A day passed, two, three. Those seas turned me in and deeper in on myself, so little speech any of us seemed to have at that time. Islands came, islands went, suns rose and set, the ocean flowed on, and the sense of immensity returned in me, uncomfortable, an apprehension of something far beneath, beyond my grasp.
Unfortunately, Jamrach’s Menagerie was my least favorite book of the the five shortlisted titles that I read. I didn’t hate the book, but I didn’t think there was anything really special to it, either. I really didn’t like the title of the book either, as Jaffy’s time at the Menagerie is not really the focus of the book. It should have been called Jaffy’s Journey or something to that effect.
Anyway, Jaffy as a little boy meets Jamrach because he stopped to pet a runaway tiger. He isn’t hurt, and Jamrach takes him in as a caretaker for his animals. Jamrach’s Menagerie is sort of a makeshift zoo for rare animals from exotic countries. Several years later, one of Jamrach’s customers wants a dragon from the orient. Jaffy, his friend Tim, and a specialist in obtaining exotic animals, Dan, set sail in search of the dragon.
To make a long story short, things go horribly wrong. In fact, the last half of the book is very graphic in nature, but at the same time, very gripping. Whereas I read the first half of the book and was fairly bored by it, the last third or so had me reading without stopping until the very end.
Even so, as I said before, there was really nothing special about the book. I even put the book aside for about 2 weeks before finally completing it, only so I could weigh in on the Booker shortlist.
If you are fascinated by survival stories, though, you just might enjoy it.
2011, 295 pp.
FTC Disclosure: I obtained this book from my local public library.
