klmreads's review against another edition
2.0
A low score for me... It's a strange writing style, an odd presentation and I just couldn't get into it. One minute we're talking about Nazi facts and horror and the next we're talking about a random animal or insect that just breaks up the flow... I'm sure I'm just "missing" the right vibe but this just wasn't for me. I ended up skimming some sections that just seemed to have no relevance to what I was trying to get out of this story...
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 against another edition
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.