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A review by juliet15
The Lady and the Panda: The True Adventures of the First American Explorer to Bring Back China's Most Exotic Animal by Vicki Constantine Croke
adventurous
sad
slow-paced
3.0
I’m conflicted with this review, because although this wasn’t a bad book, it just wasn’t for me.
I appreciated the history and the descriptions of life back in the mid-late 1930s, in both America and China. What a crazy time! Ruth Harkness seems like she was an early feminist and would have been a great person to have in your circle of friends. I could relate to her in many ways, especially in her yearning for adventure and desire to live a different life than what’s been handed to you.
We also both love animals. However this is also where we differ, and why I struggled with this book. I completely understand that things were different back then. I understand that this is how zoos acquired animals and museums acquired pelts. I do get it. But I also really don’t want to read about that in any sort of detail. It breaks my heart to imagine the incredible suffering that these animals went through (and still go through) at the hands of man. And how many died such pointless, needless deaths. I felt only slight relief when Harkness finally came to this same conclusion herself.
It is history. And if it won’t bother you to read about it, then I’d recommend this book. This is just the one subject I prefer to avoid whenever possible.
I appreciated the history and the descriptions of life back in the mid-late 1930s, in both America and China. What a crazy time! Ruth Harkness seems like she was an early feminist and would have been a great person to have in your circle of friends. I could relate to her in many ways, especially in her yearning for adventure and desire to live a different life than what’s been handed to you.
We also both love animals. However this is also where we differ, and why I struggled with this book. I completely understand that things were different back then. I understand that this is how zoos acquired animals and museums acquired pelts. I do get it. But I also really don’t want to read about that in any sort of detail. It breaks my heart to imagine the incredible suffering that these animals went through (and still go through) at the hands of man. And how many died such pointless, needless deaths. I felt only slight relief when Harkness finally came to this same conclusion herself.
It is history. And if it won’t bother you to read about it, then I’d recommend this book. This is just the one subject I prefer to avoid whenever possible.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty