Books › Birds, beasts and relatives
Birds, beasts and relatives
314 pages
A sun-drenched, hilarious romp through a childhood shared equally with eccentric relatives and fascinating local wildlife.
What it feels like
Reading this memoir feels like stepping into a sun-drenched Mediterranean daydream, where the air is thick with the scent of olive groves and the sound of cicadas. The pace is delightfully leisurely, inviting you to wander through episodic memories of a wildly eccentric family and the fascinating creatures that share their Greek island home. The prose balances lush, evocative descriptions of the natural world with sharp, laugh-out-loud comedic timing whenever the human characters take center stage. It is a book steeped in a warm, golden nostalgia, capturing the fleeting magic of childhood wonder and the chaotic joy of living closely with nature. This is the perfect escape for anyone who loves dry wit, armchair travel, and the messy, beautiful reality of a deeply unconventional upbringing.
- Mood
- sun-drenched
- idyllic
- chaotic
- nostalgic
- Tone
- wry
- affectionate
- exuberant
- observant
- Pace
- leisurely
- Themes
- childhood wonder · eccentric family dynamics · human-animal connection · island life
- The writing
- Lush and sensory when capturing the Mediterranean landscape, yet sharp and impeccably timed for comedic family vignettes.
- The arc
- The journey drifts through a series of joyful, chaotic discoveries before settling into a warm, golden-hued nostalgia for an idyllic past.
- Who it's for
- Readers who delight in dry British humor, armchair travel, and the charming chaos of a deeply eccentric family.
Content notes
- animal death
- dated cultural attitudes
About the book
Birds, Beasts, and Relatives is the second volume of the autobiographical Corfu Trilogy by naturalist Gerald Durrell. The trilogy describes his childhood spent on the Greek island of Corfu between 1935 and 1939. This follows My family and Other Animals and concludes with The Garden Of The Gods
Description from Open Library.
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