A Spellbinding Journey to British East Africa
Pros:
lyrical, insightful
Cons:
none
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
West with the Night by Beryl Markham is a lyrical autobiography of a remarkable woman. I read this book as a teen, and it became and has remained one of my favorite books of all time.
WHAT IS WEST WITH THE NIGHT ABOUT?
Briefly, West with the Night is the autobiography of Beryl Markham. Beryl was raised in British East Africa now Kenya on her fathers thoroughbred racehorse farm from age 4 in 1906. At age 17 the farm is driven under by drought, and Beryl leaves for Nairobi to become a racehorse trainer. After a few years she learns to pilot an airplane and becomes a bush pilot, and in 1936 is the first to fly solo across the Atlantic from East to West.
COMMENTS
Amazing stories
Beryls life is a unique one, and she shares her adventures with us. As a child she spear hunts with Nandi Murani, and presides over the birth of her own colt. She survives a lion attack. At 17 she is thrown to her own devices when her father leaves for Argentina, and she trains racehorses as a very young woman in a mans world. She learns to fly, buys her own plane, and becomes a scout for hunting parties. She has close encounters with elephants, and searches for downed pilots in a vast, unmapped land.
Few people are privileged to have such an interesting, adventuresome life. Reading about her life, however, brings us very close!
A snapshot of another time
West with the Night takes place during British colonial rule in East Africa. We get a picture of what life was like for the people there, both for the British colonists like the Markhams, and for the various native people Beryl meets.
There is a sense that the land is wide open, wild, there for the taking, on the very edge of civilization. The future stretches forward, full of hope and possibility. Amazing, unusual people populate these areas people who come to new lands and leave when things get too civilized. Driven, motivated, innovative people, people who are self-sufficient and like a life of danger and risk and adventure. The American frontier may be gone, but other frontiers exist in Africa and South America.
At the same time, we get glimpses of the unequal position of the colonists and the native Africans. The native people work on the farm, clear the land, help train the horses, clean the stables, cook the meals, and turn the propellers. They take the little daughter of their white boss on hunting trips. The bright future the colonists see is not available to those who make it possible through their labor.
Beryl is a perceptive woman, and she sees this inequality. She remembers her childhood when she and native children played together, as equals. In one memorable passage, she grieves when she meets her childhood friend as an adult and he calls her "Memsahib" and walks one step behind her. They could be equal as children, but as adults they exist on separate planes.
It is glimpses like these that help me understand the impact of colonization, and how the people on both sides experienced it.
Strong female character
Beryl Markham makes her way alone in a frontier country, in the 1920s and 30s. She uses her skills to find a job doing what she knows best training racehorses and then follows a new interest, flying, into a career.
As a child, she went boar hunting with a spear, and as an adult, tracked elephants by plane and foot, then flew across the Atlantic alone.
Markham is a strong, independent woman, doing a hundred years ago what few women would imagine doing today an inspiration to everyone.
Beautifully written
West with the Night is a beautifully written, lyrical book. Beryl is extremely perceptive and insightful, and she shares her perceptions and wisdom in vivid, poetic passages. The sound of a boar in its hole, the smell of the marsh, the glint of a downed airplanes wing, the stare of a bull elephant about the charge, the feel of airplane controls frozen with ice Beryl shares her experiences in writing so evocative you will feel you were there. She captures the spirit of life in East Africa of a hundred years ago, a place that is now long gone.
