Reading this book ten years after My Family and Other Animals - it was out of print for a long time, and I only just acquired a second-hand copy - I wouldn't say it was worth the wait, so much as something I knew I would have enjoyed greatly ten years ago, and did today, as well. It is, as expected, just lovely. Like My Family..., it is a collection of stories about the author and the five years he and his eccentric family spent on the Greek island of Corfu, where they moved when Durrell was ten. Mostly, it focuses on the animal life of the island, but detours into the family's various, gently hilarious mishaps and misadventures. Strictly speaking, this isn't a sequel to the earlier book, as it covers the same five-year period, merely telling different stories. And for that reason, I think it lacks something, as it can't by necessity tell the story of how the family arrived on the island, and why they live in three different villas while they're there, and thus it lacks the overarching structure of My Family and Other Animals, which I think is a better book in absolute terms.

However, it is charming. It's full of delightful detail, it is occasionally very very funny, and it does an immaculate job of evoking a lost, idyllic world of perfect sunshine and deep blue water. It is the perfect book to read on a sunny afternoon in the sunshine. And it is saved from the charge of being slight by its very last line; unlike its predecessor, it doesn't omit the reason the family were forced to leave their idyllic existence and return - 1939, and the outbreak of war. Relating how the family return by sea from a perfect summer evening, Durrell writes of, tragically, "...the beautiful sunlit days that were not to be." ( )

A welcome sequel to My Family and Other Animals. ( )

Hilarious follow-up to 'My Family and Other Animals'. Once again Gerald Durrell writes captivatingly and evocatively about Corfu, his family and the birds, beasts and insects that inhabit his childhood. ( )

Again, Durrell's beautiful luscious writing, and his ability to describe things so clearly and yet originally makes this book a gem.

He describes both his menagerie and his family with a cruel and biting pen, and brings the whole island of Corfu to life. I was *in love* with Gerry when I was a kid, ever since I got one of his books as a present for my tenth birthday. I used to read and reread his books again and again and take notes.

If you read his later books, you'll learn what this bug happy collecting boy grew up to be, and how he buit a Zoo of his own, which specailizes in conservation of endangered species. ( )

This book is a sequel of sorts to the first book My Relatives and Other Animals. Both are charming, heartwarming, and funny.

This book continues the stories of growing up in a foreign culture, in a warm wonderful place, and a with a fascination of the natural world.

Durrell has such charming ways of describing the various bugs, beasts and fish, including their inner thoughts and dialog. His descriptions evoke the simpler time of childhood. His family is well done too. Very funny and long suffering. ( )