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A review by joypouros
Father of Lions: One Man's Remarkable Quest to Save Mosul's Zoo by Louise Callaghan
sad
slow-paced
2.0
A book about Dr. Amir would have been much more interesting.
They called him Father of Lions and the book pretends he was a zookeeper, but the reality is he was untrained and, while he loved animals, in the end the animals needed rescued from him. He tried to feed the animals, even at the expense of feeding his own family, but didn't have the food or funds to care for the animals. Dr. Amir came from Egypt and saved them.
The book was very informative about life in ISIS occupied Iraq, but in terms of comparing it to A Zookeeper's Wife, I found it very different.
Our main character here was reckless and unlikeable. It wasn't so much about a zoo as it was about poor animals wasting away in cages with no actual care. For much of the book, our protagonist can't even get to them to know if they are okay.
They called him Father of Lions and the book pretends he was a zookeeper, but the reality is he was untrained and, while he loved animals, in the end the animals needed rescued from him. He tried to feed the animals, even at the expense of feeding his own family, but didn't have the food or funds to care for the animals. Dr. Amir came from Egypt and saved them.
The book was very informative about life in ISIS occupied Iraq, but in terms of comparing it to A Zookeeper's Wife, I found it very different.
Our main character here was reckless and unlikeable. It wasn't so much about a zoo as it was about poor animals wasting away in cages with no actual care. For much of the book, our protagonist can't even get to them to know if they are okay.