My Family and Other Animals

Gerald Durrell (author)

Penguin Books, UK: 1956; 301pp

ISBN: 0140013997

Genres: animals, adventure, autobiography

Issues: ecology, environment

Gerald Durrell was born in 1925 in Jamshedpur, India. In 1928 his family returned to England. Following the death of his father, they went to live on the island of Corfu. Even at the early age of eight or nine, Gerald Durrell's love of animals and fascination with their habits and habitats became evident.

This delightful book contains many delightful, humorous and probably exaggerated stories of the many creatures he adopted - to mixed reactions from his two brothers, sister and mother - and brought back to the various villas in which he lived with his family during their years in Corfu. They include a scorpion (and babies), various terrapins and tortoises, water snakes, toads, geckoes, phasmids (stick insects), ladybirds, butterflies, bats, rose beetles, pigeons, ‘Magenpies', and a large, aggressive black-backed gull.

Needless to say his family does not always take kindly to these additions to the household - especially when they turn up in unexpected places. Brother Leslie, for example, does not react well to finding a couple of water snakes in the bath, where they are recovering from sunstroke. Nor does the melodramatic Larry (the writer, Lawrence Durrell) enjoy the ‘Magenpies' excursions into his room, where they scatter his manuscripts, spill ink, pull out his typewriter ribbon, and scatter feathers over everything. Only Gerry's ever-patient mother seems to be able to cope with her house being turned into an amateur zoologist's dream.

The family (and the other animals) are adopted by the friendly people of Corfu, with a few colourful characters having a particular impact. There is Spiro, the Greek taxi drive with a heart-of-gold, who adopts the family from the time they put foot on the island. There is Theodore, the local doctor, who takes great delight in expanding Gerry's zoological skills. And there is the eccentric Mr Kralefsky, who is supposed to be educating Gerry in maths, history and French, but spends most of his time introducing the young zoologist to his comprehensive bird collection.

Durrell's writing is tremendously appealing and, despite the often hilarious animal adventures, would be less amusing in other hands. He manages to insert almost lyrical passages of description amidst the mundane, which makes this an absolute delight to read, even if it is probably more than a little unfair to his long-suffering family!

Same Author: The Bafut Beagles; The Drunken Forest; Three Singles to Adventure; A Zoo in My Luggage