Finished Reading: The Zookeeper’s Wife
26 Mar
Besides the disturbing mention of blood clots, I found The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman to be as interesting and well-researched as many folks had told me, and the story drew me in and (except for p. 180) kept my mind off my current medical woes.
It’s the story of a family living in WWII Warsaw. Before the war, Jan was the zookeeper of the Warsaw Zoo. After the war set in, he and Antonina held a variety of different legitimate positions given to them by the occupying Germans, all the while using their empty, bombed-out zoo and its villa as a safe house for Jews escaping the Ghetto. The amount of detail is fascinating, in large part due to journals that Antonina kept.
Besides providing an amazing safety net for at least 300 Jews over the course of the war, the family had an interesting villa life with their ever-changing Guests and an at-home zoo as well. Photos are included of their son, young Rys, walking a badger in the garden and Jan cuddling with a lynx. The animal stories are interspersed with the war & resistance stories and paint an amazing picture of a family who managed to thrive under incomprehensible conditions.
The Zookeeper’s Wife was part of my Spring Reading Thing 2009 challenge – PisecoDad picked it up at the library for me earlier this week.
I am going to have to add this to my list! Thanks for the review.
I’m gonna look for this when Summer Reading starts at the library.
My friend Jeane would love this book. Thanks for the review.
I have looked at this one and am definitely going to be adding it to my list for summer.