Állatkert ​a kastély körül

The Zoo Memoirs #3

by Gerald Durrell

A szerző nevét igen jól ismeri az egész magyar olvasóközönség, nagy népszerűségnek örvendenek vidám regényei, amelyekben fontos szerepet játszanak az állatok (Vadászat felvevőgéppel, Rokonom, Rosy, Családom és más állatfajták, Madarak, vadak, rokonok) Gyermekkorának öt esztendejét töltötte Korfuban, a mediterrán állatvilág egyik paradicsomában, ott lett még kiskamasz fővel buzgó kutatója mindannak, ami csúszik- mászik, röpül, és szőre, tolla, pikkelye vagy páncélja van. Már felnőtt természetbúvárként, miután részt vett számos expedícióban, amely más állatkertek számára hozott haza állatokat, tesz szert a magáéra: rokoni megdöbbenésére valóra váltja gyermekkori álmát. Erről szól ez a lenyűgözően érdekes és mulatságos könyv, amelyet haszonnal forgathatnak fiatal és felnőtt olvasóink egyaránt.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, Biography, Humor, Memoir, Nature, Natural History

160 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Gerald "Gerry" Malcolm Durrell was born in India in 1925. His elder siblings are Lawrence Durrell, Leslie Durrell, and Margaret Durrell. His family settled on Corfu when Gerald was a boy and he spent his time studying its wildlife. He relates these experiences in the trilogy beginning with My Family And Other Animals, and continuing with Birds, Beasts, And Relatives and The Garden Of The Gods. In his books he writes with wry humour and great perception about both the humans and the animals he meets.

On leaving Corfu he returned to England to work on the staff of Whipsnade Park as a student keeper. His adventures there are told with characteristic energy in Beasts In My Belfry. A few years later, Gerald began organising his own animal-collecting expeditions. The first, to the Cameroons, was followed by expeditions to Paraguay, Argentina and Sierra Leone. He recounts these experiences in a number of books, including The Drunken Forest. Gerald also visited many countries while shooting various television series, including An Amateur Naturalist. In 1958 Gerald Durrell realised a lifelong dream when he set up the Jersey Zoological Park, followed a few years later by the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust.

Gerald was married twice; Jacquie Durrell (1951-1979), Lee Durrell (1979-1995).

Gerald Durrell's style is exuberant, passionate and acutely observed. He died in 1995.

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Durrell is a self-deprecating, kindly and often hilarious writer, whose love for animals shines throughout this book. The book is dated though. Would conscientious zoo owners now buy from disreputable animal dealers, or try and raise money on the sort of flying-by-the-seat-of-his-pants basis that he did? I also wondered about the size of the cages in his zoo and levels of stimulation provided for the animals. I felt he would have explored these issues were they important to him, but they were barely mentioned. All in all everything sounded a bit old fashioned. But then the book was written in 1964, and I think a lot of zoo practices have changed since then.

In spite of my reservations, the warmth and humour of Durrell's writing make this a good read, and we get to meet some wonderful animals.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The library owned copy I am reading has this blurb on the back cover: "republished to celebrate the centenary of Durrell's birth, this book is a testament to the enduring importance of conservation in a changing world, and the profound connection between the human and animal kingdoms."

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author runs a small zoo on the Isle of Jersey which specializes in animals endangered in their natural habitat. This is a fun collection of anecdotes about the antics of these animals and of the creative human solutions to animal problems.

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

ENGLISH: This is the fourth time I've read this book, which deals with the first years in Durrell's zoo.

In the chapters of the book, Durrell tells anecdotes about the animals he worked with at his own zoo. N'Pongo the gorilla is one of the best. An article at the end of he book, in this new edition, tells us that thirty years later N'Pongo has became an old lady with lots of descendants. Of course, she is another gorilla with the same name :-)

ESPAÑOL: Esta es la cuarta vez que he leído este libro, que cuenta los primeros años del zoo de Durrell.

En los capítulos de este libro, Durrell cuenta anécdotas sobre los animales con los que trabajó en su zoo. Uno de los mejores personajes es N'Pongo el gorila. En un artículo al final del libro, esta edición nos informa que 30 años más tarde N'Pongo se ha convertido en una anciana con muchos descendientes. Obviamente, se trata de otro gorila con el mismo nombre.

