My Family and other Animals by Gerald Durrell

 My Family and other Animals by Gerald Durrell

Good, maybe even very good

This could well be the story of my family and our animals, for, like the hero of the book we have had lots of them…

Borzois, iguana, ocean fish, macaws in our case and magpies, dogs, scorpions, snakes and much more for the Durrell family.

Indeed, at one point there is a note in the passport that says:

-          The Durrells, travelling circus and staff

In a way it sums up the essence of the book and what goes on in it, with plenty of beings coming, flying and biting.

There is something else that I have in common with this bunch of characters and that is the move to a new location.

In the book they move to Corfu, which sounds enticing, albeit we would not move there, for we tried for some years to live in the wild.

It was the mountains in our case.

For a few reasons, I did not really make the most of the book.

In fact, I have started with the original, but got somewhat bored half way through and what I finished today is the BBC adaptation.

-          Why wasn’t this a pure joy to read

-          I am thinking of these reasons:

-          First, I must have had higher expectations and they were disappointed

-          Second- a writer I loved and will read again is presented in a bad light

It is true that readers need to think of the work and sometimes ignore the life of the writer altogether.

There is a sublime book by Paul Johnson called Intellectuals.

In it we learn about the habits, misdemeanors and outright cruelty and evil nature of some prominent writers:

-          Tolstoy, Hemingway, Ibsen, Rousseau and a few others are X rayed

-          They come out so bad, that reading their works would be affected

In other words, albeit entertaining at times, this work pales in comparison with the monumental Alexandria Quartet.

-          I want to read a magnificent masterpiece again

-          Am I to just gain a few laughs with the brother while gaining an antipathy for the divine Lawrence Durrell?

-          I was not happy with the perspective or the option

Larry, as he is called in this sort of autobiography comes out as rather obnoxious, arrogant and even cruel man.

He is the one who determines the family to move to Corfu, where he invites a group of seven or eight friends.

They don’t have enough space for them, so his solution is to just move on to another villa, not caring for expenses.

There are likeable characters, funny moments, but not enough for this reader to enjoy the original length.

Sometimes it helps to stumble upon abbreviated versions of a work, for in a distilled, shorter formula, it becomes more palatable.

The scene where they get trapped in the church, where they are expected to kiss an icon that had been touched by so many lips is interesting.

Spiro was very good in the film version, where he is played by the charming Omid Djalili and Larry Durrell was well represented, in spite of the fact that the character is unpleasant

Toby Jones was the actor who voiced Lawrence Durrell in the BBC play that I heard yesterday and this morning

Good work, if not exhilarating