The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story | 
 enlarge | Author: Diane Ackerman
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy New: $14.47
You Save: $9.48 (40%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  69 reviews
Sales Rank: 1111
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.3
ISBN: 0393061728
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5318350943841
EAN: 9780393061727
ASIN: 0393061728
Publication Date: September 4, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Amazon Significant Seven, September 2007: On the heels of Alan Weisman's The World Without Us I picked up Diane Ackerman's The Zookeeper's Wife. Both books take you to Poland's forest primeval, the Bialowieza, and paint a richly textured portrait of a natural world that few of us would recognize. The similarities end there, however, as Ackerman explores how that sense of natural order imploded under the Nazi occupation of Poland. Jan and Antonina Zabiniski--keepers of the Warsaw Zoo who sheltered Jews from the Warsaw ghetto--serve as Ackerman's lens to this moment in time, and she weaves their experiences and reflections so seamlessly into the story that it would be easy to read the book as Antonina's own miraculous memoir. Jan and Antonina's passion for life in all its diversity illustrates ever more powerfully just how narrow the Nazi worldview was, and what tragedy it wreaked. The Zookeeper's Wife is a powerful testament to their courage and--like Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise--brings this period of European history into intimate view. --Anne Bartholomew
Product Description
A true story—as powerful as Schindler's List—in which the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands.
When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw—and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the Polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants—otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes.
With her exuberant prose and exquisite sensitivity to the natural world, Diane Ackerman engages us viscerally in the lives of the zoo animals, their keepers, and their hidden visitors. She shows us how Antonina refused to give in to the penetrating fear of discovery, keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her. 8 pages of illustrations.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 64 more reviews...
 Lest we forget... July 1, 2008
I really enjoyed this book and the photos; I learned a lot. (It should be required reading.) It's well-researched, with notes, a bibliography, and an index. Not only did it flesh out the history, the characters were interesting--the people and the animals. (I loved the badger and the carnivorous rabbit.) Then there were the Nazis; we have to remember them as well...
Btw, not long after reading it, I came across Rick Steves' Europe: Poland on PBS. He covers the WWII history with photos and film footage and visits to the Holocaust museums, along with current events and people. He visited Warsaw, Krakow, and Auschwitz. Warsaw is full of Soviet-built blocky apartment buildings--a memorial to their occupation.
recommended by an actual zookeeper's wife June 30, 2008
This book was recommended to me by Suzi Hannah, Jack's wife. It is excellent. It makes history come alive, even the horrible history surrounding the holocaust. The story is obviously told with as much authenticity as possible. Any detail not known precisely is worded so you know which parts are true and which parts are only probably true. I recommend it strongly.
 VERY slow book June 25, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I am very interested in World War Two and the Holocaust so when I heard about this book I thought it would make an interesting read for a book club I belong too. I started it and only got to chapter four before I had to stop completely. I found the story to be plodding, and slow. The author also was very descriptive, which also took away from the story.
If you are looking for a good book about the Holocaust this book is not for you.
 Warming tale June 25, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
My husband and I had the opportunity to meet Diane Ackerman when she did a reading in our city. We both came out with the desire to read her book "The Zookeeper's Wife," and were rewarded greatly. The story of this people who hid Jews in their zoo to protect their lives during WWII is heartwarming and true. It shows us the need to have the courage to stand for what is right no matter what. It was well worth our time and much more.
Anna del C.
Author of "The Elf and the Princess"
The Elf and The Princess: The Silent Warrior Trilogy - Book One (The Silent Warrior Trilogy)
fascinating view of ordinary people in warsaw June 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Readers will learn a lot about conditions in warsaw during World War II and the heroic actions of ordinary Cchristians in helping the Jews escape the ghetto and hide out in various safe houses. i learned a lot about the Polish underground and the Resistance.
Ackerman is a naturalist and she includes a subplot about the nazis' interest in breeding prototype horses . She also describes the seasons beautifully and animals play a nice role in the story. She excels in description.
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