We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild An...
In the tradition of "Marley & Me" comes an unforgettable memoir about the mysteries of the animal kingdom, the power of family, and the triumph of ...
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reviews
Jan 19, 2012
K.D.
rated it: 
My work in the office is to be in front of the computer for almost the whole day. I’m an information technology-systems analyst guy assigned on North American projects so I rarely talk to anybody except during lunch time. Due to this, I can don a headset and listen to a radio station. 8 hours a day.
Since early this January, my favorite afternoon station, RJ 100.30 has been airing the teaser for the movie adaptation of this memoir We Bought a Zoo with one line that goes something lik More...
Since early this January, my favorite afternoon station, RJ 100.30 has been airing the teaser for the movie adaptation of this memoir We Bought a Zoo with one line that goes something lik More...
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Jan 29, 2012
Matt
rated it:
Apparently in England you can buy a zoo if you have a million pounds or so...
The best parts were the references to Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail, and the part where when they are testing the zoo restaurant before the zoo opens they drink most of the keg of Stella Artois before the zoo opens...
I felt slightly used when it became apparent that one of the author's motivations for buying the zoo was so that he could write a book about it.
Overall the writ More...
The best parts were the references to Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail, and the part where when they are testing the zoo restaurant before the zoo opens they drink most of the keg of Stella Artois before the zoo opens...
I felt slightly used when it became apparent that one of the author's motivations for buying the zoo was so that he could write a book about it.
Overall the writ More...
Jan 26, 2012
Yzobelle
rated it:
After loving the movie so much, it is difficult for me to give this book 3 stars. I thought and hoped I would be able to proudly give it 5 shining stars.
The book is not entirely bad. Benjamin Mee wrote as a journalist would -- the style was flowing, easy-to-read, a bit witty, and a pretty good play of words. It was perhaps the focus of the book and the diversion from the movie (or rather, vice-versa -- the movie diverted from the book) that made it a little disappointing. I was More...
The book is not entirely bad. Benjamin Mee wrote as a journalist would -- the style was flowing, easy-to-read, a bit witty, and a pretty good play of words. It was perhaps the focus of the book and the diversion from the movie (or rather, vice-versa -- the movie diverted from the book) that made it a little disappointing. I was More...
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Sep 26, 2008
Ellen
rated it:
It's written rather breathlessly and the photo gallery is completely unsatisfying (more shots of the house and zoo rather than their animal inhabitants would have been nice, not to mention more photos of the family) but the tale itself is pretty darn touching.
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Jan 29, 2012
gargamelscat
rated it: 
An interesting story spoiled by a literal take, inadequate writing quality and a superficial treatment.
Ok for a memoir maybe there is no requirement for flights of lyrical prose but I expect better from a professional writer.
The superficiality bothered me - we get no real idea of the numbers involved and I'd like to have seen it treated as more of a business case study.
The park itself, the background history and personality of the animals are never detailed ex More...
Ok for a memoir maybe there is no requirement for flights of lyrical prose but I expect better from a professional writer.
The superficiality bothered me - we get no real idea of the numbers involved and I'd like to have seen it treated as more of a business case study.
The park itself, the background history and personality of the animals are never detailed ex More...
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Jan 22, 2012
♥Xeni♥
rated it: 
Alright, so normally I don't pick up a book and read it all the way trough in one (or one and a little) sitting unless it's captivating and usually fiction. Yet, this non fiction book on one man's experience in buying a zoo I read from 1 am to 6 am and then the last 15% after I woke up at noon. Finished the whole thing before 1 pm.
And I don't know why.
Certainly I've been reading some crazy shit lately: John Dies at the End (fucked up fiction which is screwing with my se More...
And I don't know why.
Certainly I've been reading some crazy shit lately: John Dies at the End (fucked up fiction which is screwing with my se More...
