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starsal 's review for:
All Things Wise and Wonderful
by James Herriot
In the course of my successive re-reads of James Herriot's books as a child, I would routinely skip this one, which I thought of as "the sad one." It is sad. In it, Herriot covers the years during World War II, including his service in the Royal Air Force. It is no heroic, chest-thumping saga. He talks about homesickness, about missing his wife and worrying about the birth of their first child, and about being lonely and scared. It's not as happy or bubbly as some of his other books, but, now that I've reread it as a card-carrying adult, I now realize it may be the most touching of all the books.
Herriot doesn't worry too much about strict chronology, and he doesn't try to hide the fact that most of the time his RAF life serves only as a backdrop to his memoirs, stitched in with hasty segues. Some of the anecdotes told in this book are the most affecting of all of his stories. There are many tearjerkers: some for very sad stories, but many for heartbreakingly joyous ones, told amongst desperate situations. In this book lurk Blossom, the cow who came home; Oscar the cat-about-town; Debbie the Christmas cat; and Jingo and Skipper, best friends. It's a wonderful, stirring book, and shouldn't be missed. Even if it is "sad."
Herriot doesn't worry too much about strict chronology, and he doesn't try to hide the fact that most of the time his RAF life serves only as a backdrop to his memoirs, stitched in with hasty segues. Some of the anecdotes told in this book are the most affecting of all of his stories. There are many tearjerkers: some for very sad stories, but many for heartbreakingly joyous ones, told amongst desperate situations. In this book lurk Blossom, the cow who came home; Oscar the cat-about-town; Debbie the Christmas cat; and Jingo and Skipper, best friends. It's a wonderful, stirring book, and shouldn't be missed. Even if it is "sad."