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The Zookeeper's War
In Berlin, who can you trust? A story of passion and sacrifice in a city battered by war ...It is 1943 and each night in a bomb shelter beneath the Berlin Zoo an Australian woman, Vera, shelters with her German husband, Axel, the zoo's director. Together, they struggle to look after the animals through the air raids and food shortages. When the zoo's staff is drafted into the army, forced labourers are sent in as replacements. At first, Vera finds the idea abhorrent, but gradually she realises that the new workers are the zoo's only hope, and forms an unlikely bond with one of them. This is a city where a foreign accent is a constant source of suspicion, where busybodies report the names of neighbours' dinner guests to the Gestapo. As tensions mount in the closing days of the war, nothing, and no one, it seems, can be trusted. The Zookeeper's War is a powerful novel of a marriage, and of a city collapsing. It confronts not only the brutality of war but the possibility of heroism a?? and delivers an ending that is both shocking and deeply moving.
384 pages
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
July 4, 2012
This book was really disappointing. I had to force myself to finish it and then was annoyed that I had because the ending was horrid. The characters are poorly formed;there's no contininuity in their thoughts and behaviours. I felt no empathy at all for the protagonist. I'm glad I just borrowed it from the library and didn't actually waste money buying it. This probably sounds like a harsh review - but this could have been an interesting story, because the scenario was promising, but the story the author composed in this setting was weak and poorly told.
March 13, 2013
The greatest strength of this book lies in the power of its language; simple, startlingly clear, yet deep and moving.
It being a war book, I expected a dull story with a million deaths and a shattered city. These happen, but there is nothing depressing about the book, though the story itself naturally brings one to the thoughts of war and its life shattering elements.
Vera and her husband Axel try to take care of a zoo in the middle of Berlin at the height of the second World War. The drama that unfolds is engaging, and the ending of the book is very touching. You emerge with a feeling that war is truly an ugly thing, that brings out the worst in men, as it does bring out the tenderest and purest of feelings in others.
It being a war book, I expected a dull story with a million deaths and a shattered city. These happen, but there is nothing depressing about the book, though the story itself naturally brings one to the thoughts of war and its life shattering elements.
Vera and her husband Axel try to take care of a zoo in the middle of Berlin at the height of the second World War. The drama that unfolds is engaging, and the ending of the book is very touching. You emerge with a feeling that war is truly an ugly thing, that brings out the worst in men, as it does bring out the tenderest and purest of feelings in others.
December 14, 2008
Interesting angle about the Second World War- about an Australian women who lives in Berlin, and who is married to a German man- the owner of the Berlin Zoo. She is forced to accept the help of the Ostarbeiter, from the Czech Republic, in running the zoo when all of the men are conscripted into the war, and eventually change her opinion of them.
July 6, 2014
HATE HATE HATE this book. I finished the last page and thought "what the heck was that??? What's the whole point??"
But a few good lines about marriage:
"He was the constant in her life. However forbidding the future might be, the man who lay at her side would make it endurable"
"Sometimes in marriage, the greatest virtue was endurance"
But a few good lines about marriage:
"He was the constant in her life. However forbidding the future might be, the man who lay at her side would make it endurable"
"Sometimes in marriage, the greatest virtue was endurance"
April 2, 2017
This story was different from others I have read that depict Berlin at the end of WWII. I enjoyed it, the writing is good, characters at times irritating but does not detract from the story. Didn't expect the event that happened at the end of the book.
Read
August 8, 2011Started off interesting enough and then ended on a really weird note. Bizarre. Would not recommend it to people as nothing is resolved ultimately.A pointless story.
November 1, 2020
The Zookeeper’s War won the inaugural Prime Minister’s Literary Award in 2008, an award I was most pleased to see introduced because it enhances the profile of our literature internationally. It’s also a lot of money for an author, and hopefully that means that the recipient can afford to spend more time writing!
