The Rhino Keeper by Jillian ForsbergMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Narrated by: Caroline Hewitt
Presented by: History Through Fiction
A sweet story. A little too soft for my tastes but an interesting account of a strange morsel of history.
Once upon a time, a baby Rhino crossed the sea to travel around Europe.
This is a fictional account of that very true story - Clara the Rhinoceros lived til 1758, and in her 20-odd years toured Europe in the care of a man named Douwe Mout van der Meer (had to Google that spelling lol). They visited kings and queens, and Clara's likeness was captured by painters, sculptors and other artists.
If you're yearning for more details, this book will deliver. It gives a fictionalised account of each visit Clara made while adding heart and humour to the story through the characters. You can tell Clara's story was researched meticulously by the author because a Google search of Clara will essentially provide a synopsis for this story. I like that; I enjoy reading historical fiction and, through it, learning more about true figures of history.
The narrator does a great job in differentiating the characters, and she had quite a job pulling off so many accents. I found it easy to listen to, and easy to follow the action. Some of the names are quite unusual (to this modern-day Australian, anyway) so I had to look up the spelling of some to round out my comprehension a little.
I did find it a little slow at times - Clara makes many visits, so after a while they do tend to get a little same-same. But I am an impatient reader who loves action, so the pace grated on me a little. I think those with more patience will really enjoy the rich details of this novel, and be absorbed by Clara's story.
I do recommend this one because it's such an unusual, uplifting kind of story. Despite a rather short life, Clara seems to have made quite an impact on many and I think many readers will get a lot out of learning her story.
With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment