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Nowhere in Africa #1
Nowhere in Africa: An Autobiographical Novel
Nowhere in Africa is the extraordinary tale of a Jewish family who flees the Nazi regime in 1938 for a remote farm in Kenya. Abandoning their once-comfortable existence in Germany, Walter Redlich, his wife Jettel, and their five-year-old daughter, Regina, each deal with the harsh realities of their new life in different ways. Attorney Walter is resigned to working the farm as a caretaker; pampered Jettel resists adjustment at every turn; while the shy yet curious Regina immediately embraces the country—learning the local language and customs, and finding a friend in Owuor, the farm's cook. As the war rages on the other side of the world, the family’s relationships with their strange environment become increasingly complicated as Jettel grows more self-assured and Walter more haunted by the life they left behind. In 1946, with the war over, Regina's fondest dream comes true when her brother Max is born. Walter's decision, however, to return to his homeland to help rebuild a new Germany puts his family into turmoil again.
Visit the Web site for the film at www.nowhereinafrica.com
Visit the Web site for the film at www.nowhereinafrica.com
302 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
About the author
Stefanie Zweig
37 books20 followersZweig is best known for her autobiographical novel, Nirgendwo in Afrika (Nowhere in Africa, 1998), based on her early life in Kenya, which was filmed and won an Oscar in 2002 for "Best Foreign Film".[1] Her family, being Jewish, fled Nazi Germany, for Africa. They went from an urban life in Breslau (now Wrocław) to a farm in Kenya in 1938 when she was five. She attended an English boarding school while there.[2] In 1941, the family received a postcard from her grandmother saying "We are very excited, we are going to Poland tomorrow", which implied Auschwitz. Zweig has returned to Kenya twice since leaving in 1947 at the age of 15. She found the farm had been destroyed.
Her teenage years in Germany were recounted in the autobiographical novel Irgendwo in Deutschland (Somewhere in Germany). Her father was given work as a judge in post-World War II West Germany, partly because there was no need to "denazify" him.
Her first African novel was Ein Mund voll Erde (A Mouth Full of Earth) in 1980. It won several awards, and describes an infatuation with a Kĩkũyũ boy.
She had a long career as an arts editor on a Frankfurt tabloid. In later life, she began writing children's literature and then began her novels. Although she is a best-selling author in German, she is not well known in the English-speaking world, except for Nowhere in Africa.
Her teenage years in Germany were recounted in the autobiographical novel Irgendwo in Deutschland (Somewhere in Germany). Her father was given work as a judge in post-World War II West Germany, partly because there was no need to "denazify" him.
Her first African novel was Ein Mund voll Erde (A Mouth Full of Earth) in 1980. It won several awards, and describes an infatuation with a Kĩkũyũ boy.
She had a long career as an arts editor on a Frankfurt tabloid. In later life, she began writing children's literature and then began her novels. Although she is a best-selling author in German, she is not well known in the English-speaking world, except for Nowhere in Africa.
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November 20, 2011
The Oscar-winning movie of the same name (Best Foreign Language Film 2002) pointed me to this excellent novel. Walter and Jettel and their daughter Regina are Jewish refugees forced by Hitler into precarious exile in rural Kenya, where they endure an often humiliating interaction with the colony's white settler community -- yet discover ongoing and deep friendships with various Kenyan Africans. This is especially true for Regina, who is soon speaking several indigenous languages as well as Swahili. The book is beautifully written, rich in striking metaphors, presenting Regina's perspective as she experiences the shifting cultural worlds with which she must cope, from the joyful freedoms of a child's farm life to her constrained English boarding school to the complex dynamics of a Nairobi set of flats where her parents quarrel. The 2002 movie diverged widely from the book in its plot and in its focus on Jettel, who plays much less of a role in the book compared to Regina and her father. But the atmosphere of exotic exile in a harsh but lovely land, constantly traumatized by the tragedies in their German homeland, permeates both the book and the movie, giving each their powerful impact.
July 27, 2017
film izlerken ağladığım çoktur. kitap okurkense çoğunlukla tutabilirim gözyaşlarımı.
bu kitabı okurken tutamadım. her bir an, her duygu, öyle güzel, öyle sıcak aktarılmış ki, kendimi kitap boyunca Afrika'daki sığınmacılar arasında buldum.
yanlış anlaşılmasın trajedi yüklü bir roman değil. Yazarın çocukluğuna dair bir özyaşam öyküsü ve elbette ki çocuğun bakış açısıyla anlatıldığından, zor koşullara, ebeveynlerinin hezeyanlarına rağmen mutlu ve umutlu öykülerle dolu.
İkinci dünya savaşı döneminde Afrika'nın İngiliz sömürgesi altındaki güzel ülkesi Kenya'da geçiyor olaylar. Her ne kadar sığınmacı bir yahudi ailenin yaşadıklarına odaklanılmış olsa da o döneme ilişkin farklı kesimlerin hayatından da hoş ve ilginç izlenimler ediniyorsunuz.
Ülkesindeki katliamdan kaçmış böylelikle hayatta kalabilmiş Walter -Regina'nın babası- bu ülkede ikinci sınıf, dışlanmış ve yabancı hissetmekte, bütün olanlara rağmen vatanım dediği Almanya'nın hasretini çekmektedir. Bu dönemde Kenya'daki sığınmacılar sadece zulümden kaçmış Alman yahudilerden ibaret değil. Sovyet zulmünden kaçan doğu Avrupalılar ve daha önce yerleşmiş Hintliler de var. Onlar da elbette dezavantajlı kesimden.
Kenya'da herşeyin hakimi haliyle sömürgeci İngilizler. Fakat onlar da bu ilkellikte yaşamaktan memnun değiller.
Beni en çok düşündüren kendi vatanlarında sığınmacılardan bile daha değersiz olan Afrikalı yerliler oldu. Onlar şikayet etmiyorlar, ingiliz, alman...vs. sahiplerin hakimiyetinde karın tokluğuna günlerini geçirirken, tarlalarda, çiftliklerde hizmetçilik, ırgatlık yaparken türkülerini söyleyip, davullarını çalıp, habire sevişip, sahiplere yeni köleler doğuruyorlar.
