Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Book Report: The Zookeeper's Wife



This is hardcore history dressed up with fictional interludes to streamline the narrative. You know what you're getting into here. A tale of torture and inhumanity, with animals as well as people suffering the spirit-crushing reach of the Nazi regime. I wasn't familiar with the Polish resistance beforehand, and learning about how the people risked everything they had to turn the tide and take back their homes only to find physical devastation, imprisonment and slaughter waiting for them was difficult to handle. Ackerman is very much on the nose with her symbolism, relating animalistic qualities to her heroine, and could have made more of an impact with her theories had she scaled back a lot. But overall, this is a fascinating, well-researched and resonant record of a sad yet inspiring tale of survival.

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