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Jan 16, 2012
Jane
rated it:
Once the family bought the zoo, I enjoyed this book a great deal. However, it was very slow starting. The opening chapter deals with life in France, as the author's wife is diagnosed with a brain tumor. I'm sure it was very important to the author to include this, but it would have served the book better if it had been covered later in the book as a look back. It dragged the book down and made me reluctant to continue.
I run a movie club and we are going to see the movie. I like to re More...
I run a movie club and we are going to see the movie. I like to re More...
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Jan 08, 2012
Melissa
rated it: 
I had a really hard time rating this book. Mostly, because I love animals and was afraid I'd be a bit biased. Here is why I only gave it four stars. First, Benjamin Mee is a DIY author for a magazine and that is how he basically writes the book-like a DIY article. He occasionally gets off track and wanders a page or two on a subject that, to be honest, bored me to death. Not to mention, that I sometimes felt he mentioned certain people as if he was trying to include as many "thank you,
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Oct 17, 2011
David
rated it:
We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Changed Their Lives Forever by Benjamin Mee is a look at a family that decides to buy a zoo and raise their family on that property, but also ends up dealing with the tragedy of the brain tumor and death of Mrs. Katherine Mee.
The story is interesting, poignant and bittersweet. It focuses on the rundown zoo, an ecletic staff and a wide variety of animals, some of which were in More...
The story is interesting, poignant and bittersweet. It focuses on the rundown zoo, an ecletic staff and a wide variety of animals, some of which were in More...
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Jun 03, 2011
Nikitabanana
rated it:
In “We Bought a Zoo”, Benjamin Mee tells the story of how his family came to buy the Dartmoor Zoological Park and the great lengths it took to revitalize the zoo and prepare it for opening day. After his father dies, his 76 year old mother needs to sell their old house and eventually the family decides to purchase a zoo with the money. Mee, who writes DIY magazine articles, along with his mother, wife and two children move in and immediately start working on renovating this zoo in hopes of it so
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Mar 30, 2011
TheInnocentButler
rated it:
My four-sentence or less take on the plot: Benjamin Mee and his family decide an extremely run down zoo (so run down that the animals are going to be quickly euthanized if a buyer isn't found). The zoo provides an extreme amount of both enjoyment and difficulty. During this time, Mee runs in to personal tragedy when his beloved wife gets diagnosed with brain cancer. This book deals with a lot of the nitty gritty business details of the buying and opening of a zoo.
Rating: 8
Wha More...
Rating: 8
Wha More...
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Nov 18, 2010
Patrick
rated it:
After moving his family all over Gods half acre, Benjamin Mee finally settles in a French barn/house and set about writing some sort of “great” book. Then his father dies and his siblings begin to consider purchasing a zoo. His 76 year old mother supports this idea, but negotiations fall apart and each sibling goes about their way. Mee, his wife Katherine, son Milo and daughter Ella are busy with daily life when a health problem strikes Katherine. The Mee family goes into survival mode. In the m
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Jan 09, 2010
Susan
rated it:
I enjoyed this tale of a man who's family bought a zoo and worked to rehabilitate it. The idea that one can, without any previous zoological experience, buy a zoo full of dangerous and exotic creatures and make a success of it is pretty exciting, charming, and inspiring. The writing is that of a personal memoir- heavy on the experience and feelings of undertaking such an endeavor and less on the practicalities of it, with liberal tales of the zoo's animals thrown in for good measure.
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Aug 04, 2009
Kim
rated it:
I got this as a Advanced Readers Copy and was very pleased with it. Benjamin Mee and Weinstein Books has a sure fire hit on their hands with this book!
Some parts of the book were emotionally tough to get through, however by the time you get to that part you already feel that you are part of the family. You also begin to feel as you are part of the team at the zoo.
Benjamin (not to be confused with his father Ben) goes looking for a better place to live with his family and More...
Some parts of the book were emotionally tough to get through, however by the time you get to that part you already feel that you are part of the family. You also begin to feel as you are part of the team at the zoo.
