Birds, Beasts, and Relatives
So when I began listening to this, the second of Gerald Durrell’s Corfu Trilogy,I was thinking this is supposed to be funny, but then I actually caught myself smiling! By the end, when this family had thoroughly taken me in, I was laughing outright. Here, in this book, the naturalist, conservationist and author writes of his youth in Corfu during the thirties. This is a very Victorian, English family, and I don’t usually enjoy the formality and stiffness of Victorian mores. Yet this family is anything but stiff. The author makes insects and spiders and snails and fish, well, exceptionally interesting! His love for all varieties of animals shines through in his writing. These spiders, these insects, and even the ugliest of fish somehow seem marvelous and, yes, downright beautiful. Did you know that a snail is BOTH male and female and mating is quite magical? The male part of each snail shoots out a calcium composed arrow into the female part of the other snail. They are drawn together closer and closer. They tingle …….and the arrows dissolve. That is sex for a snail! Amazing!
Interesting and funny are the words I would use to describe this book. The bizarre antics of this family are amusing, and the dialogs between siblings are real……not sweet talk for a book, but the real thing. Larry, Gerald’s older brother, he does not mince words.
The audiobook is narrated by Nigel Davenport, and he is so British! In a good way. The characters in this book, well they are “characters”; their personalities are adroitly reflected in their respective voices. There is a Swede and visitors from other diverse countries; you’ve quite simply got to hear this. Good lines and good narration!
What a family. Did you know that it is Gerald’s brother, Larry, or Lawrence, who wrote the Alexandria Quartet? I will be reading that soon too. Completely different personalities and completely different writing styles. Tell me; are you similar to your siblings? I am not! So why should they be? It is interesting to look at the family that produced these two authors.
