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The White Masai: My Exotic Tale of Love and Adventure, by Corinne Hofmann
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The runaway international bestseller is now an American must-read for lovers of adventure, travel writing, and romance. Corinne Hofmann tells how she falls in love with an African warrior while on holiday in Kenya. After overcoming severe obstacles, she moves into a tiny hut with him and his mother, and spends four years in his Kenyan village. Slowly but surely, the dream starts to crumble, and she hatches a plan to return home with her daughter, a baby born of the seemingly indestructible love between a white European woman and a Masai. Compulsively readable, The White Masai is at once a hopelessly romantic love story, a gripping adventure yarn, and a fine piece of meticulously observed social anthropology.
- Sales Rank: #94076 in Books
- Brand: Hofmann, Corinne/ Millar, Peter (TRN)
- Published on: 2007-10-02
- Released on: 2007-10-02
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.00" h x .74" w x 5.31" l, .57 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 320 pages
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. One glance at a Masai warrior "wearing almost no clothes—just a short loincloth—but lots of jewelry," and Hofmann, a Swiss business woman on vacation in Kenya, abandons all in obsessive pursuit of Lketinga who has "never been to school, can't read or write and barely speaks English." The passion is palpable and sometimes purple ("I feel myself at one with this man and now, this night, I know that despite all the barriers between us, I have already become a captive of his world"). Seekers of romance and adventure will be amply rewarded, but the power of Hofmann's memoir rests in her hard-won capacity to take the reader inside the domestic world of the African bush as she learns to be Lketinga's wife (living in her own dung hut), grappling with unfamiliar sexual and gender manners and struggling to balance her commitment to bush life with the knowledge and resources she has as a European woman (acquiring a car, starting a business). The idyll, spoiled by Lketinga's bouts of jealous fits, ends after four years when Hofmann, with their daughter, flees to Switzerland. Hofmann's commitment, however, lingers and infuses her account with an affecting richness that defies the reader to ridicule her decision to give "up [her] whole life back in Switzerland for Lketinga." (Oct.)
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Review
“This extraordinary story. . . is a page-turner. (Daily Mail (London))
“It’s a truly riveting read, better than any reality TV show” -Maris Ross (Publishing News)
“An extraordinary and unputdownable tale.” (Bookseller)
About the Author
Corinne Hofmann has written three books based on her life story, including two sequels to The White Masai—Back from Africa, which is a bestseller in Germany, and Reunion in Barsaloi, which was released in 2005. She lives with her teenage daughter in Switzerland.
Most helpful customer reviews
64 of 66 people found the following review helpful.
Can this be real?
By __
Ok. I finished reading this a week ago and am still attempting to wrap my mind around her mentality. I, too, lived in Kenya for nearly two years, but did not stake claims on the country like a neo-colonial in the way this author did. While it was interesting that she would sacrifice so much in the name of love (which again, I just couldn't understand seeing as they were from two polar opposite cultures, didn't speak a common language and he wasn't as in love with her as she with him I thought), I can't understand how she maintained an ignorance and ego about her the whole time she was there. How could she not pick up the language? Even some basic Swahili should have been achieved in weeks of living in the country. As an anthropologist, I simply can't understand her frame of thought and why she really didn't see a need to assist the people she was living around and over-used the mission. I kept thinking the mission is there to help people who really need help and didn't ask to be placed in a marginalized environment, and here she put herself in this nightmare and expected the mission to continually bail her out. I do not consider this a travelogue, rather an odd memoir of "how I ruined my life." It still seems to me that she doesn't know, understand nor care to understand Kenya and I would certainly not recommend it for people who wish to understand the Samburu (she was so ignorant she didn't even realize the Maasai and Samburu are two different ethnic groups albeit closely related) or even the continent of Africa. This book was just an ego trip of how eccentric a woman can be.
67 of 70 people found the following review helpful.
At least she isn't an American
By CJM
We in the US get a fair amount of grief about our insensitivity to other cultures, and our ridiculous demands that things be done 'our way' when we are in other countries. Well, nice to see that a European showed equal ignorance! Did this woman never have a social studies class? Did she never watch a single documentary or episode of Oprah?! How was she so completely ignorant of the lifestyle and huge cultural divide that would work against her, as a white woman in the Bush of Africa?
I laughed out loud at some of the unintentionally ironic statements in the book. One was when Corinne was madly trying to get "her Masai" a passport because she couldn't wait to introduce him to her mother. Yep, I'm sure Mom would have been thrilled. Toward the end of the book, as the doomed relationship hits the skids, Corinne lashes out angrily at some men in public. Lketinga shouts at her, "Corinne, you are crazy!" Well, yes.