özetle, belki okuduğum en iyi roman değil ama kesinlikle unutmayacaklarımdan. Filmini de en kısa zamanda izleyeceğim.
bu kitabı okurken tutamadım. her bir an, her duygu, öyle güzel, öyle sıcak aktarılmış ki, kendimi kitap boyunca Afrika'daki sığınmacılar arasında buldum.
yanlış anlaşılmasın trajedi yüklü bir roman değil. Yazarın çocukluğuna dair bir özyaşam öyküsü ve elbette ki çocuğun bakış açısıyla anlatıldığından, zor koşullara, ebeveynlerinin hezeyanlarına rağmen mutlu ve umutlu öykülerle dolu.
İkinci dünya savaşı döneminde Afrika'nın İngiliz sömürgesi altındaki güzel ülkesi Kenya'da geçiyor olaylar. Her ne kadar sığınmacı bir yahudi ailenin yaşadıklarına odaklanılmış olsa da o döneme ilişkin farklı kesimlerin hayatından da hoş ve ilginç izlenimler ediniyorsunuz.
Ülkesindeki katliamdan kaçmış böylelikle hayatta kalabilmiş Walter -Regina'nın babası- bu ülkede ikinci sınıf, dışlanmış ve yabancı hissetmekte, bütün olanlara rağmen vatanım dediği Almanya'nın hasretini çekmektedir. Bu dönemde Kenya'daki sığınmacılar sadece zulümden kaçmış Alman yahudilerden ibaret değil. Sovyet zulmünden kaçan doğu Avrupalılar ve daha önce yerleşmiş Hintliler de var. Onlar da elbette dezavantajlı kesimden.
Kenya'da herşeyin hakimi haliyle sömürgeci İngilizler. Fakat onlar da bu ilkellikte yaşamaktan memnun değiller.
Beni en çok düşündüren kendi vatanlarında sığınmacılardan bile daha değersiz olan Afrikalı yerliler oldu. Onlar şikayet etmiyorlar, ingiliz, alman...vs. sahiplerin hakimiyetinde karın tokluğuna günlerini geçirirken, tarlalarda, çiftliklerde hizmetçilik, ırgatlık yaparken türkülerini söyleyip, davullarını çalıp, habire sevişip, sahiplere yeni köleler doğuruyorlar.
özetle, belki okuduğum en iyi roman değil ama kesinlikle unutmayacaklarımdan. Filmini de en kısa zamanda izleyeceğim.
September 29, 2019
هیچ کجا آفریقا
در زمره فیلمای جنگ جهانی بود که باید می خوندم می دیدم
خیلی لذت بخش بود
در زمان جنگ یک وکیل یهودی به همراه خانواده ش به کنیا مهاجرت می کنه و سعی می کنه اونجا مزرعه داری کنه
خیلی خوب می شد تفاوت ها و زیبایی های دو فرهنگ و بعد دو نسل رو متوجه بشی
این کتاب روایتگر تقریبی دو دهه است
درد اورترین قسمت ماجرا برای قسمت هایی بود که گهگدار از حال خانواده هاشون که تو المان مونده بودن خبر دار می شدن
در زمره فیلمای جنگ جهانی بود که باید می خوندم می دیدم
خیلی لذت بخش بود
در زمان جنگ یک وکیل یهودی به همراه خانواده ش به کنیا مهاجرت می کنه و سعی می کنه اونجا مزرعه داری کنه
خیلی خوب می شد تفاوت ها و زیبایی های دو فرهنگ و بعد دو نسل رو متوجه بشی
این کتاب روایتگر تقریبی دو دهه است
درد اورترین قسمت ماجرا برای قسمت هایی بود که گهگدار از حال خانواده هاشون که تو المان مونده بودن خبر دار می شدن
May 6, 2015
This book is not so much a novel as a fictionalised account of a time in the author's life where as a little girl, fleeing Nazi Germany and their comfortable middle-class life there, she and her family ended up as non-paid farmer tenants in Kenya.
The cover of the book is an almost-perfect visual synopsis to the story.
Read it and be enchanted.
The cover of the book is an almost-perfect visual synopsis to the story.
Read it and be enchanted.
August 30, 2018
Me ha aparecido demasiado lenta para mi gusto....me ha costado un poco ponerme a leer
May 11, 2020
As the Third Reich gained power, gradually stripping away the livelihood and freedom of Germany's Jews, some people were lucky enough to escape. The unlucky ones went to countries that later fell under Germany's rule or began a journey that ended in disaster. The Redlich family was one of the lucky ones: They emigrated to Kenya and made a life there. Told largely through the eyes of Regina, who is a little girl when she first arrives in Kenya, we see her parents, Walter and Jettel, struggle with the new and difficult hand they've been dealt. First as farmers and then as war prisoners; again as farmers and finally in Nairobi, with Walter in the British army, their lives evolve during the years they spend in Kenya. To the reader's amazement, the family yearns to return to Germany, even as they hear of Kristallnacht, the closing of the borders to all refugees, and eventually "a trip to the East" taken by Jettel's mother and sister (Auschwitz).
This autobiographical novel, written by Stefanie Zweig, is based upon her family's experience during WWII. Names have been changed and it is not clear to me how much of the book was real vs. fiction. Additionally, it was written many decades after Zweig and her family left Nairobi, and memories become warped over time; as if we are viewing them through muslin, we see the outlines and fill in the gaps. I am sure the same is true here though it feels as if Zweig attempted to fill in these gaps with descriptions of her sensory memories of Africa.
The story is a fascinating one - first, I had no idea that Jews emigrated to Kenya; second, I did not know it was a British protectorate; third, every detail of the culture in this setting was entirely new to me. I wish there had been photographs in the book - it would have been fascinating to see what was described as I had no frame of reference to understand much of what the Redlich/Zweig family experienced. However, the book suffers from pacing issues: as the end of the war approaches, the story slows down and Zweig's narrative gets stuck in long descriptive passages that often have little relevance to the story at hand.
