Jamrach's Menagerie
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It is London, 1857. Jaffy Brown is running through the squalid London backstreets when he comes face to face with the escaped circus animal. His young life is transformed by the encounter. Plucked from the jaws of death by Mr Jamrach - explorer, entrepreneur and collector of the world's strangest creatures
… More »It is London, 1857. Jaffy Brown is running through the squalid London backstreets when he comes face to face with the escaped circus animal. His young life is transformed by the encounter. Plucked from the jaws of death by Mr Jamrach - explorer, entrepreneur and collector of the world's strangest creatures - the two strike up a friendship. Before he knows it, Jaffy finds himself on board a ship bound for the South Seas. His job is to be the keeper of the animal they hope to find and bring back alive. So begins an extraordinary voyage. Jaffy's journey - if he survives it - will push faith, love and friendship to their utmost limits. Brilliantly written and utterly spellbinding, Carol Birch's epic novel brings alive the smells, sights and flavours of the nineteenth century, from the docks of London to the storms of the South Seas. This is a great salty historical adventure, and a fascinating exploration of our relationship to the natural world and the wilderness it contains.
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This wracking maritime psychodrama follows a young boy from his humble beginnings as a child laborer in late 19th-century London to the South Pacific, finding bits of whimsy and beauty in a chaotic story. Jaffy Brown's bleak young life in the slums takes a bright turn when he is carried off by an escaped tiger and wins the notice of Charles Jamrach, a purveyor of exotic animals. Jamrach gives Jaffy a job, and soon the boy is sent on a years-long journey to the South Pacific, where he is supposed to find a dragon. It becomes slowly evident that the dragon quest, which is dispatched in an anticlimax, works as a macguffin for a dark and drifting tale of woe on the high seas as Jaffy's expedition is beset by disasters sinister and otherworldly. Birch's writing is assured and enticing, and she's especially talented at creating floating, still moments amid the action, often as Jaffy pauses to foreshadow or ruminate. Readers will spend much time wondering where this gratifyingly bizarre story is going, though Birch's writing chops do much to smooth the way
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Add a CommentThis book, in the end, seemed somewhat juvenile.
Really loved this book - full of life, adventure and humanity. The depictions of Victorian London and ship life were riveting!
A totally amazing story — one of those books that you never want to end, but you just can't put it down!
This was a rip-roaring read - sailing ships and Victorian street life. The story has the most riveting description of shipwreck survival I have every read - kept me on the edge of my seat for over 100 pages. I can see why it was short-listed for the Booker Prize this year.
Absolutely terrific storytelling! Not for the feint of heart as it is a graphic tale.
This book tells the story of the life adventures of a street kid called Jaffy during the 1800's in London. I really enjoyed this book but found the 1st half of the story was a bit disconnected from the 2nd half. It is a bit disturbing and graphic at times but I couldn't put it down during the last 100 pages.
The very beginning of the story was really intriguing and it really got me interested in where things might go next. However, the rest of the book just failed in keeping up the same strength as the start. First, there was a jump of a few years time, and a few references to what had happened in that time. If you have to do that already, you know something is a bit off. It just felt like the writing weakened greatly, and I ended up losing interest in the story after awhile.
This unusual tale of a Victorian child laborer rescued by a tiger and then hired by an importer of exotic animals spins off to the high seas in search of a dragon. The story may be quirky, but acclaimed British author Carol Birch is a literary original who writes with real assurance.