Jamrach's Menagerie: A Novel Audiobook

" I just couldn't get into this book. It's disappointing because it looked like it was going to be really good! "

" I chose this book after reading it was short-listed for the Booker prize, and my expectations were high. And of course I felt that the subject, (a boy on a whaling boat, a shipwreck, drifting for months on the Pacific, and cannibalism), could not fail to be exciting. Unfortunately, the book disappointed me. The writing was not as tight and compelling as I had expected, in fact in many instances I found it convoluted and confusing, and I was not impressed with her take on this oft-told tale. Birch's novel pales when compared to David Mitchell's nautical tales (in Cloud Atlas and the Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet), and the story of the shipwreck and subsequent cannibalism was done better in Sena Jeter Nasland's Ahab's Wife. I do not think it deserves to be on the Booker short-list, but it is a fair to middling beach read. "

" Although this book is written beautifully, it was very hard to read. I wasn't prepared for the gruesome turn of events. "

" I was enjoying this book with its excellent prose until the final four chapters of Part 2. I could have lived my whole life without being taken to the depths of darkness and desperation depicted there. Some things are better left to the imagination. "

" I can sum this book up simply. It all goes downhill once you start eating humans after being lost at sea. "

" I was really disappointed with this book. All the reviews I had read had called it "amazing" and "magical" but actually I found it fairly repetitive and very depressing. I wouldn't recommend it really, except to say that perhaps there is some meaningful insight that completely passed me by? "

" Great Victorian setting; took me in a totally unexpected direction (the case of Regina v Dudley, which I use in my grad ethics course). "

" Excellent, excellent, excellent. I love that there is an element of truth in it, it lends a sense of heaviness to the story. "

" A wonderful adventure in Victorian London based on factual events "

" This wasn't at all what I expected! The cover belies a much darker story and themes than I was prepared for. Having said that it was a good read. Not for the squeamish! "

" Just managed to finish this - poor. "

" I absolutely adored this book from the moment I started reading it. The story is brilliant, the descriptions evocative, despite the sometimes hard to read episodes, whale-hunting isn't pretty, you have to read every word. Magical. "

" This was a great read for a vacation. A bit sluggish at times but a great story. "

" Sorry about doing this, but you'll find my review at my online reading journal. I liked this book, but I felt it had a few issues that made it fall at a 3.75-rating, rounded up here to 4. "

" I thought I would like this story more! The writing was good, and the author is a wonderful storyteller, however the horrors that the main characters faced in the novel were far to gruesome for me to ever want to relive again! "

" Didn't finish it-it started out ok but the cussing just got out of control for me and I just couldn't do it. "

" Carol Birch is a terrific storyteller. Certainly not a tale you'd want to read your children at bedtime... "

" Great and engaging read. I found myself almost smelling and feeling the environment around me. I had to read this with a glass of water, because it made me thirsty. Wonderfully written. "

" This is interesting but nothing too special about a boy on a whaling ship. "

" I really liked this one. Put me in mind of Life of Pi and a Little bit of Water for Elephants with the emphasis on animals in captivity and being lost at sea. "

" I liked it at first, but it got a little too gory for me... "

" As so often happens it was a very promising beginning and quite enjoyable until a weak ending. "

" Well written, just not my cup of tea. I would suggest it as a readalike for Life of Pil. "

" I loved this book. I don't think I can ever forget it. "