I could not understand why the family would choose to return to Germany - and although I understand much more about the Holocaust and the motivations of individuals today than I did twenty years ago, and obviously not everyone was a willing member of the Nazi party, I cannot imagine voluntarily returning to a place that had wrought that sort of destruction on my people. Anti-Semitism doesn't simply slip away when bad people are removed from power. It may slide out of view but it tends to re-emerge. Nevertheless, this is the choice that Zweig's parents made for her family, and it is the choice of the Redlich family as well. I think that Zweig could have tightened up the back half of the book, because it is that fascinating decision to first emigrate Kenya, which is so different from the choice made by so many others, followed by the choice to return to Germany, that makes this memoir so unusual.
Worth reading; very interesting; beware of pacing in the latter half of the book.
This autobiographical novel, written by Stefanie Zweig, is based upon her family's experience during WWII. Names have been changed and it is not clear to me how much of the book was real vs. fiction. Additionally, it was written many decades after Zweig and her family left Nairobi, and memories become warped over time; as if we are viewing them through muslin, we see the outlines and fill in the gaps. I am sure the same is true here though it feels as if Zweig attempted to fill in these gaps with descriptions of her sensory memories of Africa.
The story is a fascinating one - first, I had no idea that Jews emigrated to Kenya; second, I did not know it was a British protectorate; third, every detail of the culture in this setting was entirely new to me. I wish there had been photographs in the book - it would have been fascinating to see what was described as I had no frame of reference to understand much of what the Redlich/Zweig family experienced. However, the book suffers from pacing issues: as the end of the war approaches, the story slows down and Zweig's narrative gets stuck in long descriptive passages that often have little relevance to the story at hand.
I could not understand why the family would choose to return to Germany - and although I understand much more about the Holocaust and the motivations of individuals today than I did twenty years ago, and obviously not everyone was a willing member of the Nazi party, I cannot imagine voluntarily returning to a place that had wrought that sort of destruction on my people. Anti-Semitism doesn't simply slip away when bad people are removed from power. It may slide out of view but it tends to re-emerge. Nevertheless, this is the choice that Zweig's parents made for her family, and it is the choice of the Redlich family as well. I think that Zweig could have tightened up the back half of the book, because it is that fascinating decision to first emigrate Kenya, which is so different from the choice made by so many others, followed by the choice to return to Germany, that makes this memoir so unusual.
Worth reading; very interesting; beware of pacing in the latter half of the book.
March 13, 2018
Knyga, kupina garsų ir kvapų, vaikystės džiaugsmų, namų ilgesio.
Labai nuoširdi ir tuo įtraukianti.
Tiems, kurie emigravo ir išsivežė kartu labai mažus vaikus arba susilaukė jų jau svečioje šalyje, ši knyga gali atverti akis, kad Jūsų namai - šalis, iš kurios išvykote, bet Jūsų vaikų - šalis, kurioje bėga jų vaikystė. Ilgėdamiesi savo šalies ir planuodami grįžti, galite atimti namus iš savo vaikų...
Labai nuoširdi ir tuo įtraukianti.
Tiems, kurie emigravo ir išsivežė kartu labai mažus vaikus arba susilaukė jų jau svečioje šalyje, ši knyga gali atverti akis, kad Jūsų namai - šalis, iš kurios išvykote, bet Jūsų vaikų - šalis, kurioje bėga jų vaikystė. Ilgėdamiesi savo šalies ir planuodami grįžti, galite atimti namus iš savo vaikų...
September 11, 2022
3,5 Sterne
Ein Antikriegsbuch ohne eine Kriegshandlung oder Schlachten.
Die Geschichte setzt ein, nachdem die jüdische Familie Redlich vor den Nazis nach Afrika geflohen ist. Und doch verfolgt sie der Krieg weiterhin. Sie führen einen inneren Krieg gegen sich selbst, die Schuldgefühle gegenüber den Zurückgelassenen, gegen die eigene Erinnerung, Krieg gegen die Liebe an die alte Heimat und die Eingewöhnung in der neuen Heimat.
"Du musst dir Deutschland aus dem Herz reißen" heißt es unter den jüdischen Flüchtlingen und doch schafft es Walter Redlich nicht seine geliebte Heimat zu vergessen geschweige denn zu hassen. Jettel und Walter Redlich, diesem von Verlust geprägten Ehepaar, Verlust der Familie, Verlust der Heimat, der Nationalität und Identität, gelingt es nicht sich in diesem fremden Land heimisch zu fühlen. Am Ende scheint sich Jettel zu Walter's Überraschung jedoch mehr eingelebt zu haben als beide dachten. Im Gegensatz zu den beiden Erwachsenen, lebt sich die Tochter Regina schnell ein. Sie lernt in kurzer Zeit Suaheli und Englisch, nimmt die Denkweise der Eingeborenen an und kann sich bis auf die Flucht nicht mehr an Deutschland erinnern.
Stefanie Zweig schreibt ohne Kitsch, ohne Pathos. Die Afrikaner werden weder romantisiert noch bewertet. Sie sind einfach Menschen deren Kultur sich stark von unserer europäischen unterscheidet. Das mochte ich sehr an diesem Roman, besonders nachdem mein letzter "Afrikaroman" geschrieben von einer Europäerin ("Jenseits von Afrika") eher ein Reinfall war.
Da es sich hier um ein stark autobiographisch beeinflusstes Werk handelt, in dem Stephanie Zweig sehr viel ihrer eigenen Erlebnisse verarbeitet und festgehalten hat, fällt eine Bewertung immer etwas schwer.
