Jeffrey Keeten's Reviews > West with the Night
West with the Night
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![3427339](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p2/3427339.jpg)
”Being alone in an aeroplane for even a short a time as a night and a day, irrevocably alone, with nothing to observe but your instruments and your own hands in semi-darkness, nothing to contemplate but the size of your small courage, nothing to wonder about but the beliefs, the faces, and the hopes rooted in your mind---such an experience can be as startling as the first awareness of a stranger walking by your side at night. You are the stranger.”
Beryl Markham was the first person to fly solo over the Atlantic from England to North America. She was also the first woman to fly solo East to West. She made it to the coast of Nova Scotia by the skin of her teeth. Ice had clogged the air intake to her last fuel tank, greatly reducing the amount of fuel getting to the carburetor. The Vega Gull’s engine kept dying. She kept nursing it back to life until finally the coast appears. She crash landed without killing herself and put herself in the record books.
She grew up in Kenya and always wanted to do what the boys were doing. She had a native boy who was a close friend. This association allowed her to learn the ways of the tribe. She has to be one of the few white girls from that period of time or any period of time who was allowed to go on hunts with the men.
”So there are many Africas. There are as many Africas as there are books about Africa--and as many books about it as you could read in a leisurely lifetime. Whoever writes a new one can afford a certain complacency in the knowledge that his is a new picture agreeing with no one else’s, but likely to be haughtily disagreed with by all those who believe in some other Africa.”
There are a lot of factors in how people experience a place. As travellers, it might rain the whole time you are somewhere, or you might have one rude experience with a waiter (Paris and I should have knocked the bastard on his doughy fat ass), or you might be experiencing the final days of a doomed love affair. On the other hand, the weather might be sunny and breezy, or you might have an amazing hour with a knowledgeable art curator, or you might find new love. All of those factors can certainly color our perceptions of a place. When you live anywhere for an extended period of time, like Beryl did in Kenya, you have a better chance of experiencing a true Kenya.
But then there is a difference growing up an English privileged rose who has horses and all that her heart desires compared to say a young black Kenyan woman who might have a completely different experience growing up in Africa. Beryl made one generalization about a local tribe that smacked of the imperial colonial view of a local population.
"But physically the Kikuyu are the least impressive of all. It may be because they are primarily agriculturists and generations of looking to the earth for the livelihood have dulled what fire there might once have been in their eyes and what will to excel might have been in their hearts. They have lost inspiration for beauty. They are a hardworking people from the viewpoint of Empire, a docile and therefore a useful people. Their character is constant, even strong, but it is lustreless. "
I have a friend who happens to be a Kenyan from the Kikuyu tribe. I shared this quote with her, and she had a few opinions about the description
”The wench!! (that was my favorite) yet another ignorant white-privileged bourgeois colonial story which paints a pretty picture of the land but knows next to jack shit about the locals. Only what they saw in passing. I would gladly tell the dead colonial to stick to horses and planes. But really? We lost our spark because of the earth? We killed for that land. We shed blood and tears for it. Most of it white... And we continue to struggle for it. To buy our own to raise our children on. And what did she mean lost our spark? We don't have diamond eyes. Or wear contacts. Or have eyes that shine like the ocean blue eyes of a Victorian damsel who wouldn’t know dust if it drowned them... See? And my thoughts are a lot less polite.” Mwanamali Mari
Yes, I know I’m a pot stirrer. I probably missed my calling as a journalist. Of course, all of us know that, when we make a generalized statement about a culture or a people, we leave ourselves susceptible to criticism. The point is during this period of time, in the pre-world war two era especially, books are rife with irritatingly simplistic, condescending statements about native population. This was the only one I caught. Mwanamali, reading this book, might catch even more than the one that I did, but in her defense, Beryl did love many native Kenyans that she met and worked with over the decades of her life.
Her father experienced some financial difficulties due to a lack of rain...something, being the son of a farmer, that I’m very familiar with. Beryl, as a teenager, became a horse trainer and did well. It was a boy’s club, of course, so it took longer than it should for her to get the business she deserved, but then Beryl was not unfamiliar with being at a disadvantage from the moment she came out of the womb...a girl. There was this great moment in the book where a filly called Wise Child, that Beryl had resurrected from the dead, races against the top stallion in the racing world at the time. She did such a great job setting the scene and then describing the race that I felt like I was as invested in the outcome of that race as Beryl. I had tears in my eyes.
