This is a hard book to review, because it messed around with my expectations.

I was rather nonplussed to discover that, rather than the nonfiction history of the London Zoo that I was expecting, this book is a kind of novelization of that history. Once I resolved to read the book for what it is, rather than for what I had wanted and presumed it to be, I really did try, but it’s basically bad Real Person Fiction (RPF) written in a tortured pseudo-period style that put me off. There were some intriguing factoids thrown in, but not enough to get me past the writing style. About 1/4 of the way in, I gave up.

I shall just have to wait to learn the fascinating history of the London Zoo as written by, like, Simon Winchester or Bill Bryson or something.

A well-written and enjoyable book, I am glad I requested this title and will be more than happy to pass the title along to my fellow library purchasers.

Book received from NetGalley.

Prior to reading this book, I believed the London Zoo was started when the animals of the Tower of London were moved to a better living area. I had no clue just how wrong I was. This book goes into the founding of the Zoological Society of London and the aristocracy that fought to bring the zoo to life. So different from what I believed. I have to admit this book will not interest everyone, and I did skim a few areas that seemed to drag which is why I lowered the rating for this book. I think this would be a great book for someone who enjoys this era of history and I will likely buy a copy for my research shelves.

Reader, I skimmed this book. Isobel Charman’s The Zoo: The Wild and Wonderful Tale of the Founding of London Zoo, 1826-1851 is the kind of historical writing that I loathe, unfortunately. While Charman did her homework by digging through the archives of the Zoological Society of London, she writes this history as though it’s a novel, full of little vignettes of city life and the thoughts and emotions of the men who created London Zoo. The Zoo’s history is, on its own, interesting enough to sustain my interest. That’s what I wanted. So I skimmed to get the historical details and ignored what I saw as filler.

London Zoo was founded by the Zoological Society in 1826, though it took a couple years for the Society to acquire land, build the essential enclosures and buildings, and gather animals from around the world. For its first few decades, the Zoo was only open to Society members (which included Charles Darwin) and people who had permission from members plus a shilling. Still, the Zoo attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors, especially when they had just put a particularly exotic animal on display.

Charman makes it clear that, in spite of the Society members’ collective erudition, they were woefully ignorant about taking care of their menagerie. The visitors treated the Zoo as a spectacle. Vendors sold food (cakes and such) that the visitors would feed the animals—which made the poor creatures sick. At one point, the keepers had to post a sign asking the ladies not to poke or hit the animals with their parasols. This is nothing compared to the appalling veterinary care and inadequate habitats. The veterinarians, Charles Spooner and William Youatt, tended to treat the animals’ illnesses and injuries the way doctors would human maladies: with lots and lots of mercury in the form of calomel. Spooner and Youatt were firm believers in the power of purgatives. Each chapter contains litanies of the animals who regularly died, especially during the winter.

I am fortunate enough to live near Hogle Zoo, a lovely zoo that I visit several times a year. As I read The Zoo, I couldn’t help but compare Hogle Zoo’s enormous enclosures, heavily supervised human-animal encounters, and dedicated, knowledgeable staff to those of the early London Zoo. The difference that almost two centuries has made in zoo keeping is night and day. Zoos today have to make accommodations for space, but their staff do their best to keep the animals happy and healthy; entertaining human visitors is really just a way to fund conservation efforts.

In spite of its stylistic problems, The Zoo does offer a lot of food for thought when it comes to animal welfare and scientific discovery. My impression of the Society members having read this book is that their arrogance and confidence in their own methods and objectives constantly got in the way of their ability to feel empathy for the thousands of animals that lived (and often died) at London Zoo. Two hundred years later, we know so much more about these animals and their needs. (We also know that mercury cures nothing and will kill anything sooner rather than later.) It would just take time to observe and learn from the animals, rather than forcing the animals to adapt to life in a spectacle.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration. It will be released 4 April 2017.

I started reading this book and was really excited about it. However, the further it went on the more boring it got. I couldn't bring myself to trudge through all the details. Am really disappointed.