Zwischenzeitlich hätte ich mir etwas mehr Fortschritt der Handlung gewünscht und war des Öfteren kurz davor die Redlichs einmal durchzuschütteln, ganz im Stil von Elsa Conrad, wenn sie sich wieder in Erinnerungen an ihre alte Heimat verlieren und sich permanent über ihr Schicksal beklagend im Selbstmitleid ertränken. Aber steht mir so etwas überhaupt zu? Nein, denn aus menschlicher Sicht kann und will ich hier nicht urteilen. Lediglich aus literarischer Sicht kann ich sagen, dass sich die Handlung zu sehr in die Länge gezogen hat und ich mir besonders im Mittelteil mehr Tempo gewünscht hätte.
Ein Buch das weniger von Afrika handelt, sondern vielmehr vom Verlust der eigenen Heimat und Identität, ein Roman der die Gräuel des Krieges verdeutlicht ohne sie jemals explizit zu erwähnen oder zu schildern.
Ein Antikriegsbuch ohne eine Kriegshandlung oder Schlachten.
Die Geschichte setzt ein, nachdem die jüdische Familie Redlich vor den Nazis nach Afrika geflohen ist. Und doch verfolgt sie der Krieg weiterhin. Sie führen einen inneren Krieg gegen sich selbst, die Schuldgefühle gegenüber den Zurückgelassenen, gegen die eigene Erinnerung, Krieg gegen die Liebe an die alte Heimat und die Eingewöhnung in der neuen Heimat.
"Du musst dir Deutschland aus dem Herz reißen" heißt es unter den jüdischen Flüchtlingen und doch schafft es Walter Redlich nicht seine geliebte Heimat zu vergessen geschweige denn zu hassen. Jettel und Walter Redlich, diesem von Verlust geprägten Ehepaar, Verlust der Familie, Verlust der Heimat, der Nationalität und Identität, gelingt es nicht sich in diesem fremden Land heimisch zu fühlen. Am Ende scheint sich Jettel zu Walter's Überraschung jedoch mehr eingelebt zu haben als beide dachten. Im Gegensatz zu den beiden Erwachsenen, lebt sich die Tochter Regina schnell ein. Sie lernt in kurzer Zeit Suaheli und Englisch, nimmt die Denkweise der Eingeborenen an und kann sich bis auf die Flucht nicht mehr an Deutschland erinnern.
Stefanie Zweig schreibt ohne Kitsch, ohne Pathos. Die Afrikaner werden weder romantisiert noch bewertet. Sie sind einfach Menschen deren Kultur sich stark von unserer europäischen unterscheidet. Das mochte ich sehr an diesem Roman, besonders nachdem mein letzter "Afrikaroman" geschrieben von einer Europäerin ("Jenseits von Afrika") eher ein Reinfall war.
Da es sich hier um ein stark autobiographisch beeinflusstes Werk handelt, in dem Stephanie Zweig sehr viel ihrer eigenen Erlebnisse verarbeitet und festgehalten hat, fällt eine Bewertung immer etwas schwer.
Zwischenzeitlich hätte ich mir etwas mehr Fortschritt der Handlung gewünscht und war des Öfteren kurz davor die Redlichs einmal durchzuschütteln, ganz im Stil von Elsa Conrad, wenn sie sich wieder in Erinnerungen an ihre alte Heimat verlieren und sich permanent über ihr Schicksal beklagend im Selbstmitleid ertränken. Aber steht mir so etwas überhaupt zu? Nein, denn aus menschlicher Sicht kann und will ich hier nicht urteilen. Lediglich aus literarischer Sicht kann ich sagen, dass sich die Handlung zu sehr in die Länge gezogen hat und ich mir besonders im Mittelteil mehr Tempo gewünscht hätte.
Ein Buch das weniger von Afrika handelt, sondern vielmehr vom Verlust der eigenen Heimat und Identität, ein Roman der die Gräuel des Krieges verdeutlicht ohne sie jemals explizit zu erwähnen oder zu schildern.
August 8, 2022
Durante la II Guerra Mundial, algunas familias judías previendo lo que iba a suceder logran emigrar a diferentes partes del mundo buscando refugio. En este caso, tenemos una familia alemana judía, compuesta por ambos padres y una niña pequeña que llegan a África, con el dolor de abandonar su vida y familiares, llegando a un lugar tan diferente a lo que están acostumbrados, con problemas para comunicarse y adaptarse al lugar y sus costumbres.
El relato general nos presenta otra cara de la situación de los refugiados judíos esta vez en África, pero como en otras obras similares, destaca sus problemas de adaptación, así como los sentimientos de desarraigo y de culpa por tener la oportunidad de sobrevivir cuando tantos sufrieron el desprecio y la muerte a manos de los nazis.
En la narración confluyen personas y culturas de tres naciones (inglesa, alemana, nativa africana) que serán determinantes en la formación de Regina, la niña que nos cuenta esta historia biográfica. Es así como Regina conoce a Owuor y Kimani, quienes le enseñarán no solo algunos dialectos africanos, sino, además, muchas de sus costumbres y creencias, las cuales se irán mezclando en su cabeza con las enseñanzas alemanas de sus padres y las inglesas del colegio. La niña usa su imaginación y la lectura para vivir el presente y escudarse del dolor de sus padres y del rechazo de sus compañeras de escuela.
Me encantan las analogías de los nativos: “es bueno oler a un perro mojado cuando uno tiene los ojos húmedos”; “Solo un vencedor sabía cuándo debía sacar su mejor flecha, y el calculaba su disparo con gran precisión”; “Cruzar los dedos para proteger su cuerpo del veneno de una mentira que su boca no había podido retener”; “Tan deprisa como si lo hubieran anunciado los tambores de la selva con sus ecos hechizados” …. El dios Mungo. Para ellos era una placentera necesidad. La despedida, el que primero se va de safari conserva los ojos secos.
Cada quien, necesita un espacio y un tiempo para “enviar a sus ojos a un safari sin principio ni fin”. A pesar de los problemas, debemos dar gracias porque esta realidad que nos ha tocado es tan diferente a la época relatada.