Benjamin (not to be confused with his father Ben) goes looking for a better place to live with his family and More...
May 17, 2009
Book Jacket:
In the market for a house and the adventure of a lifetime,
Benjamin Mee decided to uproot his family and move them to
an unlikely new home: a dilapidated zoo in the English
countryside, complete with over 200 exotic animals. Mee,
who specializes in animal behavior, had a dream to
refurbish the zoo and run it as a family business.
Naturally, friends and colleagues thought he was crazy.
Mee's pipe dream became a reality in October 2006, wh More...
In the market for a house and the adventure of a lifetime,
Benjamin Mee decided to uproot his family and move them to
an unlikely new home: a dilapidated zoo in the English
countryside, complete with over 200 exotic animals. Mee,
who specializes in animal behavior, had a dream to
refurbish the zoo and run it as a family business.
Naturally, friends and colleagues thought he was crazy.
Mee's pipe dream became a reality in October 2006, wh More...
Jan 02, 2012
Solyndra
rated it:
Quite a fascinating read. I started out thinking "you guys are crazy! buying a zoo with literally *all* of your money!" but over the course of the book I was convinced by Benjamin Mee: he and his team loved nature, loved what they were doing, they loved it so much they put everything on the line to achieve their dream. To me that is both crazy and awe-inspiring. The incredible nerve it took to do that, my.
I had a few problems with the book itself. Though it was interesting More...
I had a few problems with the book itself. Though it was interesting More...
Dec 08, 2008
Carol
rated it:
More than I really wanted to know about running a Zoo. Feeding, culling, moving, medicating... The real nitty gritty. (Aside) The author, at one time, hides a big chunk of meat high in a tree branch in the lion's enclosure and it takes the lioness three days to figure out how to get it. (keeping her entertained)
I'm a little ambivalent about Zoos, but they seem to have improved the habitat for the animals greatly since I was a child. I do remember two Zoos particularly from when ou More...
I'm a little ambivalent about Zoos, but they seem to have improved the habitat for the animals greatly since I was a child. I do remember two Zoos particularly from when ou More...
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Jul 12, 2010
Alyssa
rated it:
I have mixed feelings about zoos in general. The only zoo I grew up visiting left a sour taste in my mouth for them due to the permanent image of the sad giraffes standing in a concrete pit with a bit of straw scattered about coupled with a vague memory of multiple instances of giraffes falling in said enclosure and dying prematurely. Not exactly happy memories. The other animals never seemed terribly happy or well kept either. My first experience with a good zoo focused more on the animals and
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Jan 06, 2012
Alexis
rated it:
I was talking about the movie "We bought a zoo" with my friend and she lent me this book.
I was intrigued by the idea of the movie because I like Cameron Crowe and I really like animals.
However, the movie has had some pretty bad reviews. After reading the book, I don't quite understand how they could have thought that this book would make a good movie. It's a good book, but it really deals with the intricacies of buying a zoo, the financial stress, and how the author d More...
I was intrigued by the idea of the movie because I like Cameron Crowe and I really like animals.
However, the movie has had some pretty bad reviews. After reading the book, I don't quite understand how they could have thought that this book would make a good movie. It's a good book, but it really deals with the intricacies of buying a zoo, the financial stress, and how the author d More...
Nov 14, 2011
Jennifer
rated it:
The Good Stuff
Heartwarming and hilarious and honest
I am in total awe of this man and his family and what they accomplished against all odds, truly inspiring
It's about family and zoo animals -- what's not to like
There are Otters - OK only 1 paragraph (Pg 74), but anyone who mentions otters is cool with me
Talks about Gay Animals -- yup its true (take that homophobes)
Liked authors writing style
Interesting to hear about the inner wo More...
