jnsa84's review against another edition
2.0
This book was a STRUGGLE to get through. I was so excited to read this book, but unfortunately it just didn't do it for me. I skimmed the last 20 pages because I just wanted it to end.
The author skips around too much between the then and now and it was confusing. the worst part, was how much of a description about each animal was....needed less information about them and more story.
The author skips around too much between the then and now and it was confusing. the worst part, was how much of a description about each animal was....needed less information about them and more story.
riverbarret's review against another edition
The three stars is probably a little harsh for a story about such great people, but I have such a hard time finding non-fiction interesting.
swissmunicipal's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 Stars on this one. I liked it - I even really liked it - but it was sort of three quarters engaging and one quarter boring. I appreciate the presence of the detail that is provided, but there were definitely many moments where I just wanted to story to continue.
imagdalena's review against another edition
3.0
This book had potential to be amazing but it fell short. Like others mentioned, the author strayed too much from the actual story. I did appreciate the historical bits here and there, but it seemed "off" in a book like this. Lots of detailed descriptions plagued the pages which had me struggling at times. The motion picture seems more exciting and colorful, can't wait to see what they did with this story.
astridmark's review
3.0
I have a hard time rating this book. The story was really good, but the writing is a bit all over the place. A lot of time is spend on dwelling on unimportant issues, and not the main plot.
I was prepared to love this book, and it's definitely a story that needed to be told, maybe it should just have been told by another author, or as a short story. Because I do realise some of the fault may be on the source material, which seems to be mainly Antonina Zabinski's diary. And she, which I can understand, seemed to focus a lot more on the animals of the zoo and her son, then on the refugees' everyday life in their hiding places around the zoo. The writing also felt a bit to poetic, with a bit too many uneeded metaphors, considering it's a stark World War II story.
I was prepared to love this book, and it's definitely a story that needed to be told, maybe it should just have been told by another author, or as a short story. Because I do realise some of the fault may be on the source material, which seems to be mainly Antonina Zabinski's diary. And she, which I can understand, seemed to focus a lot more on the animals of the zoo and her son, then on the refugees' everyday life in their hiding places around the zoo. The writing also felt a bit to poetic, with a bit too many uneeded metaphors, considering it's a stark World War II story.
elinacre's review against another edition
3.0
good, but not great... i was disappointed in this one. i actually quite liked the asides about zoo life and the animals jan and antonina cared for, and even the background about the nazis' research in animal husbandry was interesting and not something i'd known about before. however... where were the details of how these guests were saved, what they did while in hiding, how soldiers never noticed them in the villa or the animal enclosures where they were hidden? with all the research the author clearly did, i hoped for more of the nitty gritty. (there is a LOT of information, don't get me wrong; it just wasn't all what i expected.) it also seemed rather thrown together, with awkward chapter endings and an all-around sense of disconnect, especially the last half or so. rounding up to 3 stars because the movie was SO good.
bookishwendy's review against another edition
4.0
Author Diane Ackerman is a naturalist and poet--not a historian or journalist--so this book is very different from what one might expect of a war narrative set in occupied Warsaw. More than simply narrate the story of a mother, zookeeper and holocaust rescuer, Ackerman explores themes of human empathy and our links with animals. Why is it that some animals seem more human than we are, and some humans seem worse than animals?
Chapters bounce between showing the larger historical context of occupied Poland, and more intimate illustrations of life in the war-torn zoo which quickly become a sort of Noah's Arc for threatened animals and humans alike. This juxtaposing is unusual and rather brave, but I think the author pulls it off with her poetic sensibilities. By lining up contrasting images and ideas, our brains make connections that wouldn't be possible in a more traditional narration.
One notable chapter tells how the Nazi search for "racial purity" extended to animals, and that after German zoos looted captured eastern zoos, they started programs to back-breed extinct European mega-fauna such as the aurochs and tarpan by selecting for certain genes in eastern European (more "ancient-looking") cattle and horses, respectively. The controversial fruits of that project still exist today in Poland's primeval national forest. Yet in a weird twist, the motivation of ecological racism had consequences that allowed the directors of the Warsaw zoo to hide over 300 people and save them from certain death.
Chapters bounce between showing the larger historical context of occupied Poland, and more intimate illustrations of life in the war-torn zoo which quickly become a sort of Noah's Arc for threatened animals and humans alike. This juxtaposing is unusual and rather brave, but I think the author pulls it off with her poetic sensibilities. By lining up contrasting images and ideas, our brains make connections that wouldn't be possible in a more traditional narration.
One notable chapter tells how the Nazi search for "racial purity" extended to animals, and that after German zoos looted captured eastern zoos, they started programs to back-breed extinct European mega-fauna such as the aurochs and tarpan by selecting for certain genes in eastern European (more "ancient-looking") cattle and horses, respectively. The controversial fruits of that project still exist today in Poland's primeval national forest. Yet in a weird twist, the motivation of ecological racism had consequences that allowed the directors of the Warsaw zoo to hide over 300 people and save them from certain death.