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The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)
Elspeth Huxley

Penguin Classics, 2000 - 288 pages

average customer review:based on 19 reviews
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   highly recommended  highly recommended






breathtaking, unforgettable.

This book is a real literary treasure. I read it first as a teenager. It astonished me then, with its unique portrayal of Africa. Who could fail to love the African wilderness and its diverse people after reading The Flame Trees of Thika?! Africa seen through Huxley's youthful eyes is given a magical quality I have never again encountered (though BBC came close to portraying it in their rendition of this book). And it continues to astonish me now, twenty years later (oh dear, I have dated myself). The spectacular visual imagery from that book are a treasured keepsake, and the book itself is nothing less than a 20th Century masterpiece. It is a priceless gem and well worth the cost.


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This book is a gem

I absolutely adore this book. Huxley is one of the all time great writers. Her style is simple, and her stories are endearing and sensitive. The setting of colonial Kenya including the plight of the family struggle to settle in East Africa, provides all the material necessary to create a classic. And Huxley does not dissappoint. A pleasure to read and savour - many times over.









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Embers from the age of empire

This book is on the same sort of rank and the same genre as Out of Africa. A literary autobiography set in Kenya during an uncertain and enterprising colonial era before the First World War.

It's strongest elements include a deep sensitivity to the travails of animal life up against white hunters and farmers, very full accounts of the Kikuyu people and their rivalries with other Africans and it also paints a vivid portrait of pioneering planters and their servants in the shadow of the Great War.

The vantage of the book is greater than that of Out of Africa by Blixen being a less personal tale. it is a faithful, sometimes harrowing tale culled from an excellent store of memories representing times and scenes gone by. Huxley is not short on romance and tragedy.

This book is an ideal companion to those interested in the British Empire and African anthropology. For naturalists it provides breathtaking accounts of white hunters and their quarry as a retrospective commentary on man's abuse of Africa's wild heritage. Huxley writes quietly, sensitively and impartially providing philosophic insights in a heuristic and magical narrative. Always compelling, this is an important primary text.


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Better than I anticipated...

I saw the TV adaptation several years ago and bought the book in preparation for a trip to Northern Tanzania. I have enjoyed the book very much -- particularly the quiet detail about Elspeth's family (she somehow seems to tell a lot about her parents without going into verbal detail), the Kikuyu and other African peoples she encountered as a child, and her parents' European counterparts in the district. Well written and engrossing.


Wonderful observations of a young girl in Africa

I was amazed at the detailed observations and understanding of Elspeth as she arrives and becomes exposed to African life. I learned a lot about the "little things" in the day to day life of the people she was exposed to. She also showed a good contrast between Britsh thinking and lifestyle and African thinking and lifestyle. The only complaint that I have is that the writing seemed a little dry and tedious at times.


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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4



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