2008

A true story of a family during WW II in Warsaw. Living on the zoo grounds with that slant makes it a unique viewpoint and sometimes very funny, despite being such a sad story.

Antonina is the narrarator of the book. Her husban Jan is the keeper of the Warsaw Zoo. They have a wonderful life in Poland until Hitler decides he must have Poland and that the Poles are a lower class and that Polish Jews aren't even human. Thus begins Antonina's life in a city under seige. The reader learns of the atrocities committed in the Warsaw Ghetto by the Germans but also of the many everyday Poles who did what they could to smuggle Jews out and to sabotage the Nazi operations, Antonina and Jan being part of this group. The writing was a little dry in places; but, overall, a very interesting and educational read about the war, the animals, and survival. ( )

This book was so promising. Check out the fascinating topics: the city zoo in Warsaw during WWII, the zookeeper and his wife harboring Jews, the operation of the Polish Underground, the Nazi effort to breed back extinct animals in order to return to earlier, purer races. There really isn’t much in this book that isn’t potentially interesting, but the author seems to have gotten lost wandering in her myriad threads. Too many are spun out briefly, then dropped and never fully explained, not to mention tied-up into some overall concept. At the same time, she repeats herself endlessly or follows pointless background bits that contribute little to the topics at hand, which she could have been developing more fully. Ultimately, I felt as though I’d snacked my way through 342 pages and was still waiting for a real meal. ( )

In The Zookeeper's Wife, Ackerman tells the story of the Warsaw zookeeper and his wife who saved around 300 people during World War II by hiding them in the bomb-ravaged zoo, both in the house and in the animal cages. I read this book weeks ago, but I am just now getting around to reviewing it, not because I didn't like the book, far from it, but reading and commenting on books about the Holocaust are emotional for me. I have no personal connection, no family members died in the war, I'm not Jewish, but for some reason, thinking about this time makes my heart hurt in a very real, very personal way. So it took time to process the novel.

The book focuses on Antonina Zabinski. She did not lead the exciting life of intrigue her husband did. Jan was a professor in the secret Warsaw university, he served in the underground Polish Army to fight the Nazis, and he helped smuggle people out of the country to safety. Antonina, however, did just one thing, but its importance can not be underestimated. She created a home for the Jews hiding at the zoo. Her story, her life, is worthy of retelling.

Antonina's journal provides the foundation for this novel, adding a very authentic and poetic tone. Her writing is beautiful and poignant, pulling emotion out of the readers, and Ackerman does a wonderful job intermingling historical fact with these more personal snippets. By the end of the novel, the reader has a very good sense of who Antonina was as a wife, mother, and friend. ( )