Description: Fine. 039333306X NEW/UNREAD! ! ! Text is Clean and Unmarked! --Be Sure to Compare Seller Feedback and Ratings before Purchasing--Has a small black ink mark on outside edge of pages. May have light shelf wear to cover from storage, if any. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780393333060ISBN:039333306X
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 368 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780393333060ISBN:039333306X
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. 2260-Has obviously been read a few times, but it a very good sturdy used copy. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 368 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780393333060ISBN:039333306X
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Clean and unmarked with light edge/cover wear. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 368 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. Ships from US-NE. Support Independent Booksellers! Omahabooks offers same or next day shipping-satisfaction guaranteed. Priority, Expedited, APO, International may require additional postage-contact seller. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Thorndike Press
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781410403490ISBN:1410403491
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Description: Very Good. 039333306X Paperback, Condition: Very Good; this book is in very good condition with light curve to the spine / light reading creases to the covers. read more
""The Zookeeper's Wife" is somewhat difficult for me to review. It's certainly not a bad book, but I found its passages dealing with the horrors of Germany's occupation of Poland during World War II interspersed with sections recounting cute animal shenanigans a bit hard to take, even though Diane Ackerman's telling a true story.
This may be less Ackerman's fault and more the fault of her source material. She depends largely, it seems, on Antonina Zabinski's diary to recount the goings on at the Warsaw zoo during the war, and I get the sense that Zabinski focused more on the zoo's animals and her family's pets, as well as her son's doings, than she did on the larger issues of the war in her writings. It doesn't help that Ackerman's own prose too often verges on the purple, with metaphors that feel forced and many times inappropriate for telling what's largely a stark war story.
The story of Antonina Zabinski and her husband Jan, and the assistance they provided to Jews hiding from the Nazis during the war, is certainly worth telling, but it may have made a better long magazine article than a full-length book. I also wish the tale had been told by a writer a bit more restrained than Ackerman is.
Addendum: I finally got a chance to look at the photos printed in "The Zookeeper's Wife," and was a bit surprised to see that Antonina didn't look quite the way I pictured her based on Ackerman's descriptions. To be blunt -- and I'm sure I'll go to hell for saying this -- I thought she'd be a bit hotter. Before you yell at me for this, let it be known that Rose, my friend and fellow GoodReader, thought the exact same thing, and put me up to adding this to my review. So if you're going to yell at me, yell at her too."
"The Zookeeper's Wife is a micro chasm book. This means that it deals with a small event and only that small event. It does help when reading this book if you have a good, working knowledge of Europe in WWII, in particular the Warsaw Uprising. Ackerman's greatest flaw in the book is that there is not much background detail. She keeps the focus on the zoo; in fact, she seems more in love with the zoo than with the Zabinskis and their "guests".
This said, it still is a very enjoyable book. It is quite clear that Ackerman is truly interested in her topic. She also has some wonderful description. For instance, Ackerman relates the tragic story of Szymon Tenebaum (who was in the Ghetto) and his insect collection (which he left with the Zabinskis. When writing about where and how the collection is (not) displayed, Ackerman writes, "An insect collection is a silent oasis in the noisy clamor of the world, isolating phenomena so that they can be seen undistractedly. In that sense, what is being collected are not the bugs themselves but the deep attention of the collector. That is also a rarity, a sort of gallery that ripples through the mind and whose real holdings are the perpetuation of wonder in a maelstrom of social and personal distractions" (151-152).
It is true that sometimes I found myself wishing that Ackerman spent more time detailing the emergence of the Zoo as escape plan, but overall the book is enjoyable."
"An excellent book how a zoo keepere and his wife survived in Warsaw during the Nazi oppression. Vivid description of life in the ghetto and of Poland during its liberation and then when the Russian army arrived. A remarkable story, and told in an excellent manor"
"There is no way that I can sit down and adequately review this book after reading it. Diane Ackerman has skillfully and beautifully written this very complex story. She is a naturalist, who has very well utilized her discipline to write this historical piece. It will remain with me for a very long time, so I must mull it over and deliberate how I can do justice to this multilayered tale. I have read many accounts of WW II, in articles and in books, but Ackerman was able to create charm, suspense and beauty with her writing. It was compelling- each page contained some item of wonder. The book was enjoyable until the completion of the very last page. My goal is to seek out more of this wonderful author's work. I would rate this book 5+ stars if possible!"
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