Reviews

There is such charm amidst the chaos of life with the Durrell family. The reminiscences of Gerald Durrell who spent time with his family on the beautiful island of Corfu just prior to the outbreak of World War II provides such an innocent and unique view of life, nature and family relationships. This is a series that exudes warmth and humour. Cannot wait to read the third in the trilogy.

amynbell's review against another edition

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5.0

I enjoyed the first book of the Corfu Trilogy immensely, but I may have enjoyed this one slightly more. I didn't realize before that the Durrell family stayed on the island of Corfu in Greece for 5 years. So these books cover Gerald's experiences from ages 10 to 15. This book adds in more layers of anecdotes from the family's time on Corfu during those 5 years and recalls more animals that Gerald encountered during that time. This book seems to have been the basic spark of inspiration for more of the stories or characters in the television series: the goldfish, Sven, the countess, the court case. However, the storyline and outcome is usually very much different in the book than the television series. I've really grown to love Gerald's mentor Theodore Stephanides in the book and despise Gerald's brother Larry. Larry's just mean spirited. But Theodore is absolutely adorable with his vast array of scientific knowledge, his understated sense of humor, and his timid cadence of speech.

Some of the more interesting "birds and beasts" that Gerald encounters in this book are ...
*dung beetles
*the creepy scutigeridae which looks like a cross between a spider cricket and a centipede
*hermaphroditic snails with love darts
*eels that travel from rivers all over the world to the warm water Sargasso Sea in the middle of the Atlantic, having babies that return to their parents homes alone without having ever been there
*water spiders that live underwater in a sort of homemade diving bell, adding on an extra room as necessary for eggs

I'm going to have to blame this book for making me start reading [book:The Origin of Species|22463] earlier than I'd already planned to this year (which led to my reading of [book:Superdove: How the Pigeon Took Manhattan ... And the World|3335602]); downloading several books about insects by [author:Jean-Henri Fabre|43265], an author that tells Gerald all he wanted to know about the dung beetle and more; and checking out [book:Eels: An Exploration, from New Zealand to the Sargasso, of the World's Most Mysterious Fish|8551934]). One thing about the study of natural history is that one point of interest leads to another and then to another. I get the feeling that I'm going to find myself laden with more must-read books by the time that I finish book 3 of the Corfu series. Plus, I'll have to read more of Gerald's books like [book:Golden Bats & Pink Pigeons|48142].

Reading this series has made me a little sad that I don't step out my city door and find as much wildlife as in the country. I've been actively looking and not seeing more than the occasional mocking bird in my backyard lately. Then again, it's still technically winter. Until spring, I guess I'll have to content myself with reading through all these tangential natural history books I keep getting sidetracked with.

If you enjoyed the first book of the series, you'll certainly enjoy this one, too. But it can really stand alone without the other as well.

ipb1's review against another edition

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4.0

Can't quite live up to the magical charm of [b:My Family and Other Animals|48132|My Family and Other Animals (Corfu Trilogy, #1)|Gerald Durrell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327885239l/48132._SY75_.jpg|76682], but that's hardly surprising, and it is still a read as warming as the Corfu sunshine. Life-affirming stuff. I haven't read since childhood, and re-reading now after the ITV series, Gerry has transformed into Milo Parker in my mind's eye

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