Markham is a lyrical writer whether she is describing horses, planes, landscape or even the process of writing. ”Silence is never so impenetrable as when the whisper of steel on paper strives to pierce it. I sit in a labyrinth of solitude jabbing at its bulwarks with the point of a pen--jabbing, jabbing.”
I did have a moment of real doubt when Beryl took a job flying big game hunters into the wilds of Kenya to shoot elephants. The money was really good, but there is something soulless about shooting elephants. She even said, ”It is absurd for a man to kill an elephant. It is not brutal, it is not heroic, and certainly it is not easy; it is just one of the preposterous things that men do.” You may not pull the trigger, but if you are helping these hunters find their prey via an airplane, you are as responsible for the death of the elephant as the men who fire the bullet. She had some wonderful, inspiring descriptions of how smart the elephants were and how many times they would fool the hunters. Those stories confirmed me in my belief that elephants are intelligent sacred animals and should be left in peace. So why do some people feel so driven to hunt these beautiful animals or put themselves in other death defying situations? One of the Kenyan guides remarked to Markham: ”White men pay for danger--we poor cannot afford it.”
It kind of makes it all sound fake. Men trying to prove themselves in manufactured situations.
I did have some issues with Beryl, but I also found her to be a groundbreaker and certainly a woman whom other women can look up to. She took on men toe to toe and proved she could compete with them whether it be on the horse track, in the air, or in the bedroom. She was friends with Karen Blixen, better known by her pen name of Isak Dinesen. She was such good friends with her that she even shared a man with her by the name of Denys Finch Hatton, an adventurer and hunter. The interesting thing about this book is that her love life has been carefully kept off screen. Markham was notorious for her marriages and her affairs. She was attractive to men, and she was attracted to men. Her love life fits with the way she lived her whole life as free as any man and more so than most.
Straight on till morning
”No map I have flown by has ever been lost or thrown away; I have a trunk containing continents.” The world was hers.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
![photo beryl-markham_zpsd5o6r66c.jpg](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1535982417i/26246395.jpg)
Beryl Markham was the first person to fly solo over the Atlantic from England to North America. She was also the first woman to fly solo East to West. She made it to the coast of Nova Scotia by the skin of her teeth. Ice had clogged the air intake to her last fuel tank, greatly reducing the amount of fuel getting to the carburetor. The Vega Gull’s engine kept dying. She kept nursing it back to life until finally the coast appears. She crash landed without killing herself and put herself in the record books.
She grew up in Kenya and always wanted to do what the boys were doing. She had a native boy who was a close friend. This association allowed her to learn the ways of the tribe. She has to be one of the few white girls from that period of time or any period of time who was allowed to go on hunts with the men.
”So there are many Africas. There are as many Africas as there are books about Africa--and as many books about it as you could read in a leisurely lifetime. Whoever writes a new one can afford a certain complacency in the knowledge that his is a new picture agreeing with no one else’s, but likely to be haughtily disagreed with by all those who believe in some other Africa.”
There are a lot of factors in how people experience a place. As travellers, it might rain the whole time you are somewhere, or you might have one rude experience with a waiter (Paris and I should have knocked the bastard on his doughy fat ass), or you might be experiencing the final days of a doomed love affair. On the other hand, the weather might be sunny and breezy, or you might have an amazing hour with a knowledgeable art curator, or you might find new love. All of those factors can certainly color our perceptions of a place. When you live anywhere for an extended period of time, like Beryl did in Kenya, you have a better chance of experiencing a true Kenya.
But then there is a difference growing up an English privileged rose who has horses and all that her heart desires compared to say a young black Kenyan woman who might have a completely different experience growing up in Africa. Beryl made one generalization about a local tribe that smacked of the imperial colonial view of a local population.