[Preethi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd say that reading Durell is a pure joy. Him narrating an otherwise serious issue like a snake in your bedroom also makes you laugh because of his exceptional story telling skills. Now imagine him talking about animals, and his zoo and how he acquired each animal and the escapades of those animals. I chuckled and laughed out loud in many places and thoroughly enjoyed the book!

[Ensiform · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of Durrell’s tales about animals, this time centered around the zoo in Jersey. Acquiring and caring for animals gives more charming, informative and sometimes strikingly funny episodes. Durrell’s prose style is as usual chronologically vague, with little structure — the book is really just a series of vignettes. Durrell’s fatuous personality comes through again, but not so much, and his trials and errors with the care of animals are understandable, considering his position as a pioneer in the field.

[Tegan Boundy · Rating 5 out of 5]

very amusing and entertaining. will definitely be reading more of his books.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like all of Gerald Durrell's books that I have read, this was a fun and fast read. I love reading his stories about his animal experiences. You always learn something new that any animal lover out there, will enjoy learning about.

This book talks about some of the animals that have made some lasting memories for Gerald during the first five years of his zoo, that he opened up on the Island of Jersey. There are some hilarious stories about animals escaping from their cages to some heart warming stories like, Topsy, a woolly monkey. When Gerald found her in a "dealer's" shop, she was sick and most likely going to die. He felt so sad for her, that he bought her and took her to Jersey. When she got there, she was so scared and didn't trust anyone, that the staff came up with an idea to use a stuffed teddy bear as a surrogate mother, for her. She became so attached to it, that when it was time to put her in with other monkeys, they had to intrudes a guinea pig named, Harold to help her get weaned from the teddy bear.

I can't wait to dive into another Gerald Durrell book sometime soon.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been years since I've read anything by Durrell, and this book has brought back the enjoyment I had when I was a teenager and reading such gems as Birds, Beasts, and Relatives - which sadly I have lost from my shelves.

In Menagerie Manor, Durrell recounts the efforts, good times, and bad times, experienced while setting up his Zoo in Jersey. The tale of the escaped tapir amused me considerably - as it is an event that I could picture my family being involved in. The plight of the two baby orangutans he discovered in Holland makes you sad, and through his writing, you can share the joy of their rehabilitation.

Gerald Durrell was a special human being, and his writing will fire you with the zeal of animal conservation - a project we should all be involved in.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having grown up on Gerald Durrell's books, it was an absolute delight to re-read Menagerie Manor - I think, for the third or fourth time. A series of often hysterical anecdotes from the first few years in the life of Durrell's Jersey zoo, the pages trip through the fingers, many of them adorned with wonderful drawings. Durrell himself is as fascinating as his stories although, fifty years on, it's inevitable parts have dated. Nevertheless, a joy from start to finish. I'm so pleased Bello books has reprinted the series.

[Chandan Sinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Don't judge a book by its cover' - we have heard this countless times before but that doesn't stop us from falling prey to it, right? I have been guilty of it and much more so in the case of this book. Now, it has been with me for the past 3 years since I picked it up as one of the filler books during the 'Lock The Box' event but I kept putting it aside for reading "later". From the outset (read 'cover'), it does look like a book about an illusionist producing live animals in a circus.

Well, finally its time came because I ran out of paperbacks available with me at the moment and I thought, let's just get it done with. What I found after turning that cover is...umm you know what? It IS about a magician, a magician named 'Gerald Durrell' who, through the magic of his words, stirs the emotion of his readers and gets them excited about the wonders of fauna. His illusions are deeply rooted in natural reality and not in the virtue of artificial deception. His pen movements are slick and his words are hypnotizing because before you know it, you may find yourself emotionally connecting with a reptile or a monkey or a porcupine whose sight would have frightened you or whose thoughts do not make it to some 6000 thoughts we normally have in a day.

In this book, the renowned naturalist and writer 'Gerald Durrell' (who I am guilty of not being aware of) has masterfully described his adventures of starting his own zoo and the consideration and caveats that comes with it. In 8 to 10 chapters, he lays down the account of his trials and tribulations, his admirations and the struggles in building a safe home where these wonderful, exotic and sometimes endangered animals live, play, and breed. Without giving away much about how fascinating each species can be in its own right, what stood out for me is how grounded this book is in its approach. It's not just about the fancy dream of a rich estate owner but the struggle-filled journey of an aspirational ordinary man.