El relato general nos presenta otra cara de la situación de los refugiados judíos esta vez en África, pero como en otras obras similares, destaca sus problemas de adaptación, así como los sentimientos de desarraigo y de culpa por tener la oportunidad de sobrevivir cuando tantos sufrieron el desprecio y la muerte a manos de los nazis.
En la narración confluyen personas y culturas de tres naciones (inglesa, alemana, nativa africana) que serán determinantes en la formación de Regina, la niña que nos cuenta esta historia biográfica. Es así como Regina conoce a Owuor y Kimani, quienes le enseñarán no solo algunos dialectos africanos, sino, además, muchas de sus costumbres y creencias, las cuales se irán mezclando en su cabeza con las enseñanzas alemanas de sus padres y las inglesas del colegio. La niña usa su imaginación y la lectura para vivir el presente y escudarse del dolor de sus padres y del rechazo de sus compañeras de escuela.
Me encantan las analogías de los nativos: “es bueno oler a un perro mojado cuando uno tiene los ojos húmedos”; “Solo un vencedor sabía cuándo debía sacar su mejor flecha, y el calculaba su disparo con gran precisión”; “Cruzar los dedos para proteger su cuerpo del veneno de una mentira que su boca no había podido retener”; “Tan deprisa como si lo hubieran anunciado los tambores de la selva con sus ecos hechizados” …. El dios Mungo. Para ellos era una placentera necesidad. La despedida, el que primero se va de safari conserva los ojos secos.
Cada quien, necesita un espacio y un tiempo para “enviar a sus ojos a un safari sin principio ni fin”. A pesar de los problemas, debemos dar gracias porque esta realidad que nos ha tocado es tan diferente a la época relatada.
May 9, 2015
So good on so many levels!!!!! But one silly question bugs me.... what happened to Martin???
March 10, 2016
Fantastic book :)
June 3, 2024
I realize, this book inspired the Academy Award winning film of 2002, mainly because it’s absolutely impossible to read anything about the novel without the fact being advertised. Even the copy I’ve borrowed from the library has praise for the FILM on the dust jacket rather than the book!
The book itself seems so dull, I cannot commit to finishing it; not even reading enough of it to give it a proper rating. I don’t understand why – the topic should have been very interesting and I love Africa, and yet somehow I cannot stand the dull language, and the artificial dialogues. Perhaps it’s the English translation’s fault, perhaps it’s entirely on the author. Heavily DNF.
The book itself seems so dull, I cannot commit to finishing it; not even reading enough of it to give it a proper rating. I don’t understand why – the topic should have been very interesting and I love Africa, and yet somehow I cannot stand the dull language, and the artificial dialogues. Perhaps it’s the English translation’s fault, perhaps it’s entirely on the author. Heavily DNF.
April 26, 2013
Zweig's memoir transgresses into the realm of the fantastic, magical time and warp-able reality. The Redlichs, a desolated Jewish family fleeing Nazi Europe, force the contrast between contexts into vibrant definition and color. Through their eyes we see confusions, conflicts of culture and country. We also see the Redlichs from the outside, through the eyes of tribesmen and ex-patriate Europeans. Owuor, the greatest friend of the family, brings a sustained note of tenderness to the tale. The shifting point of view works, making actions that could be alienating understandable on all sides.
Zweig's language is seductive, compelling. She writes with poetry-- what she gives us through Regina's perspective feels like Africa to me, that magic land of unlimited dreadful and splendid possibility. If only we could grasp our own present lives the way Regina emraces Africa, not limit joy to that generous land of our imagination where we humans tend to focus our ambitions and pleasures.
Loss and disaffection haunt the parents, Walter and Jettel, while they struggle to craft connections that seem denied. They reach at the wrong times for the wrong things, always looking over their shoulders for what is desirable. The desperate wish to turn back time destroys their comforts, and the miscarriage of one baby in Africa plunges their hopes and relationship into darkness.
Their daughter Regina enters in where adult fear prevents. While Walter and Jettel fill their new lives with the chimeras of old expectations, social demands that no longer apply to this dispossessed life they lead, Regina finds riches in the friendships and understandings she embraces. Her father follows reluctantly, making alliances where her mother cannot. In time a healing grows for both Walter and Jettel, marked by a first son born in and of Africa. Then the world reverses for the Redlichs and what has been gained must be put aside.
Zweig's book makes me mindful of the power of human memory and the stubbornness with which we each cling to pasts that we dream of re-entering. In the fog of that dream we miss the vibrant real world however strange, into which time tumbles us against our wills.
Zweig's language is seductive, compelling. She writes with poetry-- what she gives us through Regina's perspective feels like Africa to me, that magic land of unlimited dreadful and splendid possibility. If only we could grasp our own present lives the way Regina emraces Africa, not limit joy to that generous land of our imagination where we humans tend to focus our ambitions and pleasures.
Loss and disaffection haunt the parents, Walter and Jettel, while they struggle to craft connections that seem denied. They reach at the wrong times for the wrong things, always looking over their shoulders for what is desirable. The desperate wish to turn back time destroys their comforts, and the miscarriage of one baby in Africa plunges their hopes and relationship into darkness.
Their daughter Regina enters in where adult fear prevents. While Walter and Jettel fill their new lives with the chimeras of old expectations, social demands that no longer apply to this dispossessed life they lead, Regina finds riches in the friendships and understandings she embraces. Her father follows reluctantly, making alliances where her mother cannot. In time a healing grows for both Walter and Jettel, marked by a first son born in and of Africa. Then the world reverses for the Redlichs and what has been gained must be put aside.
Zweig's book makes me mindful of the power of human memory and the stubbornness with which we each cling to pasts that we dream of re-entering. In the fog of that dream we miss the vibrant real world however strange, into which time tumbles us against our wills.
January 14, 2018
3 stars!
Nirgendwo in Afrika is a very interesting book illustrating an aspect of WWII I have not been familiar with - namely the life of European Jews forced to leave their home countries and escaping Hitler's persecution by emigrating into African countries such as Kenya. I had the feeling that Stefanie Zweig has been illustrating the conditions her families has been living under in Kenya very well, but the while her language has been very special, it has also been a little difficult to understand at times. I had to read whole paragraphs twice sometimes in order understand what she wanted to say - this might have been due to the many foreign words she used.