However, I am a little surprised that this book won the award. It’s ok, it’s interesting to read, it’s well-researched (presumably) and it raises engaging questions for discussion – but it’s not writing that creates that sublime pleasure aroused by, for example, Kate Grenville’s or Matthew Condon’s writing. There were times, reading The Secret River and The Trout Opera, when I paused just to savour the prose, to delight in the imagery, or to admire the subtlety of characterisation or plot development. Conte’s book is more disturbing than pleasurable.
However, given the shortlist, perhaps his win is not so surprising. I haven’t heard of most of the books, and apart from David Malouf’s Complete Stories (which I haven’t yet read) I didn’t care much about chasing up those for which I’d read reviews. Burning In by Mireille Juchau; El Dorado by Dorothy Porter; Jamaica by Malcolm Knox; Sorry by Gail Jones; and The Widow and Her Hero by Tom Keneally (which I've now read, see my review) – a strange assortment that overlooked some of Australia’s finest writers.
Perhaps my ambivalence is inevitable given the subject matter of The Zookeeper’s War. Conte writes about an Australian woman, married to a German zookeeper, during the Fall of Berlin. Conte is at pains to stress their ignorance of Nazi atrocities, not just towards the end of the novel when Flavia’s Soviet ‘protector’ explains about the Death Camps (p341) but we see also that they didn’t want to know. When Vera tackles the Major about the Soviets using rape as a weapon of humiliation, he responds with a catalogue of German atrocities. Flavia (p339) and Vera (p340) both want to stop him, because they do know; Vera knew enough on page 13 to ‘craft a life in which she rarely had to mix with Nazis‘, contact we can assume that she would only want to avoid if she knew about their activities. I am not very sympathetic to the claim that Germans did not know what was going on. They certainly knew about the systematic discrimination, the forfeiture of property, the violence on the streets and the deportations. It beggars belief that 6 million Jews were killed and that ordinary Germans did not know it. Perhaps ‘space and warmth nurtured apathy’ in Australia (p16); but it wasn’t apathy that nurtured genocide in Germany, it was well-established and community-supported anti-Semitism.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2009/02/22/t...
However, I am a little surprised that this book won the award. It’s ok, it’s interesting to read, it’s well-researched (presumably) and it raises engaging questions for discussion – but it’s not writing that creates that sublime pleasure aroused by, for example, Kate Grenville’s or Matthew Condon’s writing. There were times, reading The Secret River and The Trout Opera, when I paused just to savour the prose, to delight in the imagery, or to admire the subtlety of characterisation or plot development. Conte’s book is more disturbing than pleasurable.
However, given the shortlist, perhaps his win is not so surprising. I haven’t heard of most of the books, and apart from David Malouf’s Complete Stories (which I haven’t yet read) I didn’t care much about chasing up those for which I’d read reviews. Burning In by Mireille Juchau; El Dorado by Dorothy Porter; Jamaica by Malcolm Knox; Sorry by Gail Jones; and The Widow and Her Hero by Tom Keneally (which I've now read, see my review) – a strange assortment that overlooked some of Australia’s finest writers.
Perhaps my ambivalence is inevitable given the subject matter of The Zookeeper’s War. Conte writes about an Australian woman, married to a German zookeeper, during the Fall of Berlin. Conte is at pains to stress their ignorance of Nazi atrocities, not just towards the end of the novel when Flavia’s Soviet ‘protector’ explains about the Death Camps (p341) but we see also that they didn’t want to know. When Vera tackles the Major about the Soviets using rape as a weapon of humiliation, he responds with a catalogue of German atrocities. Flavia (p339) and Vera (p340) both want to stop him, because they do know; Vera knew enough on page 13 to ‘craft a life in which she rarely had to mix with Nazis‘, contact we can assume that she would only want to avoid if she knew about their activities. I am not very sympathetic to the claim that Germans did not know what was going on. They certainly knew about the systematic discrimination, the forfeiture of property, the violence on the streets and the deportations. It beggars belief that 6 million Jews were killed and that ordinary Germans did not know it. Perhaps ‘space and warmth nurtured apathy’ in Australia (p16); but it wasn’t apathy that nurtured genocide in Germany, it was well-established and community-supported anti-Semitism.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2009/02/22/t...
