The Zookeeper's Wife

[Guest]

Diane Ackerman recently wrote a book called The Zookeeper's Wife. It's a true story. It's about a Polish family, consisting of a father, mother, and son, who live in and run a zoo prior to and during World War II. The father is the director of the zoo. The mother and son help take care of orphaned animals. During the Second World War, the family helps hide a lot of Jewish refugees from the Nazis. They use all kinds of ingenious methods to do so. One very interesting thing about the family is that they ran a fur farm during the war to provide fur for the war effort. They raised tanukis. Ackerman does not disparage or praise the fur farm. She treats it as a matter of fact. The family also raised pigs for food.

 

Tricia

[White Fox]

Interesting...

 

Sounds like a good read!

 

W

[Guest]

Ackerman does not devote a lot of pages to the fur farm. Read it for the story, not for the fur farm.

 

Tricia

[JGalanos]

This has been on my radar screen. One more reason to read it now.

[MAINLYMINK]

Diane Ackerman is a fine writer (and poet) and I seem to remember concluding that she must love fur: in her book "A Natural History of the Senses" she wrote about the look of winter sunshine on mink and the way it brings out the and shades of colour...

 

She writes beautifully and the above is a wonderful read. There is natural history in it, word etymology, all sorts of interesting things. Recommended!

 

(Hello, there, JGalanos!)

[JGalanos]

(Hello, there, JGalanos!)

 

Howdy!