My sentiments resonate with some of the other reviewers. This book simply fell flat on its nose, with not a chance of ever getting up.
A barrage of facts and tidbits of useless information, that distracts from a possibly really good story; but it seems that the authors herself got lost in the minutia. Even my tween asked, as to why she feels to need to explain everything that should be common knowledge. Yes... why? I have absolutely no foggy idea, why this book is so popular, but 3.5 stars should give you a good indicator - you can skip this one.

I really wanted to like this book. The story itself is compelling. But the writing was just so painful to read. At one point, there were about 3 pages with nothing but a list of beetles.

The author needed a good editor with a blue pencil to trim this historical account from 320 pages to 250 pages (the author goes off on too many tangents). With many bizarre words and phrases, I checked Diane Ackerman's background in Wikipedia to confirm her mother tongue was English (and that the book was not translated). For some reason, this story of catastrophic circumstances just didn't resonate with this reader. The book concludes with brief endnotes, a lengthy bibliography (although some memoirs and histories mentioned in the text are absent); and an index.

I read this for book club. I wasn't really looking forward to another WWII book but it was really interesting. It's more of a collection of stories and ideas rather than about one main person. If you are interested in history it's a good read. I learned a lot and feel that it was worth reading just for that. At times the sheer horror of what was happening came across so strongly that I teared up. I liked the author's poetic language and ability to take facts and make it interesting to read. I haven't watched the movie, but I don't think it's like the book at all.

Charming and engrossing book. This was a treat to read, and I now want to visit Warsaw.

I struggled to read this, I found it extremely slow and I felt like it could have been half it's length and still told the same story.

Although the style of this book is not the best, the story itself is worth reading. Based on a true story, it shows the courage of a couple of Polish zookeepers to save over 300 Jews from death during World War II. Getting caught meant certain death and yet their principles and determination gave them the courage to act according to their conscience. For Hollywood to make this into a motion picture is a testament to a cause which is unfortunately still current.

Back when Jerry Springer had a serious talk show (real topics with real guests), he had an episode where he reunited Jews who sought escape from the Holocaust with the families who risked their lives to shelter them until the war was over. At the end of the episode, Springer related the story of his parents' escape from Amsterdam to London ... and concluded by saying that real heroes aren't those who are in the line of duty or help people get out of burning cars. "Sometimes," he said, "they just open their doors."

"The Zookeeper's Wife" tells the story of two of the many "Righteous Gentiles" who put their careers and lives on the line to help Jews, in this case occupied Poland ... where the mere act of giving a Jew a glass of water earned one the death penalty. Having had their zoo's animals raided by the Nazis shortly after the occupation, the couple decided to open their doors to more than 300 people, mostly Jews but also some resistance fighters - and the creative ways they made sure their guests stayed alive. Antonina Żabińska has sometimes been called the female Oskar Schindler, and her story would be incredible except for the fact it is true.

A great story about heroism in the darkest places and times, although it is graphic at times.

As I'm in the middle of this book, that it is so difficult to get through to the next page and finally reading reviews on it I'm realizing I should have done that first. I knew this was a great book from this background but the author makes this a very very very difficult read.

I read a lot of books from this time period, but this is the first one that I definitely struggled to finish. The writing style was full of historical 'don't necessarily need-to-know' facts surrounded by suppositions about what the main characters 'may have' said or done. I haven't seen the movie, but maybe I would enjoy it more than I did the book.