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Journal Entry 1 by jubby from Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Friday, October 07, 2011
 The back cover reads:
'I was born twice. First in a wooden room that jutted out over the black water of the Thames, and then again eight years later in the the Highway, when the tiger took me in his mouth and everything truly began'.
1857. Jaffy Brown is running along a street in London's East End when he comes face to face with an escaped circus animal. He is plucked from the jaws of death by Mr Jamrach - explorer, entrepreneur and a collector of the world's strangest creatures - and the two strike up a friendship.
Before he knows it, Jaffy finds himself on board a ship bound for the Dutch East Indies, on an unusual commission for Mr Jamrach. His journey - if he survives it - will push faith, love and friendship to their utmost limits.
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Journal Entry 2 by jubby at Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Friday, October 07, 2011
This book has been registered as part of Fleebo's 2011 Booker Challenge.
Book ring order:
- TQD
- Fleebo
- Freepages
- MissJo
- Goodthinkingmax
- Jubby
- LadyIndigo
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Journal Entry 3 by tqd at Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Friday, October 07, 2011
I have previously read this book (a library copy). Thanks jubby, for letting me sneak my comments in here: I am curious to see what other people thought too!
One morning in 19th century London, a small boy from an impoverished background is almost eaten by a tiger, which had escaped from Jamrach's Menagerie and was just wandering the streets of London, scaring all the Londoners. Except young Jaffy Brown, who just wanted to pat the magnificent beast. But instead he is literally rescued from the tiger's mouth by Herr Jamrach, and offered a job looking after the animals in the menagerie, on their way between the wild and their new owners and captivity.
Jaffy grows up working at the magnificent, but slightly creepy, menagerie, along with his best and worst friend, Tim Linver. One day they are both offered a chance to go to sea to look for a mysterious dragon. Of course, the sea voyage is nothing like what they expected.
This was a bit hit and miss for me. The language at times was breathtakingly perfect, as when they first set out to sea: "All we ever knew fell away behind us like arms letting go." But at other times, I felt like I was lost in a ocean of adjectives, looking for a verb, dammit. And as a narrator, Jaffy just didn't quite strike the right note.
The plot also sagged quite badly towards the end, with one overly long section reminding me of nothing more than Sam and Frodo crossing Mordor: bleak, bleak, bleak, hungry, bleak. Which was a shame, because other sections (the early scenes in the poor areas of London, the whaling, the shipwreck, the hunting of the Komodo dragon) were excellent.
And strangely enough given the title, it's hardly about Jamrach, or the menagerie. I would have preferred more Jamrach and London, and less Mordor.
Good, but not great.
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Jamrach's Menagerie
