Meine Familie und anderes Getier

If there was ever a book about the value of a free-range non-traditional education, this might be it.

This book wraps up so many of my favorite genres into one delightfully written book. This is Gerald Durrell's memoir from when his mother and his older brothers and sister packed up and moved from England to the Island of Corfu during the 1930s. Gerry spends his time wandering the island with his dog Roger, learning about nature and collecting his own menagerie of creatures which grow to include a tortoise, magpies, a gull, and scorpions. His family provides more entertainment along with a colorful cast of side characters including a brother obsessed with guns, a boy-crazy sister with acne problems, their local Greek taxi driver who manages the family's affairs and the hypochondriac maid. He portrays his older brother (and one of my favorite authors) Lawrence Durrell as a snotty twenty-something nascent author complete with ego. Gerry's tutors also include a world-class natural historian and hunch-backed aviary owning fantasist who tells stories of saving damsels in distress.

Gerrald himself is a first-rate writer. It took me a bit of time to figure out that Roger was a dog and not a brother and I believe that was on purpose. I would come across a paragraph where he would mention Roger and then I would wonder why Roger was lying underneath the table which really isn't all that far-fetched with this family.

This is one of my favorite passages which showcases what Gerry is learning at this time. He meets his tutor's bedridden mother for the first time (and there is a hilarious reason why), but the passage is a lesson from the mother.
"They say,"--she announced--"they say that when you get old, as I am your body slows down. I don't believe it. No, I think that is quite wrong. I have a theory that you do not slow down at all, but that life slows down for you. You understand me? Everything becomes languid, as it were, and you can notice so much more when things are in slow motion. the things you see! The extraordinary things that happen all around you, that you never suspected before! It is really a delightful adventure, quite delightful!" ( )

audiobook/radio adaptation (nonfiction/memoir - animal adventures on the island of Corfu in the 1930s)
I think I would have preferred a straight reading of the book, rather than this dramatization, but it was OK. ( )

La familia Durrell decide mudarse a Corfú. La componen la madre (viuda), el hermano mayor escritor (que luego, cuando sea escritor famoso, escribirá el prólogo de esta obra), otro hermano cazador, una hermana adolescente y el protagonista y narrador, el pequeño Gerry, de unos once años, aficionado a los bichos. Aparentemente, nadie tiene un trabajo remunerado pero no parece faltarles el dinero: no solo se mudan sin más al otro extremo de Europa, sino que cambian de casa por los motivos más sorprendentes (porque hay que recibir a amistades, o por todo lo contrario) sin preocuparse por las penosas cuestiones de intendencia. Entiendo que desde la perspectiva de un niño esto no llama la atención, pero sí al lector.

Pero, sea como sea, allí cada uno hace lo que le da la gana con total naturalidad. Sobre todo, Gerry explora la riqueza natural de la isla, con la colaboración de sus ocasionales profesores (en especial el médico Teodoro) y se trae a casa cuanto animal le parece interesante, cuanto más pequeño y raro mejor, sin que levante más que tímidas protestas, sobre todo de su hermano mayor (que, en el prólogo, se queja a su vez de aparecer como el más antipático de todos, y no es para tanto). En realidad, nadie se enfada nunca demasiado y todo el mundo parece pasárselo en grande, incluso ante pequeños terremotos, en general provocados por los bichos.

Gerry afirma que su intención era escribir solo sobre animales, que es a lo que, por lo visto, ha dedicado su vida, pero su familia se le ha colado por todas partes sin poder evitarlo. Y es verdad. Pero uno le coge enseguida cariño a los humanos y no menos a los bichos, a los que el autor describe con una graciosísima tendencia al antropomorfismo. Incluso las tragedias naturales, como una memorable pelea a muerte entre una mantis y una salamanquesa, se plantean como un simple espectáculo, como algo que merece la pena verse por sí mismo. El movimiento de un ciempiés, los graznidos de las urracas, un albatros encerrado, todo está contado con una aparente ingenuidad y con un cariño tales que el lector se siente enternecido y muy divertido. Por tanto, este es un muy excelente libro, que se escurre entre los intersticios de los géneros habituales pero que, desde luego, hace al lector pasar unas horas estupendas. ( )

Indeholder "Forsvarstale", "Første del", " Udvandringen", " Den ufattelige ø", " Den jordbærrøde villa", " Guldbassemanden", " En skæppe lærdom", " Edderkoppeskatten", " Det milde forår", " Samtale", "Anden del", " Den solsikkegule villa", " Skildpaddehøjene", " En verden i en væg", " Ildfluernes fest", " De fortryllede øer", " Vildsvinevinteren", " Samtale", "Tredie del", " Den snehvide villa", " De talende blomster", " Alpeviolskoven", " Liljesøen", " Skakbrætmarkerne", " Gæstebud med dyr", " Hjemrejsen".

??? ( )

I feel like I've read this book because I've heard so much about it and always had a copy on my bookshelf as a kid, but I don't actually think I have. Must remedy!