I agree. Bror Blixen, for example, comes across in West with the Night as a charming ne’er do well, always ready with a bon mot, witty even in stressful situations. In Circling the Sun, however, he is not particularly appealing. And yet, might that depiction be closer to the truth? After all, he was serially unfaithful and gave his wife syphilis. Not so charming.
It’s true! At this point we’re all feeling the stress of the Rashomon effect.
^^^Yes and yes and we’ll never know. It’s making this month’s selections way more interesting.
One thing hasn’t changed for me, though: no matter who wrote West with the Night; no matter who Beryl Markham was, the memoir was gorgeous and I won’t forget it. I watched Out of Africa again a couple weeks ago. The language of the Markham memoir fit the cinematography of the movie to perfection, imo! I read Out of Africa two years ago; although I thought it a beautiful book, it was really Markham’s memoir that left me with more of the sense of place that the movie captures.
I’m interested to know more about the real Africa, that is, its natural landscape. I live in a state (Florida) that’s been developed beyond belief, yet it’s still possible to find hints of was before the great population commenced. Yes, there are remnant natural beaches and we do have a lot of beaches, but a large part of the interior of this state should be pine forests, swamps (of course 
), desert-like scrubs, or grassy marshes. It’s very beautiful, but rough. It takes time to appreciate it for what it is. I’d love to know more about east Africa before the massive colonization and development. My only experience with African landscape comes from Animal Kingdom, lol. I think I need a good National Geographic video
I never once believed that Robert Redford was anything like Denys when I saw the film of Out of Africa, but I thought that Klaus Maria Brandauer made a very good Bror Blixen.
I was kind of glad that Markham portrayed Bror favorably in West With the Night. When you read Out of Africa you come to like and admire Karen Blixen so much that you want to kill anyone who mistreated her.
In Straight on Till Morning, Lovell hints that there is some question about whether Karen Blixen actually had syphilis.
One thing that really surprised me, especially after reading the novel and reading and watching Out of Africa was that one of the last things that is related in West with the Night is a trip alone with Blixen across all of Africa to England. As she presents it, it comes completely out of the blue, making me immediately wonder, did they have an affair we never hear about? Why the heck did Blixen agree to the trip? (Though there does seem to be much more going back and forth than I would have imagined.) Blixen and his wife had always pretty much agreed to a marriage of convenience, though I think Karen would have liked to have had more.
Edited to add: Should have read ignatius’ link:
So friends with benefits!
@plantmom I saw the first episode of this PBS series- stunning, just what you are seeking
http://www.pbs.org/gorongosa/about/
@ignaitus agree with everything in your post, PLANTMOM, too.
Thanks to all who have the additional materials, and helping us make sense of this " Beryl" puzzle.
I agree that Robert Redford was woefully miscast - but Brandauer was fabulous, he really got at the charm of the man.
Thanks, SJCM! The first four episodes that have already aired are on PBS on demand
Agree with the Robert Redford casting in Out of Africa. I had mixed feelings about Meryl Streep as Karen.
I watched another movie, kind of randomly, because it came up in the library search for Africa Video: White Hunter, Black Heart, a Clint Eastwood movie about the making of “The African Queen”. Meh, meh, meh. I will never feel the same way about my beloved African Queen again (and the acting was terrible, imo).
I am still laughing at the end of mathmom’s post #123. Why do I get the feeling that Beryl Markham had a LOT of friends?
Markham’s book gave me more of a sense of what the wilds of certain parts of Africa were like at the time. Some of that country sounded so forbidding that I wonder if it really could have changed much between then and now.
Like PlantMom, I’d be interested in knowing about the ecology of various parts of Africa. I was surprised, when doing this reading, to realize that the climate of Nairobi, for example, is apparently quite pleasant.
I think the book Out of Africa can’t be beat for its wonderful tenderness and sensitivity. West With the Night is vivid and wonderful, but compared to Karen Blixen as she came across in her book, Beryl Markham was one tough cookie.
