«Not being intimidated by wild animals, hunger and tropical diseases, Corinne tries to form a life with Lketinga, learning how to live as a Samburu woman.«
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First of all
This is a true story. The author tells the story of how she decided to turn her life around after falling in love at first sight with a young Masai warrior, in Kenya.
This is a Book Club read, and I must confess that I voted for another book, so it took a while for me to start reading it; then, I couldn’t put it down because I really wanted to know at what point Corinne decided to leave Kenya. It’s just that, despite all the motives she had to leave everything and go back home, Corinne just wouldn’t do it. She was incredibly in love with her Masai, and every time something happened, I thought, now she’ll put an end to this madness, but no. She fought for as long as she could to keep her relationship.
Synopsis
Mombasa, 1987
Corinne, a European business woman, meets Lketinga, a warrior from the Samburu tribe, during a holiday in Mombasa with her boyfriend at the most glamorous coast of Kenya. Despite the linguistic and cultural barriers, they will get involved in the most fascinating and impossible love story. Corinne abandons Switzerland and moves to Africa, the Africa of the Masai. Not being intimidated by wild animals, hunger and tropical diseases, Corinne tries to form a life with Lketinga, learning how to live as a Samburu woman. But once she cannot ignore the huge difference between both cultures, little by little her dreams will start to fall apart.
Personal opinion
I like to read biographies, it’s one of my favorite genres. This one, however, is different, because Corinne tells her own story from the moment she arrives to Kenya during a holiday with her boyfriend, and falls in love at first sight with a Masai warrior. She almost immediately ends her relationship, goes back to Switzerland, sells all her possessions and goes back to Kenya to find her Masai and stay with him.
In this bio we don’t get to know about her childhood, her life growing up, her family, her social or emotional life, and I would’ve liked to know a bit about it.
What I liked about the story is that it was written in a very simple way. Corinne writes everything chronologically and detailed, which made me feel inside the story somehow, it was fascinating. You will probably feel that the writing is not good, but I don’t see it that way. The author is not a professional writer, so you obviously can’t expect a literature masterpiece. She writes what she went through and how she felt.
My conflict with this book was at a personal level, because I never got to understand why Corinne did everything she did, over a person she didn’t even know and couldn’t even communicate with. Lketinga knew a few English words, but Corinne didn’t, she only spoke German back then. There was never an actual conversation between the two of them; they never got to speak about their life, dreams, things they like, nothing. Even so, Corinne fell deeply in love with “her Masai” -as she called Lketinga- and she did the impossible to have a life with him, including adapt to a culture totally different from hers.
I finished the book because I wanted to know what was the event that made Corinne finally decide to leave her Masai and go back to Switzerland. I can’t judge her actions because each person decides what to do with their life, but it requires a huge dose of bravery and I-don’t-know-what-else to do everything Corinne did. Personally, I would have never done something like that. I love to travel, specially I love meeting knew cultures and meet new people; I respect each culture’s way of living and I love to learn. But, to change my life completely, over a man I don’t know at all; to live an unhappy life only to be by his side, that goes against my personality.
I think this book is a must read, not just to learn about a part of Africa from an outsider’s point of view, but to learn about a culture, far different from ours, and also ask ourselves: how far would we go for “love”?
Corinne Hofmann wrote 3 more books after this one, about her life after returning to Switzerland, but this one was enough for me.
If you read it, I’d love to know your opinion.
Xoxo,
MJ
Other book reviews:
The invisible guardian, by Dolores Redondo
The mountain between us, by Charles Martin
Carthage, by Joyce Carol Oates
Mi terapia es escribir. Me desahogo escribiendo sobre la vida, mis aficiones, aprendizajes, bienestar, historias, libros y recetas. También me hace feliz conectarme contigo.
I love the story-line and the fact that it’s based on a true story makes it all the more interesting 🙂
COT | https://changeoftomorrow.com/
Yes! And she really manages to make us feel like we’re there, in Kenya! Thanks a lot for your comment! 🤗
I quite like books that are written in a simple format, and this does sound like an interesting read despite the character’s flaws. I might look into this one a little further. Great review 🙂
Anika | chaptersofmay.com
Thank you Anika! This book triggers many emotions to the reader, that’s why I highly recommend it. I’d love to read your thoughts if you do! Thanks for your comment! 😊
When I first heard about The White Masai I thought «How could an intelligent person do what Corinne Hoffman did?’ I too would like to know more about her upbringing and motivation to understand her behaviour. Obviously the adventure worked in her favour in the end. For a while I thought she was just looking for a story to write about and I had no interest in reading her book.
Eventually I found her book as a giveaway at my local gym and read it. She went through so much to stay with Lketinga that she convinced me her initial motives were genuine and I felt enough for all characters in her book to want to know what happened to them eventually.
I have read three of her 4 books now.
What an interesting and fortunate life she has had.
Loved your comment, thanks! I agree, what a journey she went through for love!