October 2, 2018
If possible I would give it 3.5 stars. Different to what I expected but still very interesting. Just had a bit of trouble with the death and then butchering of animals in deep detail. I get it, during war animals die so they may as well cut them up and feed to the surviving animals because food is rare but a bit much at the beginning.... toward the end became very interesting although I did guess what was going to happen.
May 3, 2021
We listened to a fair chunk of this on audio, but eventually gave up. The main character is weakly drawn: temperamentally all over the shop, even before the bombing starts, and in spite of the goodness of her husband she seems to convince herself that somehow she's unsatisfied with him.
It sounded as though it might be an interesting read, but too much of the time is spent in a meandering sort of way without any sense of where the thing is going, let alone a plot.
It sounded as though it might be an interesting read, but too much of the time is spent in a meandering sort of way without any sense of where the thing is going, let alone a plot.
August 12, 2014
One of the worst books I've ever read -- I wish I could un-read it...
December 23, 2009
I have a tempestuous relationships with books about World War Two. I keep reading them, especially if they are set in Germany or written with German protagonists, and I keep getting very, very frustrated. I think my frustration comes partially with hindsight. How could so many people die in such horrific circumstances? And further – didn’t humanity learn anything from the huge loss of life? Apparently not. But still, I read accounts of very ordinary people and how Hitler’s War affected them and I am fascinated.
The Book Thief immediately springs to mind when I think of WWII based fiction. Also, Paullina Simons’ book, The Bronze Horseman and the classic kids novel, Number the Stars. There are hundreds more that I can’t remember well enough to name, but which all have made a deep impression on my thoughts about humanity. Then there are the movies.. have you seen Defiance? The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (possibly better as a book, but I haven’t gotten my hands on it yet)? Dreadful and heart-wrenching and beautiful all together.
The Zookeeper’s War is the story of Vera, an Australian woman, married to a German man and living in Berlin towards the end of the war. Her husband, Axel, is the director of the Berlin Zoo and they have been married since Axel came to Australia in search of new specimens and was awed by a younger Vera at a lecture he gave. After years of living in Berlin, Vera has close friends and can easily navigate the crowded city, but still feels slightly claustrophobic and out of place. In wartime, every foreigner is suspect and Vera suffers her husband’s political ineptitude and her friend Flavia’s treasonous activities along with the suffocating fear of being arrested for the simple crime of being ‘the other’. Alone and afraid, Vera finds comfort in the forbidden arms of a Czech Ostarbeiter, a prisoner of war.
The tension builds throughout the book. The zoo is mostly demolished by air raids, Axel and Vera relocated to a ruined flat, Flavia’s dashing younger lover is executed and the Russians march ever closer to Berlin as the German army spends itself at the front. When Berlin is finally taken by the Russians, the book culminates in an act of violence that shatters the very foundation of Axel and Vera’s relationship and closes on them preparing the pick up the many pieces of their lives. The book is an exhausting read and at several points I had to put it down and have a stiff drink before continuing. Flavia, ever the opportunist, becomes the mistress of a Russian major after the occupation of the city and brings him to meet her friends. After a halting conversation filled with horror and death, there is the following:
At that I threw the book across the room, frightening two cats and my girlfriend in the process. Here is why war books infuriate me so – the ignorance of it all. In all the recounts, fictional or biographical, that I have read, the common factor is ignorance. They simply didn’t know (or want to know). The scene where Kotler accidentally tells Elsa that they are burning Jews in the camps in The Boy in Striped Pyjamas comes to mind. Elsa is the wife of an Auschwitz commandant, surely she didn’t buy into the propaganda of ’summer camps’ for the Jewish. It seems, in The Zookeeper’s War, that only loyal Party members were aware of what exactly the Final Solution involved and they approved. Those who were quietly anti-nazi or not political at all remained in the dark, heads ducked into shadowy corners where they were safe and unaware. There are too many common factors with modern times for my liking. How many people are aware of what is happening in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Israel, Timor, Georgia, Democratic Republic of Congo, the Sudan? And the list goes on and on. I am incredibly ignorant, a fact I readily admit to and one I am trying desperately to change.
