The Zoo - Isobel Charman

The origin of London Zoo, drunken zoo keepers, and hippos - I was instantly sold on the book's blurb. Having studied zoo history at university, I was already familiar with London Zoo's past, yet I wanted something rather more accessible, engaging, and inspirational, more along the lines of S. C. Kershaw's excellent The History of Colchester Zoo (2016). I did not find it here. This was supposed to be a reward for finishing Proust, but unfortunately I could not warm to Charman's writing style, which fluctuates from whimsical imagining where she attempts to walk in the shoes of the histoical personages, to dry, by-rote exposition of fact. Ultimately, Charman was aiming for a more audience friendly style than what the dusty archives of the ZSL offer, but her attempt nonetheless fails to shrug off the reek of the classroom. Her meticulous sources and intensive research are everywhere present, reminding one of a flawlessly correct, yet tedious dissertation.

I also wanted a more exhaustive account of London zoo, from its conception, all the way up to modern day, and the numerous struggles faced along the way. This book only covers 1824 to 1851. The seven characters Charman chooses to dedicate a chapter to are Stamford Raffles, the founder, Decimus Burton, the architect, Charles Spooner, the vet, John Gould, the taxidermist, Devereux Fuller, head keeper, Charles Darwin, corresponding member, and the 13th Earl of Derby, the zoo's president. I can forgive Charman's speculative writing of how these men may have acted, drawing as she does from written records (her research really cannot be faulted) but the overall effect just did not work. A personal interest of mine is zoo architecture, yet I found the chapter on Burton to be the dullest of all. I wanted very much to like this book and it pains me to give it such a low rating. Judging by their endorsements, Jonathan Ross and Chris Packham seemed to enjoy it.

Rating: 2/5