"But physically the Kikuyu are the least impressive of all. It may be because they are primarily agriculturists and generations of looking to the earth for the livelihood have dulled what fire there might once have been in their eyes and what will to excel might have been in their hearts. They have lost inspiration for beauty. They are a hardworking people from the viewpoint of Empire, a docile and therefore a useful people. Their character is constant, even strong, but it is lustreless. "
I have a friend who happens to be a Kenyan from the Kikuyu tribe. I shared this quote with her, and she had a few opinions about the description
”The wench!! (that was my favorite) yet another ignorant white-privileged bourgeois colonial story which paints a pretty picture of the land but knows next to jack shit about the locals. Only what they saw in passing. I would gladly tell the dead colonial to stick to horses and planes. But really? We lost our spark because of the earth? We killed for that land. We shed blood and tears for it. Most of it white... And we continue to struggle for it. To buy our own to raise our children on. And what did she mean lost our spark? We don't have diamond eyes. Or wear contacts. Or have eyes that shine like the ocean blue eyes of a Victorian damsel who wouldn’t know dust if it drowned them... See? And my thoughts are a lot less polite.” Mwanamali Mari
Yes, I know I’m a pot stirrer. I probably missed my calling as a journalist. Of course, all of us know that, when we make a generalized statement about a culture or a people, we leave ourselves susceptible to criticism. The point is during this period of time, in the pre-world war two era especially, books are rife with irritatingly simplistic, condescending statements about native population. This was the only one I caught. Mwanamali, reading this book, might catch even more than the one that I did, but in her defense, Beryl did love many native Kenyans that she met and worked with over the decades of her life.
![photo Beryl20Markham_zpshrxonanh.jpg](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1535982417i/26246396._SY540_.jpg)
Her father experienced some financial difficulties due to a lack of rain...something, being the son of a farmer, that I’m very familiar with. Beryl, as a teenager, became a horse trainer and did well. It was a boy’s club, of course, so it took longer than it should for her to get the business she deserved, but then Beryl was not unfamiliar with being at a disadvantage from the moment she came out of the womb...a girl. There was this great moment in the book where a filly called Wise Child, that Beryl had resurrected from the dead, races against the top stallion in the racing world at the time. She did such a great job setting the scene and then describing the race that I felt like I was as invested in the outcome of that race as Beryl. I had tears in my eyes.
Markham is a lyrical writer whether she is describing horses, planes, landscape or even the process of writing. ”Silence is never so impenetrable as when the whisper of steel on paper strives to pierce it. I sit in a labyrinth of solitude jabbing at its bulwarks with the point of a pen--jabbing, jabbing.”
I did have a moment of real doubt when Beryl took a job flying big game hunters into the wilds of Kenya to shoot elephants. The money was really good, but there is something soulless about shooting elephants. She even said, ”It is absurd for a man to kill an elephant. It is not brutal, it is not heroic, and certainly it is not easy; it is just one of the preposterous things that men do.” You may not pull the trigger, but if you are helping these hunters find their prey via an airplane, you are as responsible for the death of the elephant as the men who fire the bullet. She had some wonderful, inspiring descriptions of how smart the elephants were and how many times they would fool the hunters. Those stories confirmed me in my belief that elephants are intelligent sacred animals and should be left in peace. So why do some people feel so driven to hunt these beautiful animals or put themselves in other death defying situations? One of the Kenyan guides remarked to Markham: ”White men pay for danger--we poor cannot afford it.”
It kind of makes it all sound fake. Men trying to prove themselves in manufactured situations.
I did have some issues with Beryl, but I also found her to be a groundbreaker and certainly a woman whom other women can look up to. She took on men toe to toe and proved she could compete with them whether it be on the horse track, in the air, or in the bedroom. She was friends with Karen Blixen, better known by her pen name of Isak Dinesen. She was such good friends with her that she even shared a man with her by the name of Denys Finch Hatton, an adventurer and hunter. The interesting thing about this book is that her love life has been carefully kept off screen. Markham was notorious for her marriages and her affairs. She was attractive to men, and she was attracted to men. Her love life fits with the way she lived her whole life as free as any man and more so than most.
![photo Beryl20Markham20goggles_zps2zawqs77.jpg](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1535982417i/26246397.jpg)
Straight on till morning
”No map I have flown by has ever been lost or thrown away; I have a trunk containing continents.” The world was hers.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
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West with the Night.
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Lorna
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rated it 5 stars
Mar 11, 2017 07:53PM
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![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
Surprisingly lyrical! What I liked most about it was how genuine her memories come across.
