Nowhere in Africa: An Autobiographical Novel [Paperback]

Stefanie Zweig (Author), Marlies Comjean (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2, 2007

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. Regina immediately embraces the country—learning the local language 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 but Walter is haunted by the life in Germany they left behind.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Based on Zweig's personal experience as a German Jewish refugee child in Kenya during World War II, this novel inspired the 2003 Oscar Award winner for best foreign film. Now the book has been translated into English for the first time, and as in the movie, the drama is in the family's confused search for home where three worlds and three languages--English, German, and Swahili--intersect and people "cannot agree on a common word for strife." The rural Kenyan setting is idyllic, the "houseboy" Owuor a perfect mentor, and somehow the desperate Jewish aliens don't see the local racism toward the "natives." But there's no nostalgia about the refugee family: their leaving, their wrenching guilt about those they left behind, their struggle at school and work. Best of all is the child's view of the war at home. Husband and wife fight all the time. The beautiful lady can't stand it on the farm, but when he wants to return to Germany after the war, she can't leave again. The ironic mix of anger and sorrow is unforgettable. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Based on Zweig’s personal experience as a German Jewish refugee child in Kenya during World War II, this novel inspired the 2002 Oscar Award winner for best foreign film. . . . The ironic mix of anger and sorrow is unforgettable.”—Booklist

"By 1938, the Nazi terror had flung German Jews far and wide, in an ad hoc diaspora reaching from Argentina to Shanghai. One less-known place of refuge was Kenya, where middle-class Jewish families struggled to adapt to life in a rural outpost of the British Empire. Nowhere in Africa, which inspired the excellent film of the same name, is Stefanie Zweig's frankly autobiographical novel about this bewildered, homesick group of refugees."—Rand Richards Cooper, New York Times Book Review

"A remarkable Holocaust memoir. . . . The story of flight, upheaval, adjustment, disruption, and turmoil is impressive testimony to the strength of the human spirit and is well worth reading."—Morton I. Teicher, National Jewish Post and Opinion

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press (July 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299199649
• ISBN-13: 978-0299199647
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #675,278 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Misuri Sana: The Language of Africa, September 29, 2005

By 

Michele Cozzens "www.michelecozzens.com" (Cloud 8) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nowhere in Africa: An Autobiographical Novel (Hardcover)

This is the story of Jewish refugees from Germany coping in a foreign and magical land during WWII. It is beautifully told though the eyes of the Redlich family: Walter, a former attorney, Jettel, his beautiful and emotional wife, Regina, the precocious, intelligent and receptive child, and Owuor, their African "houseboy" or cook. With the purple Ngong hills of Kenya, the famous Norfolk hotel and the pink-flamingo-covered Lake Nakuru in the background, this autobiographical account tells a unique tale of the suffering and pain inflicted upon this family, forced into exile by the actions of the Nazi regime.

The Redlich family was lucky enough to escape their beloved homeland, but not all members of their families shared the same fate. As she tells the story of a proud family losing everything, particularly social status and an understandable language, Stefanie Zweig uses a variety of languages to describe their myriad and varying emotions. Translated into English from German, this version loses a little bit of the importance of language barrier to the tale; however, Swahili, German and even a few Latin phrases are peppered throughout and do help.

Regina, Zweig's alter ego, is the strongest and most enjoyable voice. In fact, I wished the entire story were told through her perspective, for she is the one who most captures the spirit of Kenya. This is primarily due to Regina's relationship with Owuor, and her own secret fairy, that guides her through lonely experiences at boarding school, a luxury her refugee parents can barely afford. Even though she is a child, she becomes the voice of reason for the entire family.

If you've spent any time in Kenya, this book will bring your experience back to life and make you further appreciate the distinctions of class, race and ethnic heritage. I highly recommend.

Michele Cozzens, Author of A Line Between Friends and The Things I Wish I'd Said.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazing survival story, June 7, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Nowhere in Africa: An Autobiographical Novel (Hardcover)

I anxiously awaited the release of this English translation after I saw the movie. In comparison, there are a few differences in the plot, but the story in both is moving. My primary reason for wanting to read the book was to understand the characteres better, to hear that inner voice that does not translate well on film. The book certainly provided this, though some times I found myself frustrated with the lengthy descriptions of secondary characters, such as the Professor and Diane. Still, the chapters that do delve more closely into the hearts and minds of Regina, Walter, Jettel and Owuor do not disappoint. Overall, though the writing at times wavers between meandering and powerfully direct, the story is heartbreaking and inspiring. I look forward to the sequel.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars my fave book of all time, February 18, 2010

By 

Elina Haggerty - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nowhere in Africa: An Autobiographical Novel (Paperback)

I actually haven't read it in English... but in it's original language it was wonderfully written. It's about a German Jewish family who was displaced in WWII by the Nazis. They were exiled into Africa. Zweig does a wonderful job of telling the story of what it was like for a Jewish family to reside in Africa.

I didn't think that she stereotyped the others... maybe it came out that way in the translation. In it's original work though I thought that the Africans had the best portrayal out of all the groups, including her own family. Her mother and father were definitely flawed... her father with his ambitions and her mother, a little self centered. Of course I don't know what the translation is like, so I'll have to look at it.