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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
This is one of those books that will have you, literally, doubled over, gasping for breath, crying you will be laughing so hard. From the moment you open the book, it's absolutely hilarious. Let me put it this way: I have zero interest in bugs, birds, or the island of Corfu. and I've read this book at LEAST half a dozen times.
I simply adored this book. Maybe that is why it took me five months to read it, because I was savoring every morsel. I, first, saw the Masterpiece Theatre film of the book and fell in love. The book did not disappoint. Set in the 30s in Corfu, Greece, Gerry Durrell is 10 years old and a budding naturalist if ever there was one. Though, the book's description of Corfu's flora and fauna receive a rich and elaborate description, it's the interactions of the family that I adore. Larry, the eldest brother and a writer is one of my faves. Leslie is Gerry's gun-obsessed, snake hating brother, and Margo like many teenage girls worries about her acne and boys. But nothing beats their wonderful mother. To finish this book on mother's day is only fitting. I highly recommend this one! Now, I'm determined to watch the movie again.
funny
relaxing
fast-paced
An engaging, entertaining, and very funny account of a family out of its element. Durrell's use of the language of epic battles to describe family mishaps is hilarious. I'm looking forward the sequels.
"Your laughter is disturbing me," said my husband from three rooms away. Perhaps it was this sally:
"'Don't move ... keep quite still, unless you want your legs taken off at the knee!' Larry informed the company. As a statement calculated to quell alarm, it left a lot to be desired. Everybody rose in a body and vacated the table."
Between the dreamy beauty of Corfu before tourism, the youthful fascination with every living thing (from a battle between a gecko and a praying mantis to the description of the scent of lilies that only bloom at one inland lake fringed by glittering white sand), and the riotous adventures that result when four adults share a villa with an inquisitive ten year old, this book alternatively enchants and amuses. Loved it!
"'Don't move ... keep quite still, unless you want your legs taken off at the knee!' Larry informed the company. As a statement calculated to quell alarm, it left a lot to be desired. Everybody rose in a body and vacated the table."
Between the dreamy beauty of Corfu before tourism, the youthful fascination with every living thing (from a battle between a gecko and a praying mantis to the description of the scent of lilies that only bloom at one inland lake fringed by glittering white sand), and the riotous adventures that result when four adults share a villa with an inquisitive ten year old, this book alternatively enchants and amuses. Loved it!
Fun and entertaining. A wonderful person to get to know.
I'm somewhat torn on how to rate this book. While I found it to be an amusing and sweet light read filled with animal antics, I also thought it was a bit bogged down with overly detailed descriptions of landscapes and wildlife. I'm going with the middle ground- 3 stars.
2007 bookcrossing journal:
I can't decide if this is straight biography, fiction, or fiction inspired and based very closely on his life. In the biography notes at the front of the book it mentions that Durrell did spend some years on Corfu with his family. But on the back of the book Penguin have marked it as fiction. Oh, I am so easily confussed!
Anyway, this is set in the earlier half of the twentieth century, following a family of one mother and four children (three of which are young adults) out to Corfu to live - a decision made on a bit of a whim, as most things they do seem to be. They must be the eccentric upper class, as they can afford to do all this, but never actually work. And what a life! Our narrator, Gerry, a ten year old boy, sets out into the countryside with his trusty dog Roger and explores Corfu: making friends with the locals and finding out a lot about the local wildlife. And there are tortoises roaming about on the hills there! I was quite jealous as I would have loved a tortoise when I was little. The people that feature in this story all seem to be charming eccentrics, from their rough and hairy taxi driver and all-round helper Spiro to the bug encyclopedia on legs, Theodore. And all of Gerry's pets who cause regular chaos in the household. I thought the Magenpies were great. In his writing you can see he has a great respect for the animals, and sees them all as individuals with their own personalities.
The only thing I didn't like - not so much about the book as the way he carried on - was this obsessive collecting of specimins, and picking up nearly every type of animal out of the wild and force it to be domesticated. Ok, so this is probably the after effects of the collecting-mad attitude of the Victorians. And the book is of course several decades old, so you can't apply modern standards to it in the same way. Although I think people still do this, which does irritate me. A couple of days ago my boss was saying that someone they knew had seen a slow worm - put it in a box and given it to her daughter. So this poor sodding slow worm is now stuck in a box in their utility room. I bit my tongue and said nothing.
I can't decide if this is straight biography, fiction, or fiction inspired and based very closely on his life. In the biography notes at the front of the book it mentions that Durrell did spend some years on Corfu with his family. But on the back of the book Penguin have marked it as fiction. Oh, I am so easily confussed!
Anyway, this is set in the earlier half of the twentieth century, following a family of one mother and four children (three of which are young adults) out to Corfu to live - a decision made on a bit of a whim, as most things they do seem to be. They must be the eccentric upper class, as they can afford to do all this, but never actually work. And what a life! Our narrator, Gerry, a ten year old boy, sets out into the countryside with his trusty dog Roger and explores Corfu: making friends with the locals and finding out a lot about the local wildlife. And there are tortoises roaming about on the hills there! I was quite jealous as I would have loved a tortoise when I was little. The people that feature in this story all seem to be charming eccentrics, from their rough and hairy taxi driver and all-round helper Spiro to the bug encyclopedia on legs, Theodore. And all of Gerry's pets who cause regular chaos in the household. I thought the Magenpies were great. In his writing you can see he has a great respect for the animals, and sees them all as individuals with their own personalities.
The only thing I didn't like - not so much about the book as the way he carried on - was this obsessive collecting of specimins, and picking up nearly every type of animal out of the wild and force it to be domesticated. Ok, so this is probably the after effects of the collecting-mad attitude of the Victorians. And the book is of course several decades old, so you can't apply modern standards to it in the same way. Although I think people still do this, which does irritate me. A couple of days ago my boss was saying that someone they knew had seen a slow worm - put it in a box and given it to her daughter. So this poor sodding slow worm is now stuck in a box in their utility room. I bit my tongue and said nothing.