The Mottled Lizard |
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Elspeth Huxley
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Pages: 336 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0712674551
Pub: Pimlico
Pub date: 1999-05-06
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 109480
Editorial Review:
This is the sequel to Huxley's wonderful first volume of Kenyan memoirs, The Flame Trees of Thika. Returning to her beloved Africa after the First World War, she, Tilly and Robin set about clearing the overgrown estate and getting it back in working order again. The flame trees have grown wild and the coffee bushes have almost disappeared, so there is much to do. There is a poignancy in the loss of old friends, but a renewed delight in the sights, sounds and smells of the country: the aroma of frangipani trees and dried cowdung, the flat-topped acacias shimmering in the heat of the plains, the herds of lyre-horned impala. Huxley can be achingly romantic and passionate about the things she truly cares about and fears are disappearing: the wildlife, the indigenous peoples, the beauty of Africa itself. Or she can be a fine comic writer, hilariously insouciant about things like an outbreak of bubonic plague on the boat out, for instance, pausing in the Red Sea to dump the corpses overboard. Or the incident with the exploding marmalade in the bathroom. (You'll have to read it for yourself.) All in all, its the same heady mix that made Flame Trees of Thika such a superb book, in turns dazzlingly beautiful and preposterously funny. --Christopher Hart
Reader Reviews:
mottled lizard (1/1 people found this helpful)
excellent follow on to the first book flame trees of thika, been from kenya,I really enjoyed this book . You feel you are there in kenya at that time and get fully involved with the story. Pitty,there are NO pictures in this book.Still I would recommend to any one interested or from kenya.
The Mottled Lizard - Flame Trees growing up (5/5 people found this helpful)
Loved this book. Read it as a tonic having returned from holidaying in Kenya and missing the country greatly. Having read Flame Trees of Thika long ago I'd forgotton the joyful spirit of Elspeth Huxley's writing. Such a clarity of vision given of the young girl and her life with her unusual parents in a wonderful African landscape. The characters and their adventures made for wonderful escapism and brought Kenyan sunshine warmth to a few dull days back in 'Blighty'.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> History -> Countries & Regions -> Africa -> 20th Century
Books -> Subjects -> History -> Countries & Regions -> Africa -> Eastern -> Kenya
Books -> Subjects -> History -> General
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Age (feature_two_browse-bin)
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Paperback
Books -> Refinements -> Condition (condition-type)