This is one of those books you have to stick with. It definitely gets better as it goes along. Sometimes Ackerman gets so caught up in describing external details that she misses out on the internal details that make characters real. It's a good story and there are parts that are told beautifully, but overall I was disappointed in the storytelling. Still, a fascinating account of life in Poland during Hitler's reign of terror.

Received in a bookbox from kikimasu.

Amazon Editorial Review:
The New York Times bestseller: a true story in which the keepers of the Warsaw zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands. When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw—and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants—otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes.


With her exuberant prose and exquisite sensitivity to the natural world, Diane Ackerman engages us viscerally in the lives of the zoo animals, their keepers, and their hidden visitors. She shows us how Antonina refused to give in to the penetrating fear of discovery, keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her. 8 pages of illustrations

In the past I have steered away from WWII books because I just can't imagine the suffering and I get so upset that such atrocities occured. That "men" could inflict such terrible things onto one another. And for what?
As I have gotten older I have been able to watch and read a little more about it and this book was just the right dose for me at this time. A mix of historical information with personal views. I liked this book.

Left in women's upstairs locker room, on the bookshelf.