Other reviewers mention that we don't see much of Lketinga's thoughts, feelings, or personality in the book. I disagree. From the beginning, he seems very much overwhelmed, but unsure how to extract himself from this strange relationship. He tells her maybe it would be better if she went home, and just came to visit a couple times a year. I was cheering for his amazing insight at that point, as I could almost feel his bewilderment at being stalked. But Corinne couldn't take a hint. Not when she had to bail him out of jail within a few days of meeting him. Not when the physical encounter she had dreamed of was consummated in a way similar to rape. Not when she had to hunt him down in the Bush upon her return to Kenya. And certainly not when she witnessed him having some sort of mental/emotional breakdown from his reliance on drugs and alcohol. Nope. Her Masai was a beautiful God, and come animal slaughter, malaria, or government bureaucracy, she was going to worship him. I found myself wondering, with all the return trips to Switzerland and his many disappearances, not to mention the days and weeks of travel within Kenya for various business and government errands - how many weeks or months total did they actually spend together?
Most people, in making a humiliating mistake such as this in their lives, would want to regroup, grow up, and move on. Instead, Ms. Hofmann has chosen to glorify her ridiculous 'adventure' and sell it off as a love story. I am very glad I read a copy from the library, rather than add to her fortune or celebrity.
46 of 48 people found the following review helpful.
A Self-Centered Tale of Delusion and Neediness or Next Time, Just Buy A Painting
By Berne Colville
I can say gratefully that a friend lent this sad tale to me. Thank you, God that I didn't shell out any shillings for this doggie of a poorly written book, and thank you for the fact that is not about another clueless American doing stupid things in foreign lands, like stalking gorgeous native men and expecting them to love you, your way.
As far as I could tell, this is a tale of an overly-indulged, wealthy, attractive, very obsessive young woman, Corrine Hoffman, who allows herself to be victimized while constantly insinuating herself on a man who really doesn't want anything to do with her except perhaps a quick "poke in the whiskers" with no foreplay. She calls him "my Masai" on page five after only seeing him a couple of times. (Creepy)
Lketinga sees the picture almost immediately; she chooses not to see. She believes he loves her, but it becomes obvious it's pretty one-sided --her side. Love is not perceived in the same way by the Samburu. Theirs is a culture of tough environmental and basic survival and requires tribal cooperation; a culture of the community, not the individual. Their life is definitely not about females having any rights, only responsibilities. It is not an adolescent, bodice-ripping, Romantic tale of romance. Samburu life is not easy, but it's the way it is. In fact, African life doesn't seem like something I want to try either.
So you have Corrine and her wacky friends. The European women in this story come across as pretty flighty, irresponsible and quite hippie-skippy, although they all run circles around her linguistically. Her friend Sophia does not seem to have much more sense than Hoffman does and you can easily visualize a "type" of wealthy, attractive, dilettante young European women, playing out their fantasies and spending their or their daddy's money. Her friend Sophia constantly seems to move to better quarters and is difficult to locate as she goes back to Italy for vacations, moves in with a loser boyfriend, procreates without thought of the future for her child and seems lacking in all common sense. Add to that, Hoffmann's constant references about her lack of appetite suggest a serious eating disorder as when she says "there's a lavish meal laid on, and after nearly five days fasting, I've almost got an appetite." There are numerous comments regarding her inability to eat. From the very beginning, her control issues are apparent.
She's obviously driven to be successful. She knows how to hire and manage people, works like a dog, has good business skills and has no problems working with men. But she doesn't have a glimmer that her business interactions and negotiations with various businessmen might not be understood by her husband, whose cultural concepts of proper behavior between men and women could not be more different, and whose behavior from the beginning has led him to question her motives. And for all the time she spends in Africa, she never seems to pick up language skills. The African women that befriend her seem much wiser and truly helpful, always willing to help out, explain reality to her and to try and help pull her out of her cultural haze.
Lketinga, her husband, cannot be judged from this tale, as you never know his thoughts or his version of this sad domestic partnership, but I believe that he tried to let her know the relationship was doomed from the start. His wise suggestion to her that that "If I have such a good business in Switzerland, why don't I come back a few times a year for holidays and he would always be waiting for me" should have sparked her brain cells into a reality check, but to no avail. With complete self-centeredness she inflicts herself on this man and his community, and then wonders why he starts to resent and distrust her, even as her hard-earned Swiss francs service their needy community and floundering business efforts.
