My Family and other Animals
1956
- natural history
- description and travel
- zoologists
- biography
- juvenile literature
- biography & autobiography
- nonfiction
- childhood
- reminiscences
- natural history, greece, corfu island
The story
My Family and Other Animals is an autobiographical work by naturalist Gerald Durrell, telling of the part of his childhood he spent on the Greek island of Corfu between 1935 and 1939.
What it’s like
Warm, sun-struck and gently absurd, this is a book of Mediterranean light on whitewashed walls, olive groves humming with insects, and the blue glare of the Ionian sea seen from a rattling car. Its prose is conversational and quick, full of affectionate comic detail and precise, delighted observation of beetles, geckos, and the local people who turn up at the door with more animals. The mood is sunny and ironic, a comfort read for a lazy afternoon, a rainy Sunday with a pot of tea, or a long-haul flight where a laugh every few pages is welcome. Pacing is episodic, each chapter a self-contained anecdote, so it is easy to dip into and put down. The emotional register is light and affectionate, with the family's eccentric household and a boy's wonder at the natural world forming the arc of growing up. Intensity is very low: there is no violence, no sexual content, and no real fear, only the occasional mishap or domestic squabble. It suits readers who want gentle humour, nature as a source of joy, and the pleasures of travel writing without any darkness.
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