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2008 Orion Book Award
The New York Times bestseller: a true story 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.
Ackerman (A Natural History of the Senses) tells the remarkable WWII story of Jan Zabinski, the director of the Warsaw Zoo, and his wife, Antonina, who, with courage and coolheaded ingenuity, sheltered 300 Jews as well as Polish resisters in their villa and in animal cages and sheds. Using Antonina's diaries, other contemporary sources and her own research in Poland, Ackerman takes us into the Warsaw ghetto and the 1943 Jewish uprising and also describes the Poles' revolt against the Nazi occupiers in 1944. She introduces us to such varied figures as Lutz Heck, the duplicitous head of the Berlin zoo; Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, spiritual head of the ghetto; and the leaders of Zegota, the Polish organization that rescued Jews. Ackerman reveals other rescuers, like Dr. Mada Walter, who helped many Jews "pass," giving "lessons on how to appear Aryan and not attract notice." Ackerman's writing is viscerally evocative, as in her description of the effects of the German bombing of the zoo area: "...the sky broke open and whistling fire hurtled down, cages exploded, moats rained upward, iron bars squealed as they wrenched apart." This suspenseful beautifully crafted story deserves a wide readership. 8 pages of illus. (Sept.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationThe 1939 Nazi bombing of Warsaw left its beloved zoo in ruins with many of its animals killed or wounded. Worse was to come when Berlin zoo director Lutz Heck had surviving rare species shipped back to Germany as part of a Nazi breeding program and held a New Year's Eve hunting party for German officers to finish off the remaining animals. Witnessing this horror was the zookeeper's wife, who wondered, as she recalled later in her memoirs, how many humans would die in the same manner in the coming months. As Antonina Zabinski and her husband, Jan, soon learned, the Nazis had targeted Poland's large Jewish population for extermination, and the couple, who were already supplying food to friends in the Warsaw Ghetto, pledged to help more Jews. And help they did. Ackerman's (A Natural History of the Senses) moving and eloquent narrative reveals how the zookeepers, with the aid of the Polish underground, boldly smuggled some 300 Jews out of the Ghetto and hid them in their villa and the zoo's empty cages. Based on Antonina's own memoirs and newspaper interviews, as well as Ackerman's own research in Poland, the result is an exciting and unforgettable portrait of courage and grace under fire. While some critics might feel she glosses over Polish anti-Semitism, Ackerman has done an invaluable service in bringing a little-known story of heroism and compassion to light. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ5/1/07; for a profile of Ackerman, see "Editors' Fall Picks," p. 32-38.-Ed.]
—Wilda Williams
Anonymous
Posted December 6, 2007
I wholly endorse the five star reviews already printed here. I find the most memorable aspects of the book are the instances in which Antonina was able to reach the goodness within apparently evil people through her calm communications. Although the descriptions at the beginning seemed lengthy, the book was hard to put down as it drew to the climax of the Polish uprising.
6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted December 26, 2007
It's a shame that this book misses the mark. The story of Jan and Antonnia deserves to be told by someone who can do it justice. The author can't even decide the narrative point of view, she never commits to it as either a novel or a documentary account, switching view points and adding obscure parenthetical references that are odd distractions. The run-on sentences are very hard to follow. Time and location shifts are vague and confusing too. I heard about this book through an interview with the author on Public Radio, but the interview was 10,000 times more entertaining than the book itself.
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 17, 2012
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What a great read! really enjoyed it. It was very easy for me to connect to the characters
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 12, 2009
Amazing history lesson.despite what man meant for evil - goodness continued to flourish. Interesting characters who persevered through a most awful time in history and their story wasn't lost. Thanks to the author for allowing us a glimpse into survival of ordinary folk in extraordinary times.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 22, 2012
I think every high school student should read this book,gives a great explanation of what nazisism was all about
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.FayeT
Posted June 2, 2011
I absolutely love reading anything set in this time period and love that the story is fact based. The book serves as a good reminder of the heroics that took place under extrordinary circumstances. The problem was the writing. The author can describe things beautifully as long as it is pleasent. I thought there were times when the UNpleasent details needed to be fleshed out further. Also, at times the story would FINALLY be moving along nicely and the author would go off on a tanget about some inconsequential detail that added nothing to the story and quite frankly she just got annoying. I would reccomend googling the family from the story to learn about them because the family's actions really were incredible but i would pass on the book. There are plenty of other WONDERFUL war-time stories out there. Cheers!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 14, 2010
The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane Ackerman, takes place during World War II, where a zoo ran by Jan and Antonina Zabinski in Poland, was able to hide and save over three-hundred lives. After Poland was invaded and their zoo was bombed, they started hiding some of the "guests;" who were the refugees that the Nazis were looking for throughout the war. They hid these guests in empty animal cages. This book is a very long book that takes a long time to read. I enjoyed the book particularly because it was about war, and I enjoy war stories. There was not much war-like action throughout the book which personally I did not really like, because I would have liked more action instead of everyone just hiding from the Nazis. If the author put more life into this book, then I would have enjoyed it more, because it feels mostly dull and unexciting at some times. The author really did not add war-like action like battles or fights. The next year's Juniors should read this book because although I personally did not like it as much as I would of liked, it still explains the history very well and about World War II, which helps a lot in history class. It is a high level reading, because it is about war, and how the Nazis took over and tried killing millions upon millions of people. It also thoroughly explains how these refugees were in hiding from the Nazis, because they knew if they got caught, they would be killed. In the book The Zookeepers Wife, Jan and Antonina took a huge risk by letting in over three hundred refugees who if found were going to be killed. If Jan and Antonina were caught, they would be killed immediately because they were hiding refugees in their home from the Nazi soldiers.
