About book The Flame Trees Of Thika: Memories Of An African Childhood (2000)
Ever get to the end of a book and contemplate flipping back to the first page and starting all over again? This is a book whose world I just want to continue living in but, like the ending of a book, is a world that just doesn't exist anymore. So much of the book, though it deals with people trying to start a new frontier life in Africa, is really about the ending of things, specifically the end of old Europe with the onset of World War 1.Elspeth, in the last chapter, writes about how she realized, quite suddenly and with some fright, how strangely interconnected all things are in life. She blames herself for the death of Kate, not because of any direct fault of her own, but the indirect responsibility she had in the wounding of a buffalo. All of a sudden the rational world she felt so sure of was gone and now replaced with uncertainty. One could also quite easily see how people might then turn to superstition and folk magic to explain their place in the universe. Charms, sacrifices, ceremonies, all the ways of life for the native Africans don't then seem so strange when we look at it through the lens of our own uncertainty in the scheme of the universe.But this one death and this one series of events is, all the while, back-dropped by the war in Europe. Events there of a much larger scale were colliding and would claim the lives of millions of people who were caught up in events they could not foresee or control. Ian being the earliest example of a victim to circumstance.The whole book is filled with the parallels of their lives and that of WW1: the irrigation trenches being filled with water mirror the trenches of the un-moving fronts, the tribal warfare parallels the conflict between nation states. In some ways the book is as much about what happened to the whole world at the beginning of the 20th century as it is about one young girls' experience growing up in Africa with her pioneering and liberal thinking parents. Elspeth makes a strong case for how the world should behave. She always details the solutions that people come up with be it how best to grow coffee in Africa, deal with tribal politics, or deal with some unusual neighbors - she is always looking for a way to make things work. And it's no wonder because much of the world was totally breaking down. But she never becomes sentimental about her experiences. Yes it is a very romantic setting and stunningly beautiful, but Elspeth is a realist who leans towards cautious optimism. The characters in the book earn all their emotions, and there is never any melodrama or silliness here. And a lot of how she makes this work is by seeing the world through such a young persons eyes. She only ever gets to see and hear snippets of what's going on around her so she, like us, have to piece so much together. This books great strength is that it takes us to that time and place, makes us empathize with this little girl and gets us to see the world for what it could be without ever cheating us emotionally. This is a brilliant story; one of the greatest books I have ever read. In fact, I place this book right alongside Sergey Aksakov's "A Family Chronicle" as one of the finest pieces of writing ever published. I absolutely adore this novel like nothing else I have ever read.
I seem to be one of the few readers who didn't love this tale of a young British family trying to start a coffee plantation in British East Africa (Kenya) in the period 1912-1914, their friendships with the other British colonials, and their interactions with the Kikuyu and Masai people who lived nearby, or worked for them. Actually, it completely bored me.There was also something mildly unsettling about the narrator's "voice:" she's writing the memoir as an adult, about 50 years after the events she's narrating, which took place when she was a young girl, from ages six to eight. There is a sweetness and innocence in the narration, but also a very un-childlike sophistication about the romantic goings-on of adults. In other words, there is no way at age six or eight she would have grasped the subtle sexual tensions between Lettice Palmer and Ian Crawfurd, or comprehended the coded language used by the memoir's characters to discuss the romantic possibilities between these two. There are also long conversations which obviously would not have been remembered so faithfully, unless she was undertaking stenography at age six. So I felt like, as a reader, the authorial wool was being pulled over my eyes. I also read, perhaps on Wikipedia, that some of the characters were composites. Which, you know, is utterly fine unless you're James Frey - go for it. Novelize your memoir. But don't pretend it's some kind of accurate account of people and events when it's a fictionalized montage. It would have been nice to have an author's or editor's note in the edition explaining what was going on, but there wasn't in my Penguin edition.
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"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 capture the way a child hovers around the fringe of certain events, yet seems to understand events with a certain unique wisdom. It is a wonderful book. The writing is excellent, the story actually quite amazing, and the people are fascinating, one and all. Read it!
—Ferris
I had trouble getting into the book. I thought there were many too many characters, and had to write them all down. It wasn't an exciting book, either. But, the more I read, the more I appreciated it. It took you to pre WWI British colonialism, with elitist attitudes and prejudices. African people, customs and laws were viewed in a condescending way. From the eyes of a little girl, though, there was a brighter view, and she and her mother, Tilly, became more comfortable living amongst the native people. The males in the story, I believe were less comfortable with it. I was mortified with their macho safaris, and the killing of so many beautiful animals. Elspeth had more compassion for the animals, and even gave a nod to vegetarians. Huxley wrote beautiful, thoughtful, descriptive passages, many approaching poetry. The memoir was written over 40 years after the time period, from the adult she had become, I wondered how she could recall so many details. Maybe she kept notes. It was a well worthwhile read.
—Rhonda Lawrence
I loved it. After reading "West with the Night" I wanted to read more about Africa and chose this acclaimed book. Written in the voice of a child, it held all the mystery and intrigue of Africa and Kenya specifically, at a time (circa 1914)when so few whites had set foot on the continent. I loved her innocence and lack of interest when the grownups were discussing "delicate" subjects, like affairs and death. There was a glimpse of the discord between the British and the Dutch as well as the clash of cultures between the whites and the black natives and the racism that resulted. This book made me feel connected to the earth again and longing for a time without gadgets, when the wild was still wild.
—Helen