The Zookeeper’s War is not a short novel, coming in at 370+ pages it didn’t kill the cat but probably left bruises (sorry Frank) and its probably not something I would recommend for your handbag to read in queues and at traffic lights*. But I would recommend it. Steven Conte has created a well researched and very emotive book. The human drive to survive oppression at any cost is driven home with several examples. It’s admirable what the human species will endure and repulsive what some will do to survive and even prosper, and both sides of the spectrum are well represented in this text. At some points Vera sickened me, and then moments later I was praising her fortitude. Flavia lives a decadent, transitory life filled with excess, yet she is the only one openly hostile to Hitler even when facing arrest and execution. Axel is pointedly naive when it comes to the atrocities his countrymen are committing, but his loyalty to Vera and attachment to the zoo is a lasting fixture of the story. This is a book of contrasts, reflected in the contrasted emotions I experienced while reading. Anger and sympathy, disgust and joy – this book will bring on the full spectrum and ask the hard questions about the delicate balance of ignorance and action that are again so meaningful today.
The Book Thief immediately springs to mind when I think of WWII based fiction. Also, Paullina Simons’ book, The Bronze Horseman and the classic kids novel, Number the Stars. There are hundreds more that I can’t remember well enough to name, but which all have made a deep impression on my thoughts about humanity. Then there are the movies.. have you seen Defiance? The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (possibly better as a book, but I haven’t gotten my hands on it yet)? Dreadful and heart-wrenching and beautiful all together.
The Zookeeper’s War is the story of Vera, an Australian woman, married to a German man and living in Berlin towards the end of the war. Her husband, Axel, is the director of the Berlin Zoo and they have been married since Axel came to Australia in search of new specimens and was awed by a younger Vera at a lecture he gave. After years of living in Berlin, Vera has close friends and can easily navigate the crowded city, but still feels slightly claustrophobic and out of place. In wartime, every foreigner is suspect and Vera suffers her husband’s political ineptitude and her friend Flavia’s treasonous activities along with the suffocating fear of being arrested for the simple crime of being ‘the other’. Alone and afraid, Vera finds comfort in the forbidden arms of a Czech Ostarbeiter, a prisoner of war.
The tension builds throughout the book. The zoo is mostly demolished by air raids, Axel and Vera relocated to a ruined flat, Flavia’s dashing younger lover is executed and the Russians march ever closer to Berlin as the German army spends itself at the front. When Berlin is finally taken by the Russians, the book culminates in an act of violence that shatters the very foundation of Axel and Vera’s relationship and closes on them preparing the pick up the many pieces of their lives. The book is an exhausting read and at several points I had to put it down and have a stiff drink before continuing. Flavia, ever the opportunist, becomes the mistress of a Russian major after the occupation of the city and brings him to meet her friends. After a halting conversation filled with horror and death, there is the following:
He gazed into his mug and was quiet for a time, then as if struck by an afterthought he looked up again. ‘And of course there are the death camps.’
‘The death camps?’ asked Flavia.
The major looked at her strangely. ‘You haven’t heard?’
Flavia admitted she hadn’t and then Axel said the same, and by the time the major turned to Vera, her gut was tight with foreboding. Her denial sounded strangled.
‘None of you?’ asked the major. Like schoolchildren cowed by a difficult question, they shook their heads.
And so he told them.
At that I threw the book across the room, frightening two cats and my girlfriend in the process. Here is why war books infuriate me so – the ignorance of it all. In all the recounts, fictional or biographical, that I have read, the common factor is ignorance. They simply didn’t know (or want to know). The scene where Kotler accidentally tells Elsa that they are burning Jews in the camps in The Boy in Striped Pyjamas comes to mind. Elsa is the wife of an Auschwitz commandant, surely she didn’t buy into the propaganda of ’summer camps’ for the Jewish. It seems, in The Zookeeper’s War, that only loyal Party members were aware of what exactly the Final Solution involved and they approved. Those who were quietly anti-nazi or not political at all remained in the dark, heads ducked into shadowy corners where they were safe and unaware. There are too many common factors with modern times for my liking. How many people are aware of what is happening in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Israel, Timor, Georgia, Democratic Republic of Congo, the Sudan? And the list goes on and on. I am incredibly ignorant, a fact I readily admit to and one I am trying desperately to change.
