My Family and Other Animals

By: Gerald Durrell

Narrated by: Nigel Davenport

Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

This memoir is soaked in the sunshine of Corfu, where Gerald Durrell lived as a boy, surrounded by his eccentric family - as well as puppies, toads, scorpions, geckoes, ladybugs, glowworms, octopuses, bats, and butterflies.

©1956 Gerald Durrell (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A lot of frolic, fun, and charming ribaldry, as well as the warm feeling of having been transported to a lovely spot where worry is unknown and anything is believable." ( The New York Times)

Awesome!

Before I listened to this book, Charles Dickens was my favorite author. Now, it's Gerald Durrell.

Now in my Top 5

The story itself is completely charming and hilarious. The descriptions of scenery are breathtaking. And Nigel Davenport’s performance makes the entire experience magical.

Amazing narration

Worth listening even if you didn't like the story! The narrator is amazing! Story is good, quaint, but the language is spectacular and delightfully humorous!

Love the story telling and voices

So descriptive! I've seen on PBS, amazingly close. Feels like coming home, being with family.

A dream childhood

I read this book for the first time years ago when I was in school. Since then, I read it many times whenever I wanted to experience in my mind a very happy period in life of a highly unusual boy. This time, I used the audio book to help me understand a Greek translation of My Family, and I found it to be a very pleasant way of learning Greek.

Delightful!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes without reservation. Beautiful prose, colorful characters. Utterly charming.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Gerald. I loved seeing the world of bugs and other animals through his eyes.

A wonderful read

I savored every moment of this book. If you have picked it up because you are a fan of the recent masterpiece theater series, you should be warned that it differs significantly from the book. But there are wonderful new scenes in this book, as well as the seeds for many of the best episodes of the television series. Excellent narrator. This sort of gentle humor is just what we need right now during the pandemic. Highly recommended.

So much better than the tv series

I started listening to this cause I watched the tv series The Durrells of Corfu, and loved it, but as usual, the book is better.

This narrator did an excellent job with the various accents - Spiro in particular was hilarious - and I found myself instantly transported to the magical island of Corfu.

The story itself is brilliant. A memoir with animal bits sprinkled about; I found myself laughing so hard I cried at various scenes in the book, including the one where a scorpion surprises Larry, and the final dinner scene… if you love memoirs that are slow and sweet; if you love James Herriot, you will also love these books, guaranteed.

It reminded me so much of my childhood

This book was well narrated, which was a credit to the book. I enjoyed the humorous observations of their adventures. Many life lessons learned in their childhoods.

Great story

Highly entertaining and well read. There was some content not recommended for my younger children, but similar to James Harriet in nature. I may listen to it all over again!