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The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) [Paperback]

Elspeth Huxley (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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4.7 out of 5 stars
10 reviews
4.7 out of 5 stars
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars I've read it 3 times (once aloud) and seen the movie twice April 22 2003
By Peggy Vincent TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
What a wonderful book, a wonderful writer, a wonderful world, at least from the child's point of view. Growing up in Kenya, the only child of would-be coffee plantation owners among the Kikuyu tribesmen, Elspeth Huxley comes of age is an unimaginable world which comes to an abrupt end as war begins.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and tedious, both April 2 2004
By J. Rosenberg
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed the first two-thirds of this book, but after awhile found all the tiny details tedious. Every noun has six adjectives.

My basic quibble is that it is supposedly from the point of view of a seven year old child, but her thoughts and observations are those of an adult. Is this Huxley remembering at age 46, or is this supposed to be what a seven-year old observed?

At one moment we have a child, playing in the yard with chameleons and the next a child who understands the love affairs of adults.

Well, that's the problem with a memoire that tries to be a novel, and fails, I might add.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary! Aug 18 2002
By Niki Collins-queen, Author
Format:Paperback
The African landscape and the people in "The Flame Trees of Thika" became so real to me that I grieved when the book ended. Six-year-old Elspeth Huxley's parents and friends became my parents and friends. Elspeth said of Tilly, her perfectionist mother, "it was the details others might not notice that destroyed her, the pleasure of achievement." However Robin, Elspeth's idealistic father, "as a rule, had his mind on distant greater matters always much more promising and congenial than those closer at hand."
Other notable characters included Elspeth's neighbors the beautiful, Lattice and her formal husband, Hereward, the kindly Ian, their house guest, who was in love with Lattice; Juma, their Swahili cook, Sammy their Masai/Kikuyu headman and Njombo, the Kikuju laborer's spokesman.
Huxley has the rare ability to understand and convey the culture and viewpoint of both the European colonial settlers and the Kikuyu and Masai people. The materialistic Europeans were critical of the nomadic Kikuyus who do not aspire to change, tame, possess or improve the countryside. The Kikuya, in turn, were mystified at the white man's sense of property ownership and the concept of theft. For the Kikuyu helping yourself to the possessions of the white man "was no more robbing than to take the honey from wild bees."
At the heart of the story is the beauty and the challenge of life in Africa in the early 20th Century.
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Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars classic autobio of girl's colonial african life
strikingly similar to dineson's 'out of africa', 'flame trees' is a woman-in-colonial-africa's autobiographical memoir, written even more cleanly and elegantly, though from a... Read more
Published on May 10 2002 by secret squirrel
5.0 out of 5 stars 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. Read more
Published on Jan 14 2002 by Claus Hetting
5.0 out of 5 stars 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. Read more
Published on Sep 30 2001 by whiterabbit
4.0 out of 5 stars Better than I anticipated...
I saw the TV adaptation several years ago and bought the book in preparation for a trip to Northern Tanzania. Read more
Published on Aug 30 2001 by Frances C. Morrier
4.0 out of 5 stars 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. Read more
Published on July 23 2001
5.0 out of 5 stars 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... Read more
Published on Oct 10 2000 by Sarakani
5.0 out of 5 stars Girl growing up in the wilds of Africa
I loved this book! I read it as a pre-teen and remember being enthralled by the verbal imagery which made my imagination run rampant. Read more
Published on May 24 2000 by "leilani_c"
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