Nowhere in Africa / Somewhere in Germany

I rewatched Nowhere in Africa last month. Years back, I noted on the blog that the book is different in various respects. Do not recall reading it.

I found both Nowhere in Africa and its sequel Somewhere in Germany in the library.  The first one early on patterns the film fairly consistently though in the book the locust scene comes early. 

This makes sense since it seems that their handling it well (thanks to the African cook's counsel) directly led them to get a raise in pay. The scene seems tacked on (near the end) in the film.  

OTOH, it is a bit of color on the struggles of survival that never seem to come up again. Was there only one locust attack? Was there more but she does not portray it in the book?  Overall, how loyal to her actual life was the at least partially (?) fictionalized account?

Anyway, the book starts to change later on -- in the film, for instance, the wife flirts (or more) with a British officer to get the father a position at a farm after the war begins. In the book, a friend does so.

The second half of the book has various differences, including a miscarriage and an extended stay at a hotel. In the film, they stay on farms the whole time. The ending is basically the same. 

I overall thought the book was pretty good. At times, it seemed too arch, perhaps partially a result of the translation. IDK. But translation from German to English might have affected things.  Anyway, at times, the book was somewhat tedious to read.

The sequel took place after they returned from Germany. We do not get much about the author's stand-in needing to relearn German and dealing with high school [the first book has more about her going to school, including being friendly with the headmaster]. 

She has two love affairs, one with an older man who told her at thirteen or so he would find her when she was an adult & the second with her older married boss. The first was actually just a single act of sex -- her first time as far as we can tell. Not that it seemed that way too much at the moment.  

We sometimes do not receive many introspective accounts of the author's stand-in in the book. The two accounts with guys are an example. I think the book is somewhat lacking there. We also do not get much about her starting out as a journalist. 

I did get a sense of living through the era in some of the scenes. This includes their struggle to make ends meet -- even after he becomes a judge -- when they first go back to Germany. She is even sent to Switzerland for a few months after she gets ill from not eating enough. 

The mother is given less attention in both of the books than the father. The author underlines how much she loves her father and dedicates the first book to him. Not "my parents."  The mother does get some attention and comes off as stronger than she might seem. Still, some readers might feel it is a bit lacking. 

The second is a little shorter (around 260 pages vs. around 300) but mostly the same style. Both books were via third-person narrators who provide various points of view. I like that approach. It must be somewhat weird writing characters that clearly are at least somewhat based on your parents. The book ends with the father's death. 

The first book has a brief introduction by the author. She notes that both parents died young. Her father died in his fifties. It is unclear how old her mother was when she died. The second book had a dedication in memory of her brother, who in the book was thirteen years younger than her. He would have been in his fifties when she wrote it. Did he die young too? 

One interesting tidbit that would seem to be something based on reality is when she met Otto Frank (yes, that one), who was a client of her father. It is also a bit weird since suddenly a familiar historical figure pops up into the narrative. 

The two books overall are decent. Fans of the film should like to read more about the characters. Again, the books are lacking from time to time. Don't expect a full-fledged account of native Africans. 

But, as someone who has trouble finding fiction that I like, it is decent overall.