I definitely enjoyed reading Nirgendwo in Afrika and I can only recommend it to everyone who wants to read about WWII from a more unknown perspective.
Nirgendwo in Afrika is a very interesting book illustrating an aspect of WWII I have not been familiar with - namely the life of European Jews forced to leave their home countries and escaping Hitler's persecution by emigrating into African countries such as Kenya. I had the feeling that Stefanie Zweig has been illustrating the conditions her families has been living under in Kenya very well, but the while her language has been very special, it has also been a little difficult to understand at times. I had to read whole paragraphs twice sometimes in order understand what she wanted to say - this might have been due to the many foreign words she used.
I definitely enjoyed reading Nirgendwo in Afrika and I can only recommend it to everyone who wants to read about WWII from a more unknown perspective.
June 13, 2017
Una novela que tenía bastante potencial, pero que me ha resultado algo insulsa. Los personajes apuntaban maneras, todos ellos eran interesantes, pero ninguno terminaba de "cuajar". A este libro le falta un poco de alma, le falta transmitir más pasión...
May 3, 2024
Estaba entusiasmada por el tema de la novela, pero no me cautivó mucho. Los personajes no me terminaron de convencer y la historia es todo su viaje a esta nueva situación lejos de casa en una tierra extraña. No ayudó el haberlo escuchado y que la narradora era muuuuy plana
April 8, 2018
In diesem Roman wird die autobiographische Geschichte der Autorin erzählt, die 1938 mit ihren Eltern nach Kenia auswanderte, um der Naziverfolgung zu entkommen. Dem 5-jährigen Mädchen gelingt es sehr gut das afrikanische Land, als die eigene Heimat zu empfinden, während es den Eltern schwer fällt, sich an das neue Leben zu gewöhnen. Mit Heimweh richten sie die Gedanken an Deutschland, wo der Rest der Familie geblieben ist und dem das Schicksal eine dunkle Zukunft aufbewahrt. Trotz aller Schwierigkeiten und des Kampfes gegen das Gefühl, sich immer fremd unter Fremden zu fühlen, ist der Roman auch voller Kraft und Hoffnung, die am besten von der Person der kleinen Regina dargestellt werden.
Jetzt muss ich unbedingt das zweite Buch finden, das von dem Rückkehr nach Deutschland nach dem Krieg erzählt.
***
Molto bella la storia autobiografica dell’autrice che racconta dell’emigrazione in Kenya con i suoi genitori nel 1938 per sfuggire alla persecuzione nazista. Se alla bambina di allora riesce molto bene fin da subito sentire il paese africano come casa sua, ai genitori riesce molto più difficile abituarsi alla nuova vita. Con nostalgia essi dirigono i loro pensieri alla Germania, dove è rimasto il resto della famiglia a cui purtroppo il destino riserva un oscuro avvenire. Nonostante tutte le difficoltà e la perenne lotta contro il sentirsi stranieri tra stranieri, il romanzo è anche pieno di forza e speranza che vengono incarnati al meglio dal personaggio della piccola Regina.
Assolutamente da ricercarsi il seguito che racconta del loro ritorno in Germania dopo la guerra.
Jetzt muss ich unbedingt das zweite Buch finden, das von dem Rückkehr nach Deutschland nach dem Krieg erzählt.
***
Molto bella la storia autobiografica dell’autrice che racconta dell’emigrazione in Kenya con i suoi genitori nel 1938 per sfuggire alla persecuzione nazista. Se alla bambina di allora riesce molto bene fin da subito sentire il paese africano come casa sua, ai genitori riesce molto più difficile abituarsi alla nuova vita. Con nostalgia essi dirigono i loro pensieri alla Germania, dove è rimasto il resto della famiglia a cui purtroppo il destino riserva un oscuro avvenire. Nonostante tutte le difficoltà e la perenne lotta contro il sentirsi stranieri tra stranieri, il romanzo è anche pieno di forza e speranza che vengono incarnati al meglio dal personaggio della piccola Regina.
Assolutamente da ricercarsi il seguito che racconta del loro ritorno in Germania dopo la guerra.
July 3, 2018
Öylesine guzel bir anlatim ki mutlaka okuyun diyecegim bir eser.Yazarin okudugum ilk eseri önce diger Zweig le karistirdim. Tabii Stefanie ile Stefan arasindaki farki bilmeme ragmen;)
Olanlari anlatmak istemiyorum ama diyecegim tek sey burdaki Regina nin zekasi duygusalligi beni cok etkiledi. Aslinda baslarina gelen seyler o kadar zorki hayata tutunmak icin geldikleri yerin insanlari temiz saf ve iyi niyetli olmasi kesinlikle siginanlar icin ve bu o aile icin cok iyi bir durum. anlatim cok yalin ve bir o kadar da siirsel. Mesela "kelimelerden resim yapmak" sözunu hic unutamayacagim. Regina nin ve okul mudurunun arasindaki guzel iliski Dickens seronomisi ile devam etmesi , ingilizlerin ve diger uluslarin durumu ve hepsinin hayata olan tutkusu bazen pes etmeye kadar gitsede yinede birbirlerine yardimci olmalari. Oldukca duygusal ve bir o kadar da zekice yazilmis islenmis bir eser.Cok etkilendim kesinlikle. Ayrica dusunuyorumda savas yuzunden Avrupa ulkelerine gelen siginmacilarin Afrika halki kadar sicaklik yasamiyorlar ne yazik ki. Yillar gecsede sorun hala devam ediyor siginmak zorunda kalmak..Savaslarin yarattigi korkuncluk. Ikinci dunya savasi gibi buyuk bir savas olmasada Ki(zaten buna gerek duymuyorlar) bir o derecede yara alan insanlar
Olanlari anlatmak istemiyorum ama diyecegim tek sey burdaki Regina nin zekasi duygusalligi beni cok etkiledi. Aslinda baslarina gelen seyler o kadar zorki hayata tutunmak icin geldikleri yerin insanlari temiz saf ve iyi niyetli olmasi kesinlikle siginanlar icin ve bu o aile icin cok iyi bir durum. anlatim cok yalin ve bir o kadar da siirsel. Mesela "kelimelerden resim yapmak" sözunu hic unutamayacagim. Regina nin ve okul mudurunun arasindaki guzel iliski Dickens seronomisi ile devam etmesi , ingilizlerin ve diger uluslarin durumu ve hepsinin hayata olan tutkusu bazen pes etmeye kadar gitsede yinede birbirlerine yardimci olmalari. Oldukca duygusal ve bir o kadar da zekice yazilmis islenmis bir eser.Cok etkilendim kesinlikle. Ayrica dusunuyorumda savas yuzunden Avrupa ulkelerine gelen siginmacilarin Afrika halki kadar sicaklik yasamiyorlar ne yazik ki. Yillar gecsede sorun hala devam ediyor siginmak zorunda kalmak..Savaslarin yarattigi korkuncluk. Ikinci dunya savasi gibi buyuk bir savas olmasada Ki(zaten buna gerek duymuyorlar) bir o derecede yara alan insanlar
May 15, 2018
Nowhere in Africa is one of my favourite movies ever. Its magic, its pain, and its characters make for a compelling story. The book however felt unbearably dull in most chapters and I didn’t even feel attached to Regina. I highly recommend the movie but the book is quite different from it, and in a way which I didn’t like.
