The antidote to stress

I love these little stories in this book, which is a follow up to My family and Other Animals. Set in pre war Greece / Corfu, Gerald Durrell, a boy at the time, describes the exploits and adventures of his eccentric family. Some scenes had me laughing out loud, and the authors powers of description were such that at times i could almost feel the warm Greek sun on my face ................ the perfect antidote to modern day stresses, let yourself be transported in time and place..............

12 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Totally entertaining fun

I cannot give this book enough stars. Even with certain things that could be considered detractors, I just loved this book as much as I loved the first one, and will no doubt, listen to it over and over again. Even with the narrator at times making strange breathing noises in his more animated characterizations, and other swallowing or mouth sounds, I still totally enjoyed it. His quirky characterizations and narration actually brings the story to life. The humor is SO extremely dry that on first glance it would appear to be dull. But, this crazy and eccentric family has kept me entertained and laughing through another book and wondering what will they do next.

I was first introduced to Gerald Durrell when his first book, My Family and other Animals showed up on my kids' reading list. I was dreading it, as I don't always get British humor. Nor was I expecting it to be humorous at all. I thought it was about a naturalist exploring Corfu. And, I think what makes this work so well is that he isn't trying to be funny. He's just telling stories of his childhood as seen through his child's eyes while being part of this totally unconventional, yet very "English" family. It's full of colorful characters, laugh out loud moments, and just so much fun. I'm on to the third book in the series.

5 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Incredibly descriptive - it takes you there

Would you consider the audio edition of Birds, Beasts and Relatives to be better than the print version?

No, they are both good in their own way

Who was your favorite character and why?

Spiro , I want to meet him !

What about Nigel Davenport’s performance did you like?

The way he altered his voice for each character

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Picturesque Corfu

Any additional comments?

Really glad you did this one - loved the book and loved the audio book

4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

One of my favorites by Gerald Durrell

Nigel Davenport narrates "Birds, Beasts, and Relatives" very nicely, although I was a bit surprised at some of his character voicing, and there was some inconsistency with how the characters were voiced in "My Family and Other Animals".

Overall I believe current Durrell fans and anyone who enjoys well-crafted, very funny stories about 1930s-era family dynamics will enjoy this reading.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Delightful listening

After watching the first season of The Durrells in Corfu on Masterpiece, I decided I'd like to listen to the trilogy books. I found that the first volume was not available as an audio book, so I read it. I enjoyed it, and now listened to the second volume from Audible. There is some slight overlap in that the author repeats some key aspects of certain characters and events, or tells us about something we already learned about in the first volume. I get why he does it - he doesn't want to assume that everyone who reads the second volume read the first, but I would have preferred if that were not necessary. Nevertheless, I found the stories delightful, the writing to be superb in its use of language. The characters are so much fun. Though I like science, I did think that sometimes the detail on the creatures could be a bit overdone in the context of these stories, but I certainly absorbed some of it and learned about critters that I didn't know much about. The performance was superb. An absolute pleasure, including the various voices and the Greek accents. I sometimes call out the aspects of various wonderful books that are troublesome, in spite of the value of the book as literature. I am referring to stereotypes of ethnic groups, and similar problems. This time it is the description of the Roma that is unfortunate. I do hope that anyone who listens to (or reads) this book will consider how dangerous it is to generalize that way about any group of people. The description might reflect what the author really perceived (and he was a child), but he wrote it as an adult, and such descriptions of people should be considered in context.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Other animals

An old friend of a book that never fails to amuse and delight. a charming story in a time long gone.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

A Rollicking Good Time

What was one of the most memorable moments of Birds, Beasts and Relatives?

There were too many great stories to choose just one. The narration really makes this book "sing." The ending was very lovely.

Which character – as performed by Nigel Davenport – was your favorite?

My favorite character was the mother. She had so many good retorts. The narrator gave so much life to each character though.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Especially in the second book, there were some really wonderful descriptions of the island and its inhabitants.

Any additional comments?

The production values in the first part of this book seemed off - very fast. So I slowed my IPod down to 1.75. After continuing to listen for some time, it sounded just like in My Family and other Animals which I had just read before I started this book.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

pleasant listening

interesting and funny and pleasant. I have listened to it twice and will again. Great reader.

A truly delightful listen

Not a lot of 'story' per se, but just a thoroughly enjoyable memoire. I laughed, I cried (poor liitle hedgehogs), I sympathisized, I envied. Now I can't wait for the next book. I hope you enjoy it too!

Another great book, I want to give it 4.75 stars

I love this second book of the Durrells in Corfu trilogy, but just a little less than the first book. I finished it a couple of days ago and had to think about what to rate it. These books are wonderfully quirky, and the narration is excellent. Gerald Durrell certainly had an interesting childhood on Corfu and I'm thrilled to be an onlooker.

I'm trying to finish books and trilogies this fall and I'm already on the last of this trilogy. I highly recommend these.