Much of the deference she receives is due to her physical attractiveness, the fact that she is white, and her obvious purchasing power. To those struggling native people she must have seemed a female Donald Trump. Corrine appears to have an endless supply of money. We are told she was a very successful business woman but I wonder if in reality she suffers from fear of holding on to her success.
Hoffman complains constantly about the amount of work she needs to do, always hiring help, having others pity and do things for her, describing her raw fingers, bad hair days, lack of sleep, her hollow-cheeked face and failing body. Martyr complex? Probably. Controlled by a dysfunctional need to crave a "real man" then resents it when he tries live life in the culture he knows? Very probably. Results. Complete wacko. Her husband quickly becomes a sort of victim of her wealth. He hates it but wants what it creates for him and the tribe. He can't manage it because he doesn't have the skills, so he uses the old tribal "you woman, me man" thing and the situation deteriorates more quickly. Her money and skills gives her power over him and emasculates him.
Hoffmann doesn't listen to the advice she receives from the native women and doesn't seem to have enough common sense to research the basics of what "marriage" entails in the new culture she is forcing her way into. Sex doesn't seem all that important to her, although she frequently admires his physical beauty and elegance of body; his compatibility needs elude and appall her at times. He is a piece of living, beautiful artwork that she must possess but will never understand. Next time, Corinne, buy yourself the painting, leave the person alone and save everyone the boring, constant flow of your endless tears.
Throughout the book, Hoffman constantly places herself in serious physical and personal danger, neglects herself even when very seriously ill, still pursuing her obsessive effort of the moment. Her lack of personal self-care causes serious consequences for her, endangers her unborn child and brings her at one point, close to death. One has to wonder, if it affected her long-term. Did it not occur to her that the fact Lketinga can neither read nor write, is not at all westernized, and comes from a primitive, agrarian culture, could cause serious conflict and misunderstanding? Corrine thoughtlessly forges forth not realizing her female independence is eroding his self-confidence and pride while still noting to the reader that he cannot add, subtract, organize nor stop giving her money away.
Lketinga's increasing lack of trust in their relationship probably stems from their initial meetings, when she broke with her current beau to take up with him. Lketinga probably believes that if she dumped her current man that quickly in favor of him, she might not be worthy of his trust. It was extremely disturbing to see how she brazenly and aggressively stalks him until she corners him in his village. She's relentless and very creepy. However, it is obvious that she has great affection for these people, that she does try to assimilate herself into their primitive way of life and does sometimes, actually enjoy it. Some of the scenes she describes of Samburu village life are quite moving. She sees the inequalities that exist for black Africans and how people scorn their black/white marriage. They are humiliated frequently by both black and whites yet she does not see nor knows how to manage the very real difficulties that her financial and female independence cause.
How many trips through the jungle in an ancient, broken-down Land Rover does it take for her to figure out that this isn't working? How many bouts of malaria, anemia, hepatitis and other diseases must she endure, even at the risk of injuring the child she carries? The most shocking tale to me was her attempt to assist a young woman in the midst of a monstrous labor trying to give birth to her dead child. Hey, if I saw some poor screaming woman squatting and bleeding profusely, with the arm of her unborn child hanging out of her vagina, I would be out of there forever!
How much quiet time is she really able to spend with her man while she buys the cars, pays bribes for passports and travel paper? Can she manage the household, take care of baby, run and stock the store, hire good help, deal with stealing employees, bad bookkeeping, terrified child brides and a nation with no concept of punctuality? Meanwhile he disrupts her business; fires the people she hires; disappears for days on end, herds his sheep, goats, oxen, visits his mom, smokes Miraa, drinks and does the manly thing with his male tribe members? Sad things are bound to happen.
Alas, the time arrives when Corrine has no money left and Lketinga's pretty much on the mental brink...presto! Time to go! Alas, love is gone but now she has her new baby to become her new obsessive-compulsive replacement ...and as her as her moody, addictive man starts becomes increasingly paranoid about her fidelity, (which the reader can see from almost the beginning) she manages to leave with her infant daughter on the pretence of a nice Swiss vacation. (Fade out with..."Oh my man, I love him so, he'll never know..." aka goodbye Nicki Arnstein)
But she sends sweet "please forgive me" letters to Lketinga, his mother and his brother. So I guess at least she didn't lose her nice Swiss manners.
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