July 25, 2016
Queda muy claro lo que significa el exilio, la añoranza de la tiloerra que te vio nacer y formarte. Me gusta como se pone de manifiesto en cada linea la cultura y el idioma de cada país y sobre todo esa parte que siempre nos ata a la tierra amada. Este libro es una poesía, un culto a la patria. Emociones, sentimientos encontrados. Me encantó.
Queda muy claro lo que significa el exilio, la añoranza de la tierra que te vio nacer y formarte. Me gusta como se pone de manifiesto en cada linea la cultura y el idioma de cada país y todas las cosas, muchas, que siempre nos atan a la tierra amada. Es interesante la transformación de cada personaje. Este libro es una poesía, un culto a la patria. Muchas emociones, sentimientos encontrados. Me encantó y lo recomiendo, sobre todo para aquellos, que como yo, estamos pasando por momentos tan difíciles en nuestro país y que por eso nos identificamos con cada uno de éstos personajes.
Queda muy claro lo que significa el exilio, la añoranza de la tierra que te vio nacer y formarte. Me gusta como se pone de manifiesto en cada linea la cultura y el idioma de cada país y todas las cosas, muchas, que siempre nos atan a la tierra amada. Es interesante la transformación de cada personaje. Este libro es una poesía, un culto a la patria. Muchas emociones, sentimientos encontrados. Me encantó y lo recomiendo, sobre todo para aquellos, que como yo, estamos pasando por momentos tan difíciles en nuestro país y que por eso nos identificamos con cada uno de éstos personajes.
January 28, 2020
I loved this book. I hope I experience some of the magic of Kenya when I travel there in a few weeks. Nowhere in Africa is a beautiful and tender autobiographical novel about a Jewish family who escapes to Kenya and avoids internment and death, unlike their extended family members. The themes of belonging and friendship are so strong in this book. It was such a different experience to be immersed in this time from a Jewish perspective, since my previous readings were from the perspective of British colonists or Kikuyu native people. Nowhere in Africa is among the best books I have read!
August 2, 2009
I love both books, but the first "Nowhere in Africa" is the better one. I learned a few words Suaheli; I got an impression of living in Africa. I saw it with the eyes of a children, Regina Redlich and the best in the book are the intelligent written pages about what is home? What is love? How to trade foreign people and how to live with them and there traditions?
June 16, 2015
Estoy llorando, me ha encantado el libro aunque no haya terminado como a mí me hubiera gustado. A fin de cuentas al ser un libro autobiográfico, las cosas salieron bien para "la pequeña Nell".
Y creo que para siempre extrañaré a Owuor y su amor por la familia de su Bwana.
Hermosa historia a pesar de lo triste de la misma.
Y creo que para siempre extrañaré a Owuor y su amor por la familia de su Bwana.
Hermosa historia a pesar de lo triste de la misma.
June 11, 2015
I was intrigued by the story: an exodus from Germany on the brink of war to Africa and the effects of the move on the family. The execution was awful and I ended up disappointed. I couldn't finish it.
October 1, 2023
I’ve read it multiple times, in both English and German. I just love it. It is almost prayerful in its lyrical use of language to describe the author’s love of a continent, a country, its people, and life itself.
February 8, 2024
Unique perspective, important contribution, first hand story of girl's moment in history.
This was a really valuable book. The perspective it brings is from the vantage of a Jewish German girl who became an immigrant-refugee to Kenya with her family in the late 1930s and through WWII.
I’ve lived in East Africa and been a scholar of Africa, and it is incredibly precious when there can be a first person or even second person account of historical moments, through the eyes of a participant, especially one as unique as this author.
The character and her settings are real and insightful. The capturing of relationships, and even the biases and lack of perspective on certain characters, is telling. I did not read it as a novel, but rather as a narrative of a participant in history.
The father, Walter, his grief and pain of leaving family behind, and his lack of power in British run Kenya gives you portrait of the layers of culture of “white” Kenya. The mother, Jettel, her grief and loss on losing a baby and her ways of navigating life on a farm and then in various settings in Nairobi, show us the lens of a white, but low status refugee in Kenya.
Our main character, Regina, bright, adjusted, and embracing of life in Kenya shows us what being young immigrant Kenya is actually like. You see what she loved and what made it difficult. You also experience her grief and pains of being a young person, female, navigating boarding school and being away from her parents, as well as their traumas.
