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The Man Who Loved Crocodile Tamers
.The greatest tragedy of the family is the
unlived lives of the parents. - Carl Jung
GINA knows hardly anything about her father apart from the fact that he was once engaged to Koringa, a crocodile tamer, and that he is buried in an unmarked grave. In between shifts at a call centre, with Doubt always looking over her shoulder, she works on a novel about him, ultimately drawing back the curtains on a complex, sad but also funny and enchanting life.
The Man Who Loved Crocodile Tamers is a story about love, family, fear and the banishing of fear: a celebration of strong women and a defence of a 'nervous' man.
unlived lives of the parents. - Carl Jung
GINA knows hardly anything about her father apart from the fact that he was once engaged to Koringa, a crocodile tamer, and that he is buried in an unmarked grave. In between shifts at a call centre, with Doubt always looking over her shoulder, she works on a novel about him, ultimately drawing back the curtains on a complex, sad but also funny and enchanting life.
The Man Who Loved Crocodile Tamers is a story about love, family, fear and the banishing of fear: a celebration of strong women and a defence of a 'nervous' man.
- GenresFiction
361 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2022
106 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 1, 2022
Loved feeling my way through this Heath-Robinson contraption of a family - how lucky Gina is to have three sisters and four brothers, how unimaginably blessed. One thing that the nervous father -Paddy - 's wife says is that the army makes a man out of boys. This belief was widely held during the seventies (in South Africa anyhow), and personally I feel it destroyed many men in the saying of it. The character of the crocodile tamer herself is described truly magnificently: what a woman. I laughed out loud while reading this book, but at the same time it is emotionally wrenching, getting inside the head of a man who has indeed been destroyed - ruined! - by war and the army.
September 29, 2022
Such a beautifully crafted, charming story of the author’s attempt to get closer to her father - a complex, witty man utterly altered by war. Paddy did, indeed, love a crocodile tamer - the beguiling Koringa - what a life of enchantment it could have been! But life, love and war do not lead to enchantment. Dowling navigates the path of darkness with a light touch. It’s a moving, profoundly sad story - but one that celebrates family, love - and writing - too.
Interspersed with her father’s story, the fictional novelist wrestles doubt and depression - Dowling skilfully gets the rhythm just right so they act as reprieves of contemporary life and of a writer’s life…
PS: This is one book that should definitely NOT be judged by its cover. I can’t tell you what a disservice it is - the content is nothing like what the cover would have you believe.
Interspersed with her father’s story, the fictional novelist wrestles doubt and depression - Dowling skilfully gets the rhythm just right so they act as reprieves of contemporary life and of a writer’s life…
PS: This is one book that should definitely NOT be judged by its cover. I can’t tell you what a disservice it is - the content is nothing like what the cover would have you believe.
July 28, 2022
A beautiful book. This is my favourite Dowling read to date and I adore all her books. It’s a generous, loving, funny, poignant story that returns a damaged man, longing for love, to the very thing he craved. The healing works all ways, touching all.
A writer imagines the childhood of her father. In between her own musings on writing, her life, what she’s reading (she was reading Fermor today, now I am too), she conjures her father’s childhood, his obsession with Koringa, the crocodile tamer, his war years, his meeting and marrying the woman who will be mother to his tribe of children.
This book will appeal to an international audience, should and, I assume, will be read widely.
Many aspects resonate; my mother’s brother Neil, was captured at Sidi Rezegh, Egypt, transported to Italy. On the way the ship was torpedoed by the British not knowing their troops were on board. He was 22.
Again, I loved the return to love for her father. It’s something I resonate with, having a father who died in difficult circumstances.
Congratulations Finuala. This book is a triumph.
A writer imagines the childhood of her father. In between her own musings on writing, her life, what she’s reading (she was reading Fermor today, now I am too), she conjures her father’s childhood, his obsession with Koringa, the crocodile tamer, his war years, his meeting and marrying the woman who will be mother to his tribe of children.
This book will appeal to an international audience, should and, I assume, will be read widely.
Many aspects resonate; my mother’s brother Neil, was captured at Sidi Rezegh, Egypt, transported to Italy. On the way the ship was torpedoed by the British not knowing their troops were on board. He was 22.
Again, I loved the return to love for her father. It’s something I resonate with, having a father who died in difficult circumstances.
Congratulations Finuala. This book is a triumph.
May 21, 2022
It took a while for me to get into it, but then it gripped my and wouldn't let go. It left me shattered in a way only a brilliant book can leave you shattered.
December 30, 2022
I can't imagine what it took to write this book.