![Chris](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1417793778p1/6770267.jpg)
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
![mwana](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1718444915p1/32149976.jpg)
...they have lost inspiration for beauty. EXCUSE HER!! They are a hardworking people from the viewpoint of Empire, a docile and therefore a useful people... Docile? Is she for real? Who does she think led the Mau Mau rebellion? Leprechauns?
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
I had a feeling! Thanks for the great quote!
![mwana](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1718444915p1/32149976.jpg)
I had a feeling! Thanks for the great quote!"
Hahahahaha, you're most welcome Jeffrey.
![Cheri](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1649628205p1/106692.jpg)
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
Thanks Cheri! I'd say this is a must read for you Cheri! It should bring back some fond memories of the stories your Dad shared with you. What years were your Dad in Kenya?
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
Yes, certainly should be mentioned in the same conversation as Earhart. The review was longer than I like to write these days, but I had several relevant things that I wanted to share.
![Cheri](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1649628205p1/106692.jpg)
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
You are most welcome! I had shared that quote with Miss Mari because she had just told me a couple of days before that she belonged to the Kikuyu tribe. I knew she'd have some strong opinions about her people. Wasn't she great? I loved her passionate response.
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
Wow! What a life your dad had! He saw the world! I hope he was able to tell you a lot of stories about his travels. Those days from those eras are now gone, living only in the people who happened to be able to see it in person. Thanks for sharing Cheri!
![Angela M is taking a little summer break](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1640644927p1/4685500.jpg)
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
Have you by any chance read Straight on Till Morning: A Biography of Beryl Markham? I was wondering if I should go that direction next or read Circling the Sun? Thanks Angela!
![Sue](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1274829293p1/3642045.jpg)
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
Well this is a great book, but sanitized. I believe the biography will reveal what she left off stage. I'm feeling like I need the rest of the story as well. I'm really glad I read this one first. Thanks Sue! Yes, Miss Mari was so nice to let me share her thoughts.
![Cathrine ☯️](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1582396518p1/22600410.jpg)
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
I definitely had difficulty with the elephant hunting. Luckily there is nothing graphic, but there are certainly some poignant scenes where Beryl shares some of the creative ways elephants baffled hunters. Thanks Catherine! Miss Mari adds some spice to any discussion. :-)
![Suzy](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1565275031p1/6942006.jpg)
I wondered as this ended how she felt in her later life. Not only did she live several decades after the book ended, as Jeffrey has pointed out it didn't include a full picture of her life. She even had a child who is never mentioned (raised by his father's parents), not to say anything about all her lovers, husbands, etc. I understand she was living in poverty into her 80's until someone discovered and republished this book. I do plan to read Straight on Till Morning: A Biography of Beryl Markham and listen to Circling the Sun. (Actually I listened to the great Julie Harris reading WWTN and she really added to the enjoyment.)
![Suzy](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1565275031p1/6942006.jpg)
Thanks for the quote and thoughts Mwanamali! Your spirit far exceeds Beryl's :)
![Cats,I'mAKittyCat](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
Thank you Kat! Know I can't quit the commenting business. I love responding to what people are inspired to say. To add a picture click on where your profile picture should be. Click on view profile, and then click on your profile picture again and it should give you options to add your profile picture.
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did Satya. Thank you!
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
This is certainly the sanitized version of her life, but that is a woman's prerogative. :-) She certainly made the decision not to discuss her child or her lovers. Regardless she was lyrical when talking about everything else. Thanks Suzy! I'm glad to see you are a fan of this remarkable, but flawed woman as well.
![mwana](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1718444915p1/32149976.jpg)
Thanks for the kind words Suzy. Chance would be a fine thing... :-)
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
Thank you Ivonne! I was trying to show the potential land mines for some readers, but also advocate with my rating the merits of the book. It was an enjoyable read.
![Vessey](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1511166278p1/30910845.jpg)
This reminds of “The Sheltering Sky” :)
"He did not think of himself as a tourist; he was a traveler. The difference is partly one of time, he would explain. Whereas a tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveler, belonging no more to one place than to the next, moves slowly, over periods of years, from one part of the earth to another."
I'm really happy that I read this book. :)
I have a friend who happens to be a Kenyan from the Kikuyu tribe.
