Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The Zookeeper’s Wife, a true story set in Warsaw, Poland at the onset of WWII, is both horrifying and endearing on a scale I’ve not experienced in years. Antonina lives with her husband and small son in a villa on the zoo grounds. They are extremely knowledgeable about the animals in their care; each one with their individual quirks, and all loved like family. The zoo is well ahead of its time in providing natural habitats for its residents. Laid out like a lush garden, it’s a world famous showplace, a haven for both people and animals. Then the Nazis come with their tanks and bombs and total disregard for life. Drunken Gestapo agents shoot animals in their cages for sport. A pig the son is caring for is snatched away and butchered. But somehow the family manages, by one clever ploy after another, to remain at the villa where they daringly rescue Jews and work in the resistance. Yet through all the fear and deprivation, the spirit triumphs. Yes, at times Ackerman indulges in excessive scene-setting, eulogizing linden trees, for instance. Or she'll go off on a pages-long explanatory tangent - which, despite my impatient nature, nearly always proved fascinating. But all-in-all, I'd have to rank The Zookeeper's Wife right up there with Leon Uris' Mila 18 for a story that will haunt you forever.