The book starts with a notice about his account being overdrawn and then he briefly describes his struggles in obtaining land for his zoo. Money is a sporadic theme consistent throughout the book because believe me, conservation is a huge financial endeavor that hardly finds supporters in this capitalist economy where people see materialistic good and return on investment in everything. By joining Bird Club at my college and now being aware of the workings of one such organization (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), I can truly appreciate how hard and diligently environmentalists work with unregarded selflessness and underappreciated obscurity in safeguarding the precious biodiversity of our pristine nature. And names like Gerald Durell are instrumental in making their efforts known and making public aware that the animals of this world are not to be afraid of and ignored but to be celebrated and preserved. I am sure many of you have watched and marveled at Sir David Attenborough's iconic narration in BBC's nature documentaries and maybe some of you chose your career path being inspired by him and the incredible visuals of tantalizing wilderness. Menagerie Manor is a fantastic book in its entirety and I definitely look forward to reading more of his books in the future.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as drunken forest, less Alcohol puns. Was very relatable when he kept on asking ppl for money, was not very relatable when he actually got the money. Turns out asking money for a rare animal sanctuary is apparently more normal than Guinness on a Sunday but whatever.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book to read about a man starting his own zoo! The writing style is humorous, and the illustrations help you to understand how the various animals behave!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 almost 4. Not as funny as some of his others but still a nice little read

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75* series of loving, yet sometimes mis-guided, animal vignettes

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but delightful, especially for animal lovers.

[stranger · Rating 5 out of 5]

una lettura leggera, veloce, un libro piccolo molto scorrevole, l'ho letto in pochissimo tempo, parla di vicende della sua vita con degli animali nel suo zoo, tra l'altro esiste veramente questo zoo, mi ha preso un sacco, il modo in cui scrive questo autore è veramente rilassante

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Gerald Durrell's childhood dream -- to have a zoo of his own -- came true seven years ago. It happened out of the benign necessity of housing numerous birds and animals he could not bear to part with after a collecting trip to Africa. How he finally found the perfect place on the Isle of Jersey, and how life has been with his family of animals during those years, form this lively and frequently side-splitting book, accompanied by Ralph Thompson's delightful drawings of the individual animals.

"Mr. Durrell is always the first to laugh at himself, however chagrined he may be, and the problems of managing a zoo were an unforeseen and wildly assorted series of adventures. The human residents of the quiet neighborhood were tolerant of the newcomers: they hunted and donated special food for the diet of exotic feeders, and bore up well under the strain of meeting escapees such as Claudius the tapir, who liked night strolls along the roads. They even sponsored a fun d to purchase N'Pongo the gorilla, who had to be bedded down in the Durrell guest room until his own quarters were ready.

"But Durrell's light-hearted account of the zoo does not conceal its serious purpose. The zoo has become a National Trust to preserve species threatened with extinction and to experiment with breeding wild creatures in captivity. The five or six hundred animal inhabitants on the Isle of Jersey form one of the most interesting living labratories in the world -- and Durrell's stories about them have the quality and charm typical of his intimate love and knowledge of animals."
~~front & back flaps

Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust is a conservation organization with a mission to save species from extinction. Gerald Durrell founded the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust as a charitable institution in 1963 with the dodo as its symbol. The trust was renamed Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in its founder's honour on 26 March 1999 and is still in existence today (https://www.durrell.org/wildlife/) and currently is helping to rewild several habitats around the world.

This book is the funniest so far. I checked it out of the library yesterday, took it with me to eat dinner, laughed so hard the waitress thought I was choking, got about half-way through it and finished it when I got home. 180 pages of "side-splitting" adventures as well as stories about the difficulties of running a zoo or trying to coax animals to breed in captivity. One of my favorit4e books of all time!

[Jyoti · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a funny book -- quite a lot like Durrell's My Family and other Animals -- except this one was written when Durrell was married and possibly in his 50s. It provided an account of setting up of the Jersey Zoological Park in the UK and more specifically, how he acquired various animals and got them used to the life in a zoo. Many animals were apes and primates and expressive but many were also reptiles so unsocial. He mentioned that he had a particular liking for snakes and reptiles -- creatures that I find totally revolting! And still, Durrell managed to connect with his animals and had special characteristics or food preferences to relate about many. As also accounts of their sickness or breeding preference or some interesting or ghastly habit!
His purpose of setting up the zoo was mainly animal conservation, that he'd breed rare animals and save them from extinction. So, it's natural that there would be many unusual animals in his collection: other than baboons, gorillas and snakes, I hadn't heard of many like Mastigure (reptile), Tapir (a dog like mammal), Fernand's Skinks (lizard), Coatimundis (also like dogs), Piccaries (pig like mammals), Binturong and more. There were many birds that I hadn't heard of either. In all the cases, he'd give them a human name and no matter how expensive, or how broke he was, he'd try to arrange a partner for each animal for company and for a 'semblance of romance' in the animal's life in the zoo. That was sweet.
It was intriguing to find each chapter start with the beginning of a letter in italics--it'd be either from someone applying for a job or someone cursing. I didn't see any relation between the letter and that chapter but it'd reinforce the reality of Durrell's joys or travails.
The book provided a cleansing of mind and simple laughter that I was seeking.