2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Being Jewish, I have often heard stories about how my ancestors hid during the war. What I find truly commendable is the non-Jews who risked their lives and the lives of the family members in order to harbor these Jews. They are like an extended family in my eyes. This book was extremely well-written and once you pick it up, you do not want to put it down.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 1, 2012
The E-Book table of contents jumps from page 12 to page 275 which makes it really hard to navigate to different pages in the book.
1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 23, 2011
Well worth it but a little more intense read. Def recommend and would LOVE to see it as a movie!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 20, 2010
Very interesting.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 15, 2010
I enjoyed the book overall. I was unaware of the level of hatred pointed directly at Poland during WWII and was unaware of their heroic efforts at resistance. As far as the writing, I felt the author was perhaps conflicted on whether she wanted to write a fiction or a non-fiction piece of work. I would have preferred a fiction book based on the real life of the protaganists. That would have allowed the author more freedom than she took to hypothesize what the characters were actually feeling.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted November 20, 2009
Learn about Warsaw during WWII. People did alot the help others survive.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 26, 2009
Although I was disappointed in the way the book ended -- or actually seemed to "fade out" -- I loved this book. One of the few books I've read about Warsaw and Poland during WWII that strangely, wasn't really depressing. It was disturbing and parts were heartbreaking, but over-all it was a great testament to human goodness.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 29, 2009
The description, the research, the deeply developed characters all woven together made me love this book. It covered an arena of WWII, occupied Poland, more specifically its capital, Warsaw, that I had not read or studied about outside my World History class in college. Once inside the drama, people, and intrigue, I was hooked--I had discovered a new favorite author: Diane Ackerman.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I found this historical novel to be very, very interesting. It was chosen for my book group but I am starting to get nervous that they will not have liked it as much as I did. Being that I am a history teacher I loved the fact that most of this novel was based on research by the author and told like a biography. I think that some people will find this style of book off putting.
The book tells the tail of a Zookeeper and his family who live in Warsaw at the start of WWII. The story tells the tail of this family (primarily the zookeeper's wife) during the Nazi occupation of Warsaw. The book tells the tale of what happened to the Jewish population of Warsaw, life in the Warsaw ghetto, and how the zookeeper's family helped as many people as possible. It was a great look into not only what life was like in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation, but what life was like for a family (particularly a housewife) during this era.
For me what I liked was the historical aspect of the book. I loved the first hand accounts of what life was like in the city during the war and what it was like for the Jews living in Warsaw during the occupation, reassignment to the ghetto, and eventual liquidation of the ghetto. More importantly the aspect that I loved about this book was it showed how average people did above average things to help the Jewish community during WWII. Everyone has heard of people the Schindler who saved thousands, but you never hear about all those who helped three or four people along the way. This book showed how one family made a difference for several people and risked their lives in the process. Not only is it a great historical piece, it also a great psychological piece in that it looks at the human condition and the desire to help others versus our desire to protect ourselves.
For those who love historical books this is a must read. I give the book **** according the the J. Kaye scale.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Such an insightful book that really led us into the mind of someone experiencing WWII firsthand. It's so important to remember what happened 60+ years ago so that it never happens again and to realize the horrible tragedy while also remembering the amazing people that helped the persecuted and helpless regardless of what religion or background. In addition it was so well written and delved into the thoughts and feelings surrounding the tragedy that was WWII while also exploring the individual repurcussions that go along with being so selfless. The characters were relatable and interesting and had depth so that you could envision them as real people dealing with a horrible time in history.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted July 6, 2009
A very well done, true story of righteous humanitarians - Jan and Antonina Zabinski.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 12, 2009
The fascinating story of Antonina, her husband and son, and their zoo in Warsaw in WWII is nearly ruined by the poor writing of this book. The author skips around in time and place, slipping in barely related anecdotes and reaching for unusual phrasing that distracts rather than enlightens (...she saw her son's face shriek"...). We are also held at a deliberate distance from Antonina's life, as we are told she would have done this, would have worn that (or maybe not). Repeated mention is made of Antonina being pregnant in the winter of 1942-3, but then she 'rises from her bed' with no further mention, either of a baby or its loss, as if nothing had ever happened. The story itself, however, is so compelling that I was willing to put up with the lamentable writing through to the end. Any credit for 'provocative', 'thrilling', 'touching', 'absorbing', and 'enlightening' go to Antonina herself: Ms Ackerman does not do her justice.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 9, 2009
I read this book through a book club and couldn't even get through the whole thing. It's not a book I would have chosen to read on my own but I was interested when I heard the storyline. However, the style of writing makes it difficult to read (run-ons, jumping back and forth, very little character description, etc). I never really "bonded" with the characters because the author jumps between narrative and documentary style writing. It should have been written as a ficitional story based on real life events to include more dialoge. There was also too much talk of animal killings and very little explanation of what was going on with the Jewish people in the zoo.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Overview
2008 Orion Book Award
The New York Times bestseller: a true story 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, ...