the zookeeper's wife by diane ackerman

I wanted to fall in love with this book from the get go, but Ackerman made it difficult to do so. The Zookeeper's Wife tells the remarkable WWII story of Jan Zabinski, the director of the Warsaw Zoo, and his wife, Antonina, who, with courage and coolheaded ingenuity, sheltered 300 Jews, as well as Polish resisters during the war. Ackerman used Antonina's diaries, as well as other sources, to take us into the Warsaw ghetto and the 1943 Jewish uprising. There are so many rich facts and details, that are heartbreaking and astounding, but Ackerman takes on too much. I was confused in some parts; the story was often interrupted to insert facts about the Pole's revolt against Nazi occupiers in 1944, or introducing us to such figures such as Lutz Heck, the head of the Berlin Zoo and Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, spiritual head of the ghetto. It was a lot to absorb; as if a novel and a history book merged together into one. I wanted to lose myself in the story, and instead I felt I was being lectured to.

Beautifully written, but be prepared as this is not a story for the faint of heart.