[Ercsi91 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that can't be read in a quite place.
Advice for those who want to read this in the future -don't read it if you're in a library. Don't read it at one a.m when you're supposed to be in bed. Don't read it in the computer lab during class.
Cause if you burst out in laugh blame it on the writer. It happened to me a few times XD
This book tells the story if you have a zoo what are your duties and more important how can u manage to survive being not to became crazy XD Mr. Durrell said so...
This book was really fun to read, to bad it isn't longer( and I consider this just for a few books :P)-only 192p...:(
In my edition there where very cute drawings of animals too XD it gave back the atmosphere^^
I love the way Mr. Durrell has the talent to tell funny stories:D About the little monkey who things the Teddy Bear is his mother or how the gorillas had their marriage, or that his mother always admired the cute little animals,only his wife was all about " how does it cost us?"
Or how did they took back the escaped Claudius at midnight in the rain, or how did his lion learn how to growl ^O^
So I recommend this with pleasure for everyone:D

If you need information: Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust
c/o Jersey Zoological Park, Les Augres Manor, Trinity, Jersey, Channel Island.
And don't forget protect and love the animals:DDD

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anyone who has read "My Family and Other Animals" (the first book of the Corfu trilogy) or watched the PBS series "The Durrells in Confu" has laughed at the antics of young Gerald Durrell and his eccentric family. In this memoir, Durrell is an adult who has achieved his lifelong dream of owning a zoo. It's on the Isle of Jersey (off the southern coast of Britain) and there are plenty of amusing stories about the animal residents. It certainly wasn't as laugh out loud funny as the Corfu trilogy, because while the animals could certainly cause problems, none were as infuriating as Durrell's siblings! I did learn a lot about animals, and Durrell's passion for preserving and protecting wildlife shines thru on every page.

[Christopher Conn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Durrell writes about the zoo he established on the isle of Jersey in the Channel Islands in an old manor house. This book is more about what it's like to run a zoo and he tells a lot of interesting (and sometimes funny) stories. Over time he turned his zoo into a wildlife preserve for protecting and breeding rare animals and established a wildlife conservation organization that is still active today. An interesting book for Durrell fans and animal lovers.

[Stephen Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short but entertaining collection of tales from behind the scenes of Gerald Durrell’s zoo in Jersey during its first couple of years.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the stories of the animals are appalling by today's standards, Gerald Durrell is still an amazing storyteller with his heart in the right place. Durrell and his family open a zoo on the Jersey Island where they are committed to procuring endangered species and (hopefully) breeding them into non-extinction. Animals are adorable, humans are clueless and all works out well in the end.

[Taldragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

With his unfailing charm, Durrell tells the story of how he finally fulfilled his childhood dream of founding his own private zoo, the Manor of Les Augres, on the English Channel island of Jersey. With the help of an enduring wife, a selfless staff, and a reluctant bank manager, the zoo grows, and readers are treated to a colorful parade of the zoo's unusual animal inhabitants.

[Francesca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This brilliant chronicle narrates the first couple of years at Durrell's zoo in Jersey (the largest of the Channel Islands) and all the mayhem that came with! An interesting read that is jam-packed with his usual wit and humour. The description of the newly acquired primates were most charming.
Highly recommend; as any other Durrell book I have ever read!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fast and thoroughly enjoyable read by Durrell. This chronicles his establishment of his Jersey Zoo in 1959 for the purpose of conserving endangered animals. His storytelling is humorous as well as informational.

[Vandana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. I read My Family and Other Animals in High school and loved it. I think Mr. Durrell could write about absolutely anything and make it interesting and amusing.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was very funny and full of lovely animal stories from a very knowledgeable man.

[Ramona Springer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Endearing

Durrell has tales to tell about his animals and tells them in a most descriptive way. This is the second of his books which I have read.