The Zookeeper’s War is not a short novel, coming in at 370+ pages it didn’t kill the cat but probably left bruises (sorry Frank) and its probably not something I would recommend for your handbag to read in queues and at traffic lights*. But I would recommend it. Steven Conte has created a well researched and very emotive book. The human drive to survive oppression at any cost is driven home with several examples. It’s admirable what the human species will endure and repulsive what some will do to survive and even prosper, and both sides of the spectrum are well represented in this text. At some points Vera sickened me, and then moments later I was praising her fortitude. Flavia lives a decadent, transitory life filled with excess, yet she is the only one openly hostile to Hitler even when facing arrest and execution. Axel is pointedly naive when it comes to the atrocities his countrymen are committing, but his loyalty to Vera and attachment to the zoo is a lasting fixture of the story. This is a book of contrasts, reflected in the contrasted emotions I experienced while reading. Anger and sympathy, disgust and joy – this book will bring on the full spectrum and ask the hard questions about the delicate balance of ignorance and action that are again so meaningful today.
August 16, 2024
I don’t even know what to say about this book. At first I was bored and annoyed that I had to read more about an affair than the zoo and animals. Then there was the ending that was so ruthless and open ending.
There were a few points where i felt like i was gathering some meaning from it, but in total I couldn’t tell you what the purpose of this book being written.
There were a few points where i felt like i was gathering some meaning from it, but in total I couldn’t tell you what the purpose of this book being written.
March 15, 2019
I was tempted to read this book by its title. There was obvious connection with Zookeeper's Wife, which I rated quite high. Actually I prefer the movie over the book.
It looks, that reading the book about Warsaw Zoo and knowledge of some facts about its connection with Berlin Zoo completely disqualified Zookeeper's War.
Main character of Zookeeper's War is Alex Frey, a director of Berlin ZOO. He looks with sentiment at the portrait of his Father, who preceded him in this position.
So far, so good, I look into Wikipedia to check what I remember from Zookeeper's Wife - director of Berlin ZOO during the war was Luck Heck. Yes, his father preceded him in this position. And then... Mr Heck joined Nazi Party in 1937, but even before this he was enthusiast of National Socialism. He was personal friend of Herman Goring crazy about idea of reconstructing some mythical old German species of animals. As a Director of Berlin Zoo, in 1938, he passed a rule which prohibited Jews from visiting the zoo. On occasion of Hitler's birthday he was appointed a Professor.
During the war he was instrumental in pillaging the Warsaw Zoo, this is a role in which we can see him in Zookeeper's Wife.
More about Heck Luck achievements here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutz_Heck
I was quite surprised that an Australian author choose as a topic of his book such exotic theme as Berlin Zoo during the II World War. But I cannot comprehend why he did not bother to check the most essential facts.
No wonder I read the book with some dismay and great suspicion.
Well, I got some negative satisfaction - the book is not only based on totally false foundations, it is also terribly boring. Pages and pages of descriptions of city landscapes after carpet bombing.
It looks to me that the only reason for writing this book was to show some intramarital issues I have to admit there is some sense in it.
I was interested in final chapters - encounter with Red Army.
Disappointment again, generally not convincing and the final episode involving the main character I found simply disgusting.
It looks, that reading the book about Warsaw Zoo and knowledge of some facts about its connection with Berlin Zoo completely disqualified Zookeeper's War.
Main character of Zookeeper's War is Alex Frey, a director of Berlin ZOO. He looks with sentiment at the portrait of his Father, who preceded him in this position.
