This is one of those books that has lurked on the periphery of my reading all my life. I have lost count of the number of times I have stamped this book in and out when working in the library system, or put it back on the shelves. It is one of those 'I really must read this some day' books that tend to get pushed to the back of the pile because you are too busy catching up on the latest big thing. NewBooksMag have
started a new project Is the Film as Good as the Book and sent me a DVD of My Family and Other Animals to watch and review.
Well, that meant that it would be a really good idea if I read the book first so nipped out to Waterstones when I just happened to be meandering by the other week (as you do) and picked up a copy. As you will know if you have read my riveting weekend blog, I spent two hours in bed on Sunday morning absolutely helpless with laughter while reading this hilarious account of the time the Durrell family moved to Corfu. At times I had to put it down while I wiped the tears out of my eyes.
Very very difficult to define a funny book or what it is that can make the reader laugh. Another book which always makes me hoot is Diary of a Provincial Lady by EM Delafield and yet when I try and explain why, I am stumped. You just have to read it to find out why. It is elusive, it is in the writing, the play of words, oh I am sure you all know what I mean.
The Durrells decamped to Corfu after a dreary summer In Bournemouth where it was grey and cold and rained all day so off they went. The casual ease with which they just upped and set sail (metaphorically speaking) to this Greek island left me extremely envious. One assumes that some money must have been lurking somewhere. Anyway they find a battered old villa to rent once they have been befriended by Spyros, an English speaking islander who learned his English in Chicago and sounds like Al Capone.
Larry the elder of the four children is vastly superior and languid and spends all his time being scornful and high minded. Leslie, second son, is obsessed with guns and shooting and seems to spend most of his days in slaughtering the wildlife in Corfu, Margaret has acne and a complex about it but seems to manage to find romance, and Gerald (Gerry) Durrell, the youngest is in paradise. He adores wildlife, insect life, beetles, bats, cockroaches, tortoises, dogs, jackdaws, in short - everything that crawls, flies and swims and he spends days and weeks exploring the island and 'bringing a motley crew of snakes, scorpions, birds and toads into the family villa'.
One of my favourites out of all the animal characters we meet is a Tortoise called Achilles:
"He was a most intelligent and lovable beast, possessed of a peculiar sense of humour.......he loved wild strawberries and would become positively hysterical at the mere sight of them, lumbering to and fro, craning his head to see if you were going to give him any, gazing at you pleadingly with his tiny boot-button eyes........he developed a passion for human company.Let anyone come into the garden to sit to read or for any other reason, there would be a rustling among the sweet williams and Achille's wrinkled and earnest face would be poked throuhg"
Gerry then finds two huge toads.
"They were grayish green with curious white patches here and there on their bodies where the skin was shiny and lacking in pigment. They squatted there like two obese leprous Buddhas......the toads blinked their fine golden filigreed eyes at me and settling themselves more comfortably on my fingers, gazing at me trustfully, their wide thick lipped mouths seeming to spread in embarrassed and uncertain grin"
Gerry was delighted with them, but his family were not so keen..
This book is packed with stories and anecdotes of the daily eccentricities and sheer FUN of the Durrell family's life during the five years the spent in Corfu. And though I laughed and laughed, please don't think it is all just written to get you giggling and that it might be a bit over the top. This thought had crossed my mind but then you come across a descriptive passage like this:
"The moon rose above the mountains, turned the lilies to silver except where the flickering flames illuminated them with a flush of pink. The tiny ripples sped over the moonlight sea and breathed with relief as they reached the shore at last. Owls started to chime in the trees, and in the gloomy shadows fireflies gleamed as they flew, their jade green, misty lights pulsing on an off...... the boats gathered speed and headed along the coastline and beyond our wash fanned out, white and delicate as a spider's web on the dark water, flaming here and there with a momentary spark of phosphorescence"
Beautiful.
I shall now watch the DVD and see what I think. I am pretty sure it will be fun and it will be good, but can it capture this wonderful evocative feeling of a Greek island? Well, I will soon find out.
Well it didn't. Lots of wild over acting, every character a total eccentric and the most irritating background music I have ever heard. Did not let up for a second. Oh dear
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