Thursday, April 13, 2017

The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story


By: Diane Ackerman
Genre: Historical Non-Fiction
Pages: 384
Published: 2007
Told in: Third Person

Compare to:
The Kommandant’s Girl, Pam Jenoff
My Enemy’s Cradle, Sara Young
The Lost, Daniel Mendelsohn

In a nutshell:
Placed in Warsaw, Poland during WWII, this book follows the experiences of Jan and Antonina, the city’s old zookeepers, whose efforts during the war helped to save hundreds of lives.

What you may enjoy:
This book is both informative and inspiring. Ackerman is able to recount the history of Warsaw during WWII without being too graphic. This book covers facts and stories not only about the city and its people but about the animals that are native to Poland.

What you may NOT enjoy:
There are a lot of tangents that don’t pertain to the main focus of the book. While some of those tangents are interesting, they are also very distracting. Both the beginning and ending of the book are weak and long-winded, full of unnecessary details.

Warnings:
Violence and Disturbing Images:
Man and woman shot and killed; people burned in bomb raid (mentions smell of burnt flesh); plane shot down, plane shoots at crowd of people; soldiers shoot animals; planes shoot over zoo, killing animals (mildly graphic); dead horses in the street (mildly graphic); woman raped (mentioned); people threatened; people beaten; children casually shot; children shot in the head; man dies from internal bleeding; dog dies from rat poisoning; pigs and piglets killed; woman tortured; kids and adults killed in gas chambers; man shot and killed; man shot in the neck; people commit suicide; building burned down, killing people; people killed in explosions; woman threatened multiple times; boy threatened; hamster drinks alcohol and dies.

Sex and Nudity:
Discusses foreskin, circumcision, and “reskinning”.

Language and Profanity:
Bastard

Buy it on Amazon

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