Maybe blood, sweat, tears, research, imagination and ancestors.
The man who loved crocodile tamers by Finuala Dowling, has taken me months to read.
I've picked it up and put it down again, waiting till I had the mental bandwidth for it. It requires and deserves a reader's full attention.
I think it's a novelised memoir, and it feels deeply personal. As she says in the Author's Note at the end, '... I made things up in order to reach that more elusive quantity, the truth.'
The 'Fragments from a writers diary' chapters are insightful and for me, collectible.
This book deserves to be on your book shelf.
Maybe blood, sweat, tears, research, imagination and ancestors.
The man who loved crocodile tamers by Finuala Dowling, has taken me months to read.
I've picked it up and put it down again, waiting till I had the mental bandwidth for it. It requires and deserves a reader's full attention.
I think it's a novelised memoir, and it feels deeply personal. As she says in the Author's Note at the end, '... I made things up in order to reach that more elusive quantity, the truth.'
The 'Fragments from a writers diary' chapters are insightful and for me, collectible.
This book deserves to be on your book shelf.
November 1, 2024
Throughout the book I connected with the current timeline the most, enjoying book references and quotes, Gina's musings on work, family, writing, life.
I found the other timeline an enchanting, entertaining and funny read up to the last ninety pages. The author sympathized greatly with Paddy on the last ninety pages, which was heartbreaking and affecting.
In the timeline of Apartheid South Africa, I had trouble empathizing with Paddy/ Vandy especially in two situations. One was where they mentioned their need and the improbable finding of an eight bedroom house for their family (seven remaining children plus parents). The other situation was when their one son's nanny had her day off and the parents were overwhelmed because of that fact. In both cases it is clear that they expected to have their need for comfort met, which for the Coloureds and Blacks would have been impossible to even think of. Their entitlement clearly reflects the time they lived in, but as I said, made me not empathize/ sympathize with them.
All in all this book is a very interesting mix of lighthearted and melancholy, interesting themes and a colourful cast of characters.
I found the other timeline an enchanting, entertaining and funny read up to the last ninety pages. The author sympathized greatly with Paddy on the last ninety pages, which was heartbreaking and affecting.
In the timeline of Apartheid South Africa, I had trouble empathizing with Paddy/ Vandy especially in two situations. One was where they mentioned their need and the improbable finding of an eight bedroom house for their family (seven remaining children plus parents). The other situation was when their one son's nanny had her day off and the parents were overwhelmed because of that fact. In both cases it is clear that they expected to have their need for comfort met, which for the Coloureds and Blacks would have been impossible to even think of. Their entitlement clearly reflects the time they lived in, but as I said, made me not empathize/ sympathize with them.
All in all this book is a very interesting mix of lighthearted and melancholy, interesting themes and a colourful cast of characters.
September 21, 2023
It took me a while to get into this book – in fact, for me, it only picked up after halfway through. It’s not an easy read - I found it profoundly sad but it celebrates love, family, and writing. I enjoyed the ‘Fragments from a Writer’s Diary’ chapters. I’m pleased I finished reading the book – there are things that will stay with me.
August 13, 2022
I really enjoyed this! Just sorry that we only have 5 stars. There are 2 stories here. The one is Gina's diary about her writing journey and the other is the book about her father she is writing. They work so well together which makes it a lovely read. 🤩
October 22, 2023
This book was a real struggle. I forced myself to finish it in the hope it would get better. No such luck. It touches on very important issues but the characters never develop fully and the reader is left wanting to know them more in-depth. Waste of money and time. Also of the books potential.
July 28, 2024
I’ve inadvertently and unknowingly been reading a heap of SA biographies recently and what a treat. This autobiography is funny and wry and fresh and sheds so much light on where I come from. Loved it all
December 13, 2025
Beautiful, powerful, insightful. I loved the switching between the story of the family, the father-man-boy and the author grappling with the writing.
The parts set in Cape Town’s Deep South of yesteryear were particularly rich for me. The same with the Gunston and Eno copywriting. Call it nostalgia, connection, remembering, knowing… the writing invokes all of these.
So much love, laughter and grappling with “family troubles”.
Just read it!
The parts set in Cape Town’s Deep South of yesteryear were particularly rich for me. The same with the Gunston and Eno copywriting. Call it nostalgia, connection, remembering, knowing… the writing invokes all of these.
So much love, laughter and grappling with “family troubles”.
Just read it!
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January 25, 2023Fascinating book
November 30, 2023
Unexpected, gorgeous, wonderful.
November 4, 2024
I loved this - a beautiful read. Well written
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews