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Title: We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Change Their Lives Forever
ISBN: 1602860483
Author:
Benjamin Mee
Publicate Date: 2008-09-09
Publish: 2008-09-09
List Price: $24.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $12.47
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $12.49
Amazon Merchant Price: $16.47
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Powerful memoir
This was a pretty powerful memoir. It combines a family, a dream, hard work, and tragedy. I think for the most part all the elements are pretty well balanced. I was rooting for this family and the success of their zoo and dream. They worked tirelessly to make improvements for the animals and zoo while trying to remain a close-knit family as the author's wife passes away.
I loved reading about the author's wife and children, especially his love for his wife. I would have loved to learn a bit more about his other family members as well. The author's mother is mentioned several times but I would have liked to learn more about his siblings.
All the stories related to the zoo were pretty amazing. Multiple animal escapes, staff spats, and animal personalities. There was a great deal going on. And I loved it all! At times when the author was talking about the animal enclosers I had a hard time picturing exactly what he meant. I don't know if it was just me or if it's hard for a zoo outsider to understand these things. It was very rewarding to see the zoo's makeover from start to finish and see the staff form and come together to get the zoo ready for inspection.
This was a very original true story and I would like to learn more about this family and their zoo since this book was completed!
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2: Love this book!
This is a terrific book. Probably because it is something I always wished I could do.
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3: Not my usual cup of tea, but give me more!
Normally, no matter how interesting the topic, I never seem to finish any non-fiction books I pick up. They just never manage to raise my interest level to the point that I normally voraciously consume fiction.
This book is my exception.
I started by just leafing through and reading excerpts. It did not take long for the book to hook me in. I finally started from the beginning, and read the entire thing, cover to cover that very evening. It's a lovely tale, though tinged with sadness. I love the author's voice as he narrates his story. It is very conversational, and made me both laugh outloud, and shed a couple of tears. This is someone I'd love to get know, this book doesn't just tell a story, but lets you into someone's life.
This is an author I will look forward to reading more of.
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4: Mee Buries the Lead
Benjamin Mee's memoir delivers in so many unexpected ways that at times make it an emotional, enjoyable read. The "We Bought a Zoo" hook winds up being little more than a hook as a lot of the anecdotes about the purchase and pulling together of the unusual family business fail to deliver; but, Mee brings surprising humor, honesty and passion to the personal drama his family undergoes when his partner/wife is diagnosed with and eventually succumbs to a brain tumor.
His wife's story becomes the center of gravity that holds reading interest in spite of some antics by his family's newly acquired menagerie, a couple of colorful characters in the zoo acquisition, and the larger tale about the effort to take the failing animal park from disrepair to profitability.
While that turnaround of the titular zoo is supposed to provide the conflict, suspense and narrative weight, it just fails to deliver and it is really the more emotional family story that saves this from being a two-star "cute" book. If you're a "Marley & Me" fan or liked the current bestseller "Dewey," this might really work for you. Otherwise, I'd say its a so-so effort with a couple of really excellent moments that make it worth the read if you're looking for something to fill a gap in your reading list.
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5: Money Makes the Zoo Go 'Round....
We Bought A Zoo is subtitled: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Changed Their Lives Forever
Given that, the story takes a little time to get off the ground. We find the author, a free-lance writer, living in rural southern France with his wife & two children and refinishing two dirt-floor stone barns. When word comes through his sister that a dilapidated zoo in the English countryside is for sale, the author & his extended family takes action to purchase it. This is not an easy endeavor and the business details fill the first quarter of the book. Note also that a BBC film crew got wind of the endeavour and asked to film the process.
The thing is, I don't think I'd like Benjamin Mee if I met him in person. He uprooted his family once, by selling their beloved flat in London to move to his personal idyll in France, and then again, back to England because, after all, HE'D always wanted to own a zoo and now his French dream wasn't what he wanted after all. On both occasions, he overrode his wife Katherine. This was especially appalling to me the second time because Katherine was newly diagnosed with a brain tumour & receiving (excellent) treatment in France. The fact that his (possibly) dying wife wasn't enthused about this new venture didn't faze him a bit.
In addition, although Mee has experienced staff and certified professionals advising him, he ignores their advice in serious decisions at least twice that he reports. In both cases, things ended up favorably but, rather than be grateful for twists of fate that may have affected the situations, he boasts and struts.
But the story? Animal lovers, once you get past the purchase transaction, there's plenty of goodies for you amidst the details of the continuing financial issues, grim living conditions (for the family), and Katherine's disease and eventual death.
Imagine the day staff moved Tammy the tiger without proper restraint precaution, only to have the beast gain consciousness as they moved her. Mee describes the situation as being "beyond fear, to total calm". But the fear lingered when, sometime later, Mee & his brother are startled by a large animal moving behind them while checking some reservoir pipes, & spring to defend their lives - against the neighbor's cow. I believe they were less afraid when one of their younger wolves was running loose through the nearest town. And there is an amusing expos??: what happens "When Porcupines Go Bad".
Perhaps the most likable animal in the zoo was Zak, the elderly alpha wolf, who "maintained his grip on the pack now, not with brute force, but through sheer charisma and experience." The account of his surgery to save him from testicular cancer will be a source of angst among male readers and of glee to the women.
Mee's account of the peacock - which he evidently disdains - as a dumb, evolutionary mistake, is humorous. It also amuses me that Mee can describe the wonders of these animals and their behaviours and personalities and make attribution every time to the marvel of evolution, to the point, by his own admission, that it "[made] evolution sound (almost) like a religion".
That these creatures are so intelligently made, with abilities beyond what are needed for survival, and so varied is surely evidence of a designer, a creator. And since, according to Mee, the peacock (named, so he postulates, for the size of its brain), has that marvelous tail that is so "evolutionarily expensive", it really should be extinct by that theory. The last time I checked on the world's peacock population, that wasn't the case.
I would have loved to see more photographs of the animals Mee brings to life in his stories, but the colour pictures included are disappointing. Nearly half are of their project in France, and the ones of the animals include many that are not named in the book, and exclude many that are.
I really did learn a tremendous amount, though, about the running of a zoo. It's a highly regulated & examined business - and an almost unmaginably expensive one to run. The money and the struggle to get it, manage it & plan for making it, are a major part of the book. And, animal lovers with the same dream, please note that, despite the months of Herculean effort by Mee, his family & his staff, the zoo would not have succeeded financially if the BBC (whose film crew had been on location for those many months) had not run the four-part television series Titles "Ben's Zoo" in November of their opening year. That brought more paying visitors and made endless opportunities for additional moneymaking venues such as this book. Without that, the zoo would have closed, broke, after the first summer and the animals would have been disperse. In other words, "Kids, don't try this at home!"
Should you read it? Even though I personally dislike the author, he does write well and the book held my attention from beginning to end. There are no bogged down bits - it's all moving forward. If you like animals or are interested in learning about the world of zoos, then by all means - read it & enjoy!
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