Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
All Durrell fans will want to own this captivating and deeply moving but surprisingly (for an authorized book) candid biography. It offers a rounded portrait of all sides of the man-naturalist, animal lover, champion of conservation, prolific author, zoo founder, bon vivant, documentary filmmaker, poet, broadcaster, explorer, marathon globetrotter. Getting past the public persona of the charming, modest, resolute, jovial guru, British writer Botting (Humboldt and the Cosmos) reveals a very different Gerald Durrell (1925-1995)--an astute, cunning, sometimes overbearing political animal; an alcoholic who mixed booze and tranquilizers; a visionary whose seemingly hopeless self-appointed mission to save the world's endangered species drove him to despair, sporadic rage and misanthropy, costing him his privacy, peace of mind, health and first marriage. Durrell's zoo, which he founded on the English isle of Jersey in 1959, pioneered the captive breeding of animals threatened with extinction, with the aim of reintroducing them to their native habitats. In some ways Jersey recapitulated his boyhood idyll on the Greek island of Corfu, where Durrell (born in India) had moved from London with his bohemian family in 1935 at the age of 10. Botting, who had exclusive access to the Durrell family archives and to Durrell's voluminous private papers, fills this uninhibited biography with hitherto unpublished autobiographical sketches, letters and diary excerpts; with wonderful stories of animals and people; with a perceptive account of Durrell's relationships with his two wives and his novelist brother, Lawrence, who sparked his interest in writing. Though critical of Durrell at times, this extraordinary saga remains true to the adventurous spirit of Durrell's writings, capturing a dynamo beset by a gnawing fear that his life's work had been in vain. Photos. Agent, Andrew Hawson at John Johnson. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A portly, respectful biography of the late British conservationist, author, and raconteur. Like his better-known brother, the novelist and travel essayist Lawrence Durrell, Gerald Durrell (1925–95) was born in India and lived in England only under protest: "That mean, shabby little island wrung my guts out of me and tried to destroy anything singular and unique in me," wrote Lawrence bitterly, and Gerald was inclined to agree. Although he would regard England as his home for most of his life, Gerald Durrell spent as much time as he could away from the island, traveling widely around the world in pursuit of his zoological interests and exploring deserts, savannas, mountains, and jungles far afield. Botting (One Chilly Siberian Morning, 1967) provides a thoroughly documented account of Durrell's itinerary, charting his development from amateur to professional naturalist whose books, such as My Family and Other Animals, were once widely read. Botting does an especially good job of addressing Durrell's many contributions to wildlife conservation; among other things, Durrell founded the Jersey Zoo, which helped protect dozens of endangered species, and he advised many governments on programs to protect indigenous animals. For these contributions alone, Botting suggests, Durrell deserves to be remembered today—even while divorcing him, Durrell's wife was moved to remark, "As a champion of the animal world and a pioneer of animal conservation he was one of the great men of our age, and his immense contribution to the cause is only now beginning to sink in." But Botting avoids hagiography, and he does offer a capable accounting of other aspects of Durrell's life as a writer, lecturer,sometime celebrity, and bon vivant. The result is a solid, engaging biography that will appeal to Durrell's admirers—and perhaps, with good cause, earn him a few more. (24 pages b&w photos, not seen)