That’s so cool! :) And I think you have done the right thing by bringing up this issue with her. I understand her reaction and I understand what bothers both you and her in Beryl’s description of the Kikuyu, but I have the feeling that it wasn’t really arrogance. Okay, maybe it was, but not quite. It felt mainly like ignorance. It actually seemed to me to that she was sympathizing with them. I don’t think that by saying all those things, she meant it like “Look at those losers”. I think she was actually trying to say that she was sorry that they had gotten to this condition.
Those stories confirmed me in my belief that elephants are intelligent sacred animals and should be left in peace. So why do some people feel so driven to hunt these beautiful animals or put themselves in other death defying situations? One of the Kenyan guides remarked to Markham: ”White men pay for danger--we poor cannot afford it.”
Isn’t it strange? Some people expose themselves to danger to get money, while others pay money to get into danger’s way. Human nature will never stop to astonish me and, unfortunately, not in a good way. As always, I am grateful to you for caring for animals and the environment! Elephants are amazingly sensitive and intelligent creatures. They actually bury their dead and mourn for them. And they also progressively lose their desire to breed because they sense what humans have been doing to the Earth.
As always, this was an incredible, captivating and thought-provoking review. Thank you so much for it, Jeffrey! I love you <3
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
I'm glad you enjoyed the review Geronimo. Thanks!
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
This reminds of “The Sheltering Sky” :)
"He did not think of him..."
Well I didn't know what would happen when you read Sheltering Sky, but I'm glad that you appreciated what Bowles was trying to convey in that book. Steller book. I wish I had a first...sigh...very expensive.
Beryl was a product of her age. I was having a discussion last night with one of my friends from California about applying current thinking to the way someone saw the world in the 1930s. It isn't really fair, but at the same time it is an issue I felt I needed to address head on. I didn't want people reading the book and giving it a one star rating because of one passage. I don't think that is fair either. I would rather it were a topic of discussion and not something used to bludgeon the reputation of a woman who did so much to show that what men can do so can women.
Elephants are sacred animals and should be left in complete peace. They deserve to be preserved.
Thanks Vessey!
![Vessey](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1511166278p1/30910845.jpg)
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
It is a good introduction to what it would be like to grow up in Kenya as a white person. There is some beautiful, astute writing in here. Even those people who grow up with priviledges still experience loss, love, and troubles just like the rest of us. Thanks Vessey!
![Renata](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1390698658p1/697616.jpg)
West w the Night presents the poetry of her life. You mention her growing up w privileges - and I suppose compared w the Natives she did. But I always thought of her life as being very hard scrabble, particularly her childhood, but even later - borrowing dresses and never really having anything of her own - lots of freedom, few luxuries as far as women of her circle went.
Loved your thoughts on the elephant hunting and your words: Elephants are sacred animals and should be left in complete peace. They deserve to be preserved. The father of a dear friend of mine is a big game hunter. He has, among hundred of "trophies" in his home, two elephant leg wastebaskets. I felt physically ill when I saw those - it felt so grossly immoral - I, too, see them as sacred animals.
Her relationship w the Kikuyu was complicated - I think it was one kind of relationship as a child, and a different one as an adult - partly because as a white woman who didn't always follow conventional rules, she was shut out of their life.
The biography Straight on Until Morning is interesting and well written - but it gives more of the experiences of "loss, love, and troubles". West w the Night is the poetry of her early life in Kenya.
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
Yes, she had her share of difficulties. I was just referring to the fact that she grew up with different opportunities than the average Kenyan. She had an unusual relationship with the natives. I agree with your assessment that she had a different relationship as a child from when she was an adult.
I grew up hunting, birds and deer, but by the age of 15 I decided that I didn't want to do that anymore. Interesting the amount a pressure a rural boy will come other to be gun centric. I'm not sure I could spend much time in a Big Game Hunter's trophy room anymore. It is grossly immoral in my opinion and anything to do with elephants is for me the worst of all. I just don't understand the need in this day and age to feel we have to still show our dominance over the other species we share this planet with. Teddy Roosevelt set such a horrible example.
Thank you Renata for taking the time to put such a wonderful, informative comment on my thread. I'm glad you enjoyed my review!