I had high hopes for this book as I usually enjoy books on wartime. After hearing of the movie, I was more intrigued. I thought a zoo was a perfect place to hide and protect Jews during WWII. I was a little disappointed for a few reasons.
First of all, Ackerman took a style of writing that was 25% story and 75% fact. This combination would serve to create a more enjoyable read, but the switches were random and confusing. It was difficult to follow along with the facts and details only to be jarred back into the facts randomly and without cause. I think it would have been better had Ackerman chosen one method and stuck to it.
I was also unhappy with the content of the novel. It didn't seem to me like there was much about the Zabinski family. Sure, she talked about them and shared some of their experiences, but this was more a story about Warsaw and their war than the Zabinski's, which is fine, Warsaw has an incredible story in itself, but I was hoping for a story about the role the zoo and the Zabinski's played in the war. The parts that were about the Zabinski's and the zoo were very broad and there wasn't a whole lot of detail shared about either. Usually Ackerman pulled a quote from someone outside the story and applied that to whatever story she was sharing. I'm not sure if this is just because of a lack of facts about the Zabinski family, but it seemed like she had an interview with Rys and parts of Antonina's journal, but not much was shared, which was unfortunate.
This story is a brilliant one, and I'd like to see the movie to compare how that told the tale, but the writing I found to be weak.
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