Owour their servant, many people's favorite character. He is a Luo and shows us his unique relationship to the family. He is brilliant, playful, kind and loved, but he is also separate and not treated with any deeper insights. Our author doesn’t really show his inner life.
Other Kenyan servants, cooks, Ayas (nannys), and helpers to the family are also treated kindly but in the very colonial way of being separate and their servitude treated as given and without curiosity.
To me, the book is powerful in reading it through its time. Zweig makes an important contribution through her voice: young, Jewish, German, female in the 1930s and 40s through the war in Kenya, rural and urban. What a gift to have this narrative. Not a novel, but a historical contribution.
I am grateful the author took the time to share her story.
This was a really valuable book. The perspective it brings is from the vantage of a Jewish German girl who became an immigrant-refugee to Kenya with her family in the late 1930s and through WWII.
I’ve lived in East Africa and been a scholar of Africa, and it is incredibly precious when there can be a first person or even second person account of historical moments, through the eyes of a participant, especially one as unique as this author.
The character and her settings are real and insightful. The capturing of relationships, and even the biases and lack of perspective on certain characters, is telling. I did not read it as a novel, but rather as a narrative of a participant in history.
The father, Walter, his grief and pain of leaving family behind, and his lack of power in British run Kenya gives you portrait of the layers of culture of “white” Kenya. The mother, Jettel, her grief and loss on losing a baby and her ways of navigating life on a farm and then in various settings in Nairobi, show us the lens of a white, but low status refugee in Kenya.
Our main character, Regina, bright, adjusted, and embracing of life in Kenya shows us what being young immigrant Kenya is actually like. You see what she loved and what made it difficult. You also experience her grief and pains of being a young person, female, navigating boarding school and being away from her parents, as well as their traumas.
Owour their servant, many people's favorite character. He is a Luo and shows us his unique relationship to the family. He is brilliant, playful, kind and loved, but he is also separate and not treated with any deeper insights. Our author doesn’t really show his inner life.
Other Kenyan servants, cooks, Ayas (nannys), and helpers to the family are also treated kindly but in the very colonial way of being separate and their servitude treated as given and without curiosity.
To me, the book is powerful in reading it through its time. Zweig makes an important contribution through her voice: young, Jewish, German, female in the 1930s and 40s through the war in Kenya, rural and urban. What a gift to have this narrative. Not a novel, but a historical contribution.
I am grateful the author took the time to share her story.
September 23, 2018
I picked up this book at the library thinking it was written by Stephan Zweig who is a new favorite author of mine. It is just a coincidence as they are not related. Nowhere tells the autobiographical story of her (Regina in the story) flight (with her parents) to Kenya from Germany in 1938 when she was 6 years old. It spans the time from 1938 to 1947 when they return to Germany. Their low class status as refugees in Kenya put severe limitations on their activities and life is very harsh. Circumstances improve somewhat when her father joins the British army in 1944. As a member of the army, British policies entitle Walter and his family to repatriation. Otherwise, it would have been unaffordable. Walter's wife Jettel is opposed to repatriation as she is hugely hateful of what Germany did to the Jews in WWII. Walter is able to convince her to return by focusing her attention that it was the Nazi's not Germany who was at fault.
The story is told in a third person omniscient narrator which I think made it better to rear than a first person diary.
Nowhere was awarded the 2002 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. I am looking forward to watching it but as it stands now NetFlix does not include it in its library.
The story is told in a third person omniscient narrator which I think made it better to rear than a first person diary.
Nowhere was awarded the 2002 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. I am looking forward to watching it but as it stands now NetFlix does not include it in its library.
February 4, 2018
Nowhere in Africa is the extraordinary tale of a Jewish family who flees the Nazi regime in 1938 for a remote farm in Kenya. Abandoning their once-comfortable existence in Germany, Walter Redlich, his wife Jettel, and their five-year-old daughter, Regina, each deal with the harsh realities of their new life in different ways. Attorney Walter is resigned to working the farm as a caretaker; pampered Jettel resists adjustment at every turn; while the shy yet curious Regina immediately embraces the country—learning the local language and customs, and finding a friend in Owuor, the farm's cook. As the war rages on the other side of the world, the family’s relationships with their strange environment become increasingly complicated as Jettel grows more self-assured and Walter more haunted by the life they left behind. In 1946, with the war over, Regina's fondest dream comes true when her brother Max is born. Walter's decision, however, to return to his homeland to help rebuild a new Germany puts his family into turmoil again.
Visit the Web site for the film at www.nowhereinafrica.com (less)
Visit the Web site for the film at www.nowhereinafrica.com (less)
November 12, 2022
Generell ein schön geschriebener Roman. Er handelt vom zweiten Weltkrieg - Protagonisten sind eine jüdische Familie, die fliehen musste und als Refugees in Afrika leben und dort versuchen sich eine Leben aufzubauen. Das fällt ihnen nicht sonderlich leicht, niemand spricht Englisch… irgendwann findet Walter dann einen Job bei der britischen Army und das Leben wird etwas einfacher.. die Frage ist nur, können sie Afrika jemals als ihre Heimat ansehen oder bleibt ihre Heimat Deutschland, obwohl sie dort nicht willkommen waren??
Teilweise ziehen sich einige Kapitel etwas und gerade am Anfang ist es mir schwer gefallen dran zu bleiben, aber das letzte Drittel des Buches habe ich sehr gemocht.
Teilweise ziehen sich einige Kapitel etwas und gerade am Anfang ist es mir schwer gefallen dran zu bleiben, aber das letzte Drittel des Buches habe ich sehr gemocht.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 18, 2024
During WWII, some refugees fled to Kenya. Because of my time in Kenya and my love for the people there, I enjoyed this book. Owuor is an amazing character - and displays so much of the wit and warmth I love about his tribe and his country. The experience of European refugees in a British colony was also intriguing, and I did not realize it. (An interesting side plot was their forced stay at the Norfolk, where I spent some time a couple of years ago.) The plot lingers at time in long details, which can make the story a bit dreary to go through, but this is a recommended read for people who enjoy reading about history and about East Africa.
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