I really enjoyed this true story about the owners of the Warsaw Zoo during WWII as they replaced animals with Jewish and Polish refugees.

I have read multiple WW2 books this year and it never ceases to amaze me how diverse each one has been! One war has created so many stories that I think it would take a lifetime to get through them all! The Zookeeper's Wife was no different! I think it is one of my top ten favorite WW2 books. I loved reading about Jan and Antonina's lives and the animals that came and went throughout the book. It's incredible how God can use a single family to save hundreds of Jews from the wrath of Hitler. I laugh every time I think about how the Zabinski family were hiding the Jews in the animal cages, right under the German's noses! The courage it must have taken to keep such a humungous secret and then the relief to make it through the war with only two Jews being caught is astounding! If you haven't read this book or seen the movie, I highly recommend that you do, it's a story you'll never forget!

Overall an enjoyable read, learned a lot about WWII in Poland... as far as quality of writing, not the best. Sometimes found it scattered, jumping back and forth between the zoo and historical lessons.

I’ve read a few WW2 biographical fiction type books, and this was similar to those except it was set in Poland. This story is a heart wrenching story about two Polish zookeepers, Jan and Antonina as they try to readjust to German invaded Poland. Once successful zoo owners, the two struggle to convert what space they have left to hide Jews who have escaped capture and are on their way to more permanent homes. We hear about how Jan is able to sneak into the ghettos, saving animal collections as well as people and how Antonina tries to maintain a household with many guests and raising her son, Rys, to not know too much, lest he spill the beans. I found myself getting a bit confused with some of the animal details, but to me that does not detract from the amazing strength of the Polish people who did everything in their power to maintain an underground way to save as many as they found. I was still struck by their strength and was excited to read about parts of their story as reminders of good in the world. I remember seeing this movie on Netflix as well and will definitely be watching that when I find some free time.

Excellent - I much preferred this view of WW II to In the Garden of Beasts. Ackerman finds a unique perspective in the story of the Warsaw zoo and its many inhabitants (of all species!).

This was a slow read for me because the author gets off topic with her over-the-top descriptions. I did love this book. The story was one I had not heard before and it's important enough that people should know it.

This book ranks as one of the worst books I ever read. I only suffered through it because of my interest in the subject. What should have been a fascinating story was destroyed but the author's inability to present a focused tale. The author frequently goes off on tangents and provides meaningless information that does advance the story.

DNF
Can't think I can continue reading this, it's not my genre and the WW is not my thing.

I broke my cardinal rule and watched the film before I read this book, but I'm glad that I did. I don't usually like to compare book to film adaptation, but in this case, there is such a drastic difference between the two, I think it's necessary. The book was very tell and not show. When Ackerman describes the scene, I'm reading words rather than seeing myself in this setting. The movie was so visually descriptive and there is so much atmosphere that comes from the plot itself. Being in Poland during the Nazi occupation, one can only imagine what it would be like. This is such an important story and I wanted so much for this book to be good but the writing was disastrous. It was choppy and overly adjective. This book was not good and it's a shame because this story was based on true events and someone more capable should have been the one to share it.

It took me a long time to get through this book, so I only give it an "it was OK" rating. The story got interesting towards the end, and I do appreciate WW2 stories, but this one just had too slow of a start for me to put it on my "top reads" list.