So far, so good, I look into Wikipedia to check what I remember from Zookeeper's Wife - director of Berlin ZOO during the war was Luck Heck. Yes, his father preceded him in this position. And then... Mr Heck joined Nazi Party in 1937, but even before this he was enthusiast of National Socialism. He was personal friend of Herman Goring crazy about idea of reconstructing some mythical old German species of animals. As a Director of Berlin Zoo, in 1938, he passed a rule which prohibited Jews from visiting the zoo. On occasion of Hitler's birthday he was appointed a Professor.
During the war he was instrumental in pillaging the Warsaw Zoo, this is a role in which we can see him in Zookeeper's Wife.
More about Heck Luck achievements here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutz_Heck
I was quite surprised that an Australian author choose as a topic of his book such exotic theme as Berlin Zoo during the II World War. But I cannot comprehend why he did not bother to check the most essential facts.
No wonder I read the book with some dismay and great suspicion.
Well, I got some negative satisfaction - the book is not only based on totally false foundations, it is also terribly boring. Pages and pages of descriptions of city landscapes after carpet bombing.
It looks to me that the only reason for writing this book was to show some intramarital issues I have to admit there is some sense in it.
I was interested in final chapters - encounter with Red Army.
Disappointment again, generally not convincing and the final episode involving the main character I found simply disgusting.
April 7, 2021
How do you run a zoo during a war when the animals are dying due to both air raids and hunger? Such is the predicament of Axel Frey and his Australian wife Vera in Berlin during World War II. Together they struggle with increasing shortages, the Wehrmacht's demands for more recruits from their workforce, and replacement workers drawn from forced labourers. As the war draws to a close, and the Red Army comes ever closer, tension builds and all suffer increasing privations. Will they survive the war and the subsequent Russian occupation?
It's an interesting tale, although I had some difficulty with the closing chapter. I gave it four stars.
It's an interesting tale, although I had some difficulty with the closing chapter. I gave it four stars.
September 23, 2019
What a disappointment. I was going to write a long review on this book but couldn't be bothered putting the energy in. The plot was set against one of the world's greatest tragedies, yet was just romantic, fickle slop. And very heavy on the fiction, not so much on fact - a pet peeve of mine when writing about true events. And such unlikable characters!
I scoffed and rolled my eyes way too much at some of the scenarios in this book, it was so hard to finish. There was so much potential for a book about the Berlin Zoo in WWII, but this in no way did that potential story justice.
I scoffed and rolled my eyes way too much at some of the scenarios in this book, it was so hard to finish. There was so much potential for a book about the Berlin Zoo in WWII, but this in no way did that potential story justice.
August 29, 2021
Australian Vera and her German husband Axel run a zoo in Berlin. When it's damaged in air-raids they struggle, helped by forced labourers one of whom Vera becomes close to. An interesting viewpoint from inside Berlin. Some graphic scenes as you'd expect in a war story. Another excellent read from Steven Conte (I also enjoyed The Tolstoy Estate) which won the Prime Minister's Literary Awards for fiction in 2008.
July 8, 2017
Two stars because I finished it.
I think I bought this intending to buy "The Zookeeper's Wife" - which has been made into a movie.
Anyway it was just OK - the plot had so much potential but the telling just wasn't quite right and the ending just made me think - well what was the point of that ?
I think I bought this intending to buy "The Zookeeper's Wife" - which has been made into a movie.
Anyway it was just OK - the plot had so much potential but the telling just wasn't quite right and the ending just made me think - well what was the point of that ?
July 25, 2021
Good book. Makes me want to go find a good historical novel on the breaking of the wall. The people were drawn well, the writing moved along. The information was good... I found it interesting. Recommended for history lovers... and zoo lovers - but its not so much about the animals as much as it is about the times and the people.
August 9, 2021
I actually give this a 1 1/2. It was pretty boring. Lot of characters and dates to keep track of. I listened to the audio book which usually lessens my enjoyment of books.
