions, with death and love, and certainly writes about it all with great equanimity. She is able to
I spent some time in Kenya in 1996, when I was just a teen, on a mission trip with my church. We spent most of our time in a tiny village called Kibwezi without electricity (but we had running water!), and we lived in tents for a month while we helped out at the polytechnic we sponsored and helped build new classrooms from native brick. It's one of my most cherished memories, and so I love to read books on Kenya throughout its history.I absolutely wanted to love this book. I don't know whether
A memoir of the author's childhood in Thika, a farm area outside Nairobi in colonial Kenya, just prior to World War I in 1913 when the author was six years old. Her quirky parents traveled from England to Thika to start a coffee plantation. In the early 20th century, the area was a mosaic of English, Scottish, and Dutch settlers trying to carve out a place among the native Kikuyu and Masai tribes. Sometimes the two worlds intersected, but rarely did they blend.Huxley looks back on her family's
My grandma recommended and lent this book to me, so I started reading it with the, "i have to read this" attitude. It was pretty good, and I enjoyed reading it but it wasn't really something that I would have chosen to read on my own. Basically, its little house on the prairie, Africa version. It is a true story, and actually really interesting how this little girl lived in Africa for so long. I actually learned a lot in this book, because I didn't really know much about how the Europeans
This is meant to be a memoir. Unlike other memoirs/diaries/correspondence that some GR readers think are novels, this one really is a novel presented as a memoir. We are told it covers the years when she was aged five to eight. How could a child as young as Elspeth supposedly is during the action, hear those detailed adult conversations and remember them, let alone comprehending what was going on? It's excellently well written, and one could argue that the author talked to people as an adult and
I enjoyed this memoir very much. I did think it odd that Huxley referred to her parents by their first names. I also have reservations that at 6 or 7 she remembered things that clearly but I suppose every good book depends on good research.
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