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The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story - Community Reviews back

by Diane Ackerman
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danae
danae rated it 8 years ago
Ugghhh. This book.So, the premise is amazing, right? This couple saved the lives of over three hundred people during the Holocaust! But you'd never know it, reading this book.This story that is so amazing is buried deep under a mountain of details. If you ever get your hands on a time machine and yo...
Sarah's Library
Sarah's Library rated it 11 years ago
I tried really hard to enjoy this book, but it was just too slow for me. The plot sounded really good, especially as I am a fan of war related stories - especially true stories. There was too much written before the war began, and the refugees arrived at the zoo.
Bright and Bon Vivant
Bright and Bon Vivant rated it 11 years ago
Read from September 23 to October 01, 2013 There are certain books that make me feel so enriched and so enlightened from having read them. This is one of them. This is an inspiring story and Ackerman tells it perfectly. As a naturalist, she is able to keenly convey both the best and the worst of h...
Ciska's Book Chest
Ciska's Book Chest rated it 12 years ago
AuthorDiane Ackerman received her B.A. in English from Penn State and an M.F.A. and Ph.D. in English from Cornell University in 1978. Her dissertation advisor was Carl Sagan. From 1980 to 1983 she taught English at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has been married to novelist Paul Wes...
Ladybug's Doodles
Ladybug's Doodles rated it 12 years ago
A biography of the Warsaw Zoo and it's caretakers during WWII. I found it interesting, but I became lost several time and found myself skimming the words. The book did not include a pronunciation guide for the names and words and it was really full of technical and scientific language. Several chapt...
My Never Ending List
My Never Ending List rated it 13 years ago
What an unique story about Polish zookeepers Jan & Antonina and the diary Antonina kept during the Nazi invasion in WWII. I never thought about what a zoo (or any large scale operation) had to go through during this horrible time in history and reading this book opened my eyes to the horrible experi...
basswood
basswood rated it 13 years ago
Unimpressed. Rambling and unfocused, Ackerman can't decide what the heck she is trying to tell us let alone what style of writing she prefers. It's as if she's still working out exactly who she is despite this being her 12th book. An extra star simply for attempting to relay an interesting moment...
EricaO
EricaO rated it 14 years ago
The whole premise behind this biographical work is fascinating: what does the wife of a zookeeper do during a war when the animals are gone and her family lives in occupied territory?I had never given any thought to the idea of zoos during wartime. Perhaps I wanted to believe that animals somehow ge...
Chrissie's Books
Chrissie's Books rated it 15 years ago
This is the sixth review I have written today. My review cannot do justice to this book. I am too tired. It is an excellent book. It is a completely different way of describing how two people, Jan and predominantly his wife Antonia's experiences and efforts to save Jews in Warsaw during WW2, could m...
My Reading Life
My Reading Life rated it 15 years ago
A wonderfully written book about the German invasion of Poland and the destruction of life-human and animal. Despite the horrific atrocities the Germans commit upon the citizens of Poland, Jewish and Christian alike, the author tells a story of hope. The zookeeper of the Warsaw zoo and his wife ar...
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