June 6, 2021
You don't often hear stories of WWII from the German point of view... but this is the first of two by Australian author, Steven Conte. It is the story of the collapsing of Berlin ... as well as the collapsing of a marriage. Axel and Vera Frey run the Berlin Zoo. Slowly food for the animals and workers for the cleaning and feeding gets harder to find. Ostarbeiters, or foreigners are brought in and one, Martin Krypic forms a relationship with Vera.
The main characters appear to unaware of the atrocities committed by the German army but react strangely when finally told. The novel is not without hope but also shows the ugliness of war and of what men will do when there are no boundaries and indoctrinated hate and dominance.
The main characters appear to unaware of the atrocities committed by the German army but react strangely when finally told. The novel is not without hope but also shows the ugliness of war and of what men will do when there are no boundaries and indoctrinated hate and dominance.
August 14, 2019
After finishing this book, I don’t really think I could say exactly what it was about. The story twists and winds to no clear purpose, but as a result it appears to be a snippet of real life where there’s no true beginning, middle or end. There’s no feeling of resolution and the final events certainly don’t provide any closure. The zoo is almost incidental to the narrative and while it provides a loose framework around which to weave the tale, the war itself gives this structure and renders the zoo somewhat useless.
The writing itself is very enjoyable to read, but I walked away feeling as I had been an unwelcome, eavesdropping intruder to the characters’ lives.
The writing itself is very enjoyable to read, but I walked away feeling as I had been an unwelcome, eavesdropping intruder to the characters’ lives.
April 27, 2023
The book needs to come with a BIG content warning, not suitable reading for those processing truma or sexual assault. It's an ok read, interesting as an Australian to think about Australia's stuck in Germany during the war. The characters are not simple in that they like real people are morally all over the place and I'm sure that many people reading won't like them and will find their actions irritating or even outraging. This book won't be for everyone but I got to the end of it and don't regret reading it.
July 4, 2017
Couldn't even finish it. Soooooo boring. If I'd wanted to read a history book on the war I would have gone to that section in the library. Author is lacking in creativity and fills the book with historical facts. Not that war history is dull but this book is LAME LAME LAME ..... oh and did I say DULL? Movie is fantastic though. So good job to Angela Workman (screenplay) and Niki Caro (Director) for seeing beyond the pages.
October 31, 2021
This book was sadly so disappointing. Lucky it wasn’t very long. It’s started hopeful and setting great but fizzled into nothing. The main characters decisions were very fragmented and I couldn’t really care for them enough. In the end literally nothing happened and your left without any satisfaction or true ending. It just ends randomly and abruptly in my opinion. Would not read again or recommend
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 14, 2024
Una historia "diferente" hacia el final de la 2GM; Conoceremos la vida matrimonial de Vera, mujer Irlandesa, casada con Axel, alemán que viven en Berlín y es el Director del Zoológico y en tiempos de guerra luchan por sacarlo a flote.
Una trama sin sobresaltos, pero a la vez interesante y que nos hace constatar el horror de la guerra.
Una trama sin sobresaltos, pero a la vez interesante y que nos hace constatar el horror de la guerra.
April 11, 2022
An interesting perspective of Vera, an Australian Anglophone and her German zookeeper husband, Axel during WW2. Be prepared for animal suffering, as much as human suffering. A Polish slave and a feisty friend make good side characters. Traumatic ending.
October 26, 2024
Cuando llegué a esta novela pensé que era el libro en el que se basaba la película #The zookeeper's wife pero nada que ver. Me gustó mucho, aunque a mí siempre el tema de la Segunda Guerra Mundial me apasiona. Una historia dura atravesada por una historia de amor, de amistad y de supervivencia.
January 1, 2025
It was an interesting story but I was hoping for them to be hiding Jewish people. The lady is from Australia but they really had zero impact on anything. It just abruptly ended,; I have a lot of questions about what happened to everyone.
September 24, 2025
My low rating is possibly a bit unfair. It’s not a bad book, in fact some of the writing is really beautiful. It just wasn’t what I was expecting. There’s barely anything about the zoo and is entirely about the people who work there.
July 24, 2017
A great debut novel. Really looking forward to Steven's next book - coming soon! Watch for it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews