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Jamrach's Menagerie
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Review
An imaginative tour-de-force encompassing the sights and smells of 19th-century London and the wild sea. . . Gripping, superbly written and a delight. --The Times
Riveting. Birch is masterful at evoking period and place . . . A teeming exhibition of the beautiful and the bizarre. --Sunday Times
Birch is a naturally literary writer who can, with a simple image, evoke the deepest emotion. --Guardian
Everything you could want in a rousing adventure is here. . . a remarkable acheivement. --Scotsman
One of the best stories I've ever read . . . A completely original book. --A S Byatt
The final, elegiac section of Jamrach's Menagerie lifts the narrator's voice, enabling Jaffy to reach another level in his understanding, just as it permits Birch the freedom to set her beautiful, eloquent prose to a new emotional register, at once wistful, wanting and ultimately satisfyingly serene. --Times Literary Supplement
An exuberant tale of seafaring, exotic fauna and drunken shore leave . . . Jamrach's Menagerie puts its characters through the mangler and invites us to inspect the damage . . . the classiest penny dreadful in the history of literature . . . [Birch's] words sing on the page. --Financial Times
As good as anything Peter Carey has done in this line and, in certain exalted moments, even better. --Independent
Magical . . . A sustained feat of imagination and diligent research. --Daily Mail Daily Mail Daily Mail
Whenever I read of people moaning on about the dire state of British fiction, I think of Carol Birch (and people like her) who are writing such good novels . . . her forte is feelings , about which she is so acute. --Margaret Forster
Riveting. Birch is masterful at evoking period and place . . . A teeming exhibition of the beautiful and the bizarre. --Sunday Times
Birch is a naturally literary writer who can, with a simple image, evoke the deepest emotion. --Guardian
Everything you could want in a rousing adventure is here. . . a remarkable acheivement. --Scotsman
One of the best stories I've ever read . . . A completely original book. --A S Byatt
The final, elegiac section of Jamrach's Menagerie lifts the narrator's voice, enabling Jaffy to reach another level in his understanding, just as it permits Birch the freedom to set her beautiful, eloquent prose to a new emotional register, at once wistful, wanting and ultimately satisfyingly serene. --Times Literary Supplement
An exuberant tale of seafaring, exotic fauna and drunken shore leave . . . Jamrach's Menagerie puts its characters through the mangler and invites us to inspect the damage . . . the classiest penny dreadful in the history of literature . . . [Birch's] words sing on the page. --Financial Times
As good as anything Peter Carey has done in this line and, in certain exalted moments, even better. --Independent
Magical . . . A sustained feat of imagination and diligent research. --Daily Mail Daily Mail Daily Mail
Whenever I read of people moaning on about the dire state of British fiction, I think of Carol Birch (and people like her) who are writing such good novels . . . her forte is feelings , about which she is so acute. --Margaret Forster
Product Description
Young Jaffy Brown never expects to escape the slums of Victorian London. Then, aged eight, a chance encounter with Mr Jamrach changes Jaffy's stars. And before he knows it, he finds himself at the docks waving goodbye to his beloved Ishbel and boarding a ship bound for the Indian Ocean. With his friend Tim at his side, Jaffy's journey will push faith, love and friendship to their utmost limits.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
80 of 83 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The opening chapter of this book is glorious reminder of the power of a good yarn in the right hands. A young boy meets an escaped tiger on the streets on east London and his life is transformed. With each subsequent chapter the story just gets more compelling. I haven't read a more enjoyable book in years.
Like the best Victorian novels it follows a boy's life through to old age, and on the way recounts the most extraordinary voyage. After his encounter with the tiger, our hero Jaffy takes on work for its owner, Mr Jamrach - traveller, menagerie-owner and purveyor of the world's strangest creatures. This work soon involves a commission to procure a creature for Jamrach that may or may not exist, a so-called sea dragon that is recorded as living in the Indian Ocean. So Jaffy's voyage begins, and seems to be going very well. But then fate's winds blow in another direction.
It has all the verbal energy of The Ryme of the Ancient Mariner, with the storytelling nous of Joseph O'Connor. Like a great David Attenborough film it takes you right up close to nature, whether the whiskers of Bengal tiger, the spout of a whale or the snapping jaws of a komodo dragon. But best of all it explores the wildness within our own species and asks what circumstances might see that laid bare.
A stunning piece of fiction from a writer at the top of her game. I must read more Birch.
Like the best Victorian novels it follows a boy's life through to old age, and on the way recounts the most extraordinary voyage. After his encounter with the tiger, our hero Jaffy takes on work for its owner, Mr Jamrach - traveller, menagerie-owner and purveyor of the world's strangest creatures. This work soon involves a commission to procure a creature for Jamrach that may or may not exist, a so-called sea dragon that is recorded as living in the Indian Ocean. So Jaffy's voyage begins, and seems to be going very well. But then fate's winds blow in another direction.
It has all the verbal energy of The Ryme of the Ancient Mariner, with the storytelling nous of Joseph O'Connor. Like a great David Attenborough film it takes you right up close to nature, whether the whiskers of Bengal tiger, the spout of a whale or the snapping jaws of a komodo dragon. But best of all it explores the wildness within our own species and asks what circumstances might see that laid bare.
A stunning piece of fiction from a writer at the top of her game. I must read more Birch.
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Carol Birch is not a writer I have come across previously, but I am immensely grateful to have finally bumped into her work- her brilliant evocations of both the grimy, tough life of 19th century working-classs London and then the harshness of life on the ocean waves are vivid, rich and addictively more-ish.
Coupled with Birch's ability to spin an excellent yarn peopled by loveable, cheeky, yet frail characters, Jamrach's Menagerie is a reading feast. It's a novel which takes you on a classic, gothic adventure to the ends of the Earth, whilst exploring the essence of what it means to be human.
This novel is a treat, and is almost imppossible to put down once you've set sail on the search for the ever-so-rare Komodo dragon.
Coupled with Birch's ability to spin an excellent yarn peopled by loveable, cheeky, yet frail characters, Jamrach's Menagerie is a reading feast. It's a novel which takes you on a classic, gothic adventure to the ends of the Earth, whilst exploring the essence of what it means to be human.
This novel is a treat, and is almost imppossible to put down once you've set sail on the search for the ever-so-rare Komodo dragon.
28 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was pleasantly surprised by this one. After reading other nominees for the Orange Prize, I was expecting more dull worthiness, but Carol Birch proves that women's fiction doesn't have to be about wistful librarians swilling camomile tea.
The novel begins in the grotty sewers of nineteenth century London, where we meet the hero, Jaffy Brown. Following a chance encounter with an escaped tiger, Jaffy gains work as a yard boy for the tiger's repentant owner; the eponymous Mr Jamrach, an importer of exotic animals. Jaffy proves to be a gifted animal handler and is sent on a mission to capture a `dragon' in the East Indies. Naturally, all does not go according to plan, leaving Jaffy lost at sea with a group of increasingly desperate shipmates.
One of the strengths for me is the sense of place and time this book conveys; it succeeds in vividly bringing to life a time when the world still contained such mystery and adventure that it was possible to believe in dragons, and surviving a sea voyage was more a matter of chance than GPS. (Of course, from a privileged 21st century perspective, we can sneer that a Komodo dragon is merely a big lizard, but that's not the point).
However, this technique works best when describing the characters' adventures on land, first in London and later during exotic port forays along the way. This causes the second half of the book to suffer, as the bulk of the narrative takes place on a marooned vessel in the open ocean. Although initially dramatic, this section was so drawn out I ended up hoping the whole lot of them would pitch overboard.
The quality of the author's prose style is also (perversely) an occasional sticking point: it is so evocative and visceral that I found several scenes featuring whaling and other animal abuse pretty hard to take. Be advised, this is not a book to read at breakfast!
The ending is something of a fizzler, sadly, leaving some character's riddles unsolved, whilst others tie up too neatly. All in all, though, a good escapist read, and the cover art's pretty swanky too. If the whole thing had been as good as the first part, I'd have given it more stars, but sadly the later noodling sections let it down.
The novel begins in the grotty sewers of nineteenth century London, where we meet the hero, Jaffy Brown. Following a chance encounter with an escaped tiger, Jaffy gains work as a yard boy for the tiger's repentant owner; the eponymous Mr Jamrach, an importer of exotic animals. Jaffy proves to be a gifted animal handler and is sent on a mission to capture a `dragon' in the East Indies. Naturally, all does not go according to plan, leaving Jaffy lost at sea with a group of increasingly desperate shipmates.
One of the strengths for me is the sense of place and time this book conveys; it succeeds in vividly bringing to life a time when the world still contained such mystery and adventure that it was possible to believe in dragons, and surviving a sea voyage was more a matter of chance than GPS. (Of course, from a privileged 21st century perspective, we can sneer that a Komodo dragon is merely a big lizard, but that's not the point).
However, this technique works best when describing the characters' adventures on land, first in London and later during exotic port forays along the way. This causes the second half of the book to suffer, as the bulk of the narrative takes place on a marooned vessel in the open ocean. Although initially dramatic, this section was so drawn out I ended up hoping the whole lot of them would pitch overboard.
The quality of the author's prose style is also (perversely) an occasional sticking point: it is so evocative and visceral that I found several scenes featuring whaling and other animal abuse pretty hard to take. Be advised, this is not a book to read at breakfast!
The ending is something of a fizzler, sadly, leaving some character's riddles unsolved, whilst others tie up too neatly. All in all, though, a good escapist read, and the cover art's pretty swanky too. If the whole thing had been as good as the first part, I'd have given it more stars, but sadly the later noodling sections let it down.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
An incredible adventure, just on the edge of sanity
Really, this is a masterful tale. Carol Birch has very fresh writing style with a grip on the English language I have not found for many a year. Read more
Published 14 days ago by Joshua Slocum
Quite like Mark Twain...
This is really fantastically written book, about the most bizarre things! Jaffy makes a likable narrator, regaling us with tales from his first sea voyage aboard a whaling ship. Read more
Published 15 days ago by JH
Entertaining enough.
The story seemed to move from set-piece to set-piece, from the tiger to the ship, the dragon to the boat to... nothing. Read more
Published 16 days ago by Lisa M. Harrison
Jamrach's Menagerie
This book should carry a warning for readers that the middle section is particularly horrific and gruesome. Read more
Published 18 days ago by M. Clark
Beware of this book
Jamrach's Menagerie is misleadingly marketed. The charming cover and quotes such as `magical' suggest that this is going to be a jolly adventure tale with cute animals. Read more
Published 22 days ago by Geraldine
jamrachs menagerie
this is a wonderful story beautifully written from the scenes of Victorian London to the islands of Indonesia to the final chapters of survival on the small boat I was enthralled... Read more
Published 27 days ago by lesleyc
Starts well
This book gets off to a great start, really imaginative, plunging us into a colourful set of lives in 19th century London. Read more
Published 1 month ago by J. Marriage
A surprising read
An excellent book with a twist. I liked that it has parts based on true stories which I didn't expect. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jarnit
4 Stars
Carol Birch presents a very vivid picture of 19th century London and of seafaring and adventure, and the reader certainly feels what it's like to be on a whaling ship in the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Willow
Uneven, unremarkable, uninspiring... MOR literary fiction dwarfed by...
I'll give Carol Birch her due. She has the ability to create sympathetic characters that you can't but help rooting for. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Chintan Nanavati
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