Nairobi, Entebbe have pretty much perfect climates except for the rainy season. Nothing like being on the equator but at a high altitude. (Like Denver about a mile above sea level.)
I think Beryl was living and working in a much wilder part of Africa for the most part, so it’s not surprising that comes through in her descriptions. I haven’t been to Africa since the early 80s, but much of it is still very remote. Of course we didn’t get to those parts, if you couldn’t get there by Landrover we didn’t go there.
Beryl is such an enigma. She clearly got along with men. I liked her description of keeping the sick miner company even though she hates illness. When she allows a human being to enter the book she never has a bad thing to say. But the horses (and one lion!) seem more fleshed out than the people - except perhaps for Kibii/Arab Ruta.
That’s true and I have to give her credit for that. It may be “art and lies,” but it’s pretty classy.
Re the animals being more fleshed out than the people, that’s especially apparent in Chapter IX, Royal Exile, which is written from the perspective of Camiscan.
The way she told about Arab Maina’s death made me cry.
I didn’t like the chapter written from the perspective of Camiscan. It seemed too much a departure from the rest of the book to me.
I can understand though that Beryl worked so closely with her horses that in a way she stepped in their “hoofs” for a while. What seems a departure to me seemed second nature to her.
I’m one of the few who enjoyed Circling the Sun more than West With the Night. I think a big part of that comes from my love of horses. I really enjoyed the relationship with the horses and the details about their care.
^ a horse lover here! who also has family member, nephew, who is a trainer.
I will remember WWTW - chapter about Wise Child’s race, the minute to minute description of the race, the palpable fear that Wise Child would be injured.
And, the final statement "
No doubt she ended up lame, but it wasn’t stated.
Another horse lover waving her hand! Although the Camciscan chapter stuck out like a sore thumb because of its first person/horse point of view, I actually liked it. I was immediately reminded of reading Mary O’hara’s second Flicka book in junior high (?), Thunderhead, and the descriptions of the canyons and horse herds from the equine pov.
I enjoyed the horse details of both books. Thoroughbreds are magnificent animals. I do enjoy watching the big televised races still just to admire their beauty. A long time ago, BC (as in before children). my husband and I used to make occasional day visits to the track to watch the races and make two dollar bets. We’d pick up the racing forum news and try to make “educated” guesses about the winners. It was usually just a break-even proposition, but always a fun date I’ve also ridden horses since I was pretty young. While taking riding lessons as an adult (dressage/hunt) I’ve ridden thoroughbreds and even leased one for awhile. They can have such a springy light and connected feel. I will say that the occasional bolting when they were frightened–especially by those horses who had been on the track formerly–was always just a wee bit SCARY because you could feel just how quickly they built speed.
I liked the Camciscan chapter too. It’s nice to read about our members’ love of horses and experiences with them. I was one of those “horse mad” pre-adolescent girls (lots of reading of the Black Stallion books, etc), but unfortunately I was/am allergic to horses! I could admire horses at a distance, or even pat one’s nose, but I couldn’t ride or I would risk a bad asthma attack. 
I rode in 4th and 5th grade, but haven’t since then. Horses seem big and scary to me now! I don’t know why they didn’t back then! I was not horse-mad, but I not only read all the Amercian horse books, but a whole bunch of British ones as well. (the Pullein-Thompson sisters and K.M Peyton mostly). I was happy to read about horses from someone who loved them.
I enjoyed the novel a lot while I was reading it. It was really only after I put it down and started thinking about it that I felt like there wasn’t much there there…
I feel the same way @mathmom. Since reading West with the Night and talking about both books, it seems like there is so much missing.
I’d almost go so far as to say that the McLain book does Beryl a disservice. She was a brave, competent, interesting woman, even though she had her faults. To emphasize the “love triangle” that was a tiny little part of her life, and didn’t even really deserve to be called that, is disrespectful and rather cheap.