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emscji 's review for:
Jamrach's Menagerie
by Carol Birch
10/8/11: I've never changed my opinion of a book in the course of reading it as many times as I did with this one--and then ended up loving it so much. Starting with a charming encounter between a small boy and a tiger, and ending with that boy as a mature man, the novel moves through many lives and experiences, highs and lows, dull stretches and crises. As I was reading, I kept thinking, okay, this part is a little slow, or contrived, or out of place; and what the heck was THAT all about? But the impact of this story is brilliantly cumulative, and the last 50 pages bring it all together awfully, sadly, beautifully, quietly.
Jaffy Brown has lived through something few of us have ever even had to consider, and he becomes, after all, a wonderful and most human human being. All the pieces and people and strings of his life experience, which seemed so random and unconnected as they happened, come together, though not in a contrived way, just in that he is that person who lived through all of it, and he is a fully realized and understandable person. And there is so much to learn about human nature in understanding him.
Birch's writing is sturdy--sometimes lovely, but also sometimes a bit strained--so getting through this novel does require some patience. I think it's worth it, though. But I'd love to hear what others think. On the one hand, the novel is unremarkable--but on the other, it keeps coming back to haunt me. Which means it's good, I think!
Jaffy Brown has lived through something few of us have ever even had to consider, and he becomes, after all, a wonderful and most human human being. All the pieces and people and strings of his life experience, which seemed so random and unconnected as they happened, come together, though not in a contrived way, just in that he is that person who lived through all of it, and he is a fully realized and understandable person. And there is so much to learn about human nature in understanding him.
Birch's writing is sturdy--sometimes lovely, but also sometimes a bit strained--so getting through this novel does require some patience. I think it's worth it, though. But I'd love to hear what others think. On the one hand, the novel is unremarkable--but on the other, it keeps coming back to haunt me. Which means it's good, I think!