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gordcampbell's review against another edition
4.0
This is one of those gems that I would never had known about were it not for a wonderful online book club. I love stories like this: about the smaller-scale heroes of WWII. Regular people who did what they could in the face of extraordinary evil. It's a story that serves to be known and I enjoyed it immensely.
serinde4books's review against another edition
Another BOTM book. This is the story of a polish couple that hide Jews from the Nazis during WWII in their zoo. I'm secretly a little obsessed with WWII stories, ever since I read Diary of Anne Frank in elementary school. Even the ones where they don't survive, I think it is because I just can't understand how such an atrocity as the Holocaust could happen, and I'm uplifted by the resilience of the survivors. I didn't pick this book but I suspected I would like it because of the subject.
It's a really quick read, I know it's nonfiction and based on journals and interviews, but it doesn't read like nonfiction normally does. It's so not dry or monotonous, it has a great fluidity to the story. Ackerman does an amazing job of weaving the facts in with the personal antidotes, to create a story not just a history. I know that it was war, and that loss of human life was devastating too. But hearing about the zoo animals being shot and bombed was a bit traumatic for me. Their deaths felt incredibly senseless and tragic, and knowing it was true and not fictional deaths made it even harder for me to read.
Again with the animal deaths, so senseless and cruel. How is that a hunt if they are locked in cages? Grrr
For some reason I'm having problems with the timeline, it feels like it will jump from early war to late war to mid war back to late war etc. Maybe it is just me, but I wish it was more linear. I think the issue is that she goes off on side tangents for events or people and puts the whole blurb about them in one place so she doesn't have to come back to them or so we get their whole story, but it confuses me on the timeline for the main storyline.
I was a little disappointed, I think I expected a bit more of a story and instead I felt that we got a sporadic telling of a bunch of people pieced together in a non-linear timeline. I liked the books, the individual stories were good, but as a whole it left me wanting.
For additional reviews please see my blog at www.adventuresofabibliophile.blogspot.com
It's a really quick read, I know it's nonfiction and based on journals and interviews, but it doesn't read like nonfiction normally does. It's so not dry or monotonous, it has a great fluidity to the story. Ackerman does an amazing job of weaving the facts in with the personal antidotes, to create a story not just a history. I know that it was war, and that loss of human life was devastating too. But hearing about the zoo animals being shot and bombed was a bit traumatic for me. Their deaths felt incredibly senseless and tragic, and knowing it was true and not fictional deaths made it even harder for me to read.
Again with the animal deaths, so senseless and cruel. How is that a hunt if they are locked in cages? Grrr
For some reason I'm having problems with the timeline, it feels like it will jump from early war to late war to mid war back to late war etc. Maybe it is just me, but I wish it was more linear. I think the issue is that she goes off on side tangents for events or people and puts the whole blurb about them in one place so she doesn't have to come back to them or so we get their whole story, but it confuses me on the timeline for the main storyline.
I was a little disappointed, I think I expected a bit more of a story and instead I felt that we got a sporadic telling of a bunch of people pieced together in a non-linear timeline. I liked the books, the individual stories were good, but as a whole it left me wanting.
For additional reviews please see my blog at www.adventuresofabibliophile.blogspot.com
akross's review against another edition
2.0
2.5. I was really disappointed in this one. Longer/better review later.
chava_in_oz's review against another edition
3.0
2 1/2 stars. It was okay, but too many side plot lines and diversions from the main story to really keep my attention.
ksatyanathan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.5
Such an amazing story of actual events that happened in Poland during WW2! Long book and very wordy due to many extra bits of history added in but so informative.
sharmin's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.0
ckfoster's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to love this book. I love WWII books and I love non-fiction so this should have been an easy favorite for me. I appreciate that the book didn't read like an encyclopedia however Ackerman is no Eric Larson and she couldn't weave together a compelling tale we had never heard quite like he could. She just couldn't convey a new plot other than SURVIVE and that got old after a while. I'm also surprised by the title she gave this book given that she talks so little about the zoo at all after the first 100 pages or so. I can only imagine she was playing on the appeal of other books over the last few years which had similar titles- The Aviator's Wife,The Paris Wife, The Time Traveler's Wife...
readwithpitties's review against another edition
2.0
I just found this book hard to follow, the way it was written had my head hurting! I really had high hopes for it too but I just had no idea what was going on half the time! I'm still excited for the movie though, hoping that will be easier to understand what is actually going on!
mizele20's review against another edition
4.0
I was touched by this book. I can't help but think about today's world and the parallels that can be drawn.