Heartwarming and hilarious and honest
I am in total awe of this man and his family and what they accomplished against all odds, truly inspiring
It's about family and zoo animals -- what's not to like
There are Otters - OK only 1 paragraph (Pg 74), but anyone who mentions otters is cool with me
Talks about Gay Animals -- yup its true (take that homophobes)
Liked authors writing style
Interesting to hear about the inner wo More...
Jul 31, 2010
Peacegal
rated it:
How many children dream of running a zoo? We Bought a Zoo is the chatty and mostly enjoyable memoir of a family who did just that.
The Dartmoor, England, zoo was put on the auction block after many years of decline. Benjamin Mee, with nothing but a love of the natural world and a sense of adventure, found himself the director of the crumbling institution, which was nevertheless home to a large number of wild animals. Mee took on the Herculean task of turning around this sinking ship More...
The Dartmoor, England, zoo was put on the auction block after many years of decline. Benjamin Mee, with nothing but a love of the natural world and a sense of adventure, found himself the director of the crumbling institution, which was nevertheless home to a large number of wild animals. Mee took on the Herculean task of turning around this sinking ship More...
Jan 24, 2012
Angela
rated it:
I wanted to read this book after seeing the commercials for the movie We Bought A Zoo that came out in December. I never know how books will translate onto the big screen and how many significant changes the movie will make from the book. So often the book is better because a movie has a limited amount of time to tell the entire story and some of the details are usually forced out along the way. Although I still haven't seen the movie yet, I'm not sure this will be the case with We Bought A Zoo.
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Sep 15, 2009
Sarah
rated it:
I did like the story behind this book, and had what I believe to be normal expectations for it - especially since it wasn't written by a random person, but a Writer - someone who had previously made a living writing. However, (and I can't believe I'm actually using this adjective) it came off as extremely pedestrian. There were kernals of good story telling, that traded off with passages with too much detail (that perhaps the author thought was necessary for clarity?), and other passages with
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Jan 25, 2012
Joanna Paula
rated it: 
Too many books and stories to read and write, so little time. I haven't finished this one yet because it didn't pay me back for my investment of time. I'll just watch the movie. It has an interesting premise-- buying and living in a zoo, and the narrator's wife has a brain tumor that may or may not come back-- but the reader is boggled down by dull details and the author's irritating cha-cha with time. He repeatedly narrates financial and technical stuff, and then says, "but this is ahead o
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Dec 30, 2011
Tony
rated it:
I had this one sitting on my to-read list for a few months when I saw the preview to the movie and decided to go ahead and jump into reading it before I go see the movie. I haven't seen the movie yet but I loved the book. It's the story of a family who decides to literally buy a zoo even though none of them have any experience in running a zoo... They just kind of jump in and the book walks you through their entire adventure of buying a failing zoo and turning it around. The author has a very fu
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Nov 24, 2008
Cameron
rated it:
I was captivated by the cover the moment I pulled it from the shelf. I couldn't wait to fully explore the happenings of this highly illogical and yet romantic notion of buying a zoo as your residence, having no experience in the care and keeping of wild animals, let alone having to invest so heavily in refurbishing the grounds. I enjoyed Mee's relation of the process of buying and inhabiting the zoo, and it read easily, however, I felt equally disappointed in the paucity of information. Allow
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Jan 02, 2012
David
rated it:
After seeing commercials for the new movie based on this book, I remembered that I had a copy that I had not yet read. It's a quick read, and quite engaging. I've always enjoyed "behind the scenes" books (see my review of "Lady on the Hill: How Biltmore Estate became an American Icon"), and this book fits the bill as an interesting look at the inner workings of small zoo. The one thing that kept me firmly in my place as an outside observer was the bizarre notion of a family a
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Jan 31, 2009
Leigh-ann
rated it:
My own love of animals may have made this book more interesting to me than to the average person. The idea of owning a zoo seems like heaven, so I was happy to follow along as the author and his family traveled the very difficult and expensive road to zoo ownership. The book is not just about the zoo, however... it's also about the author's wife, who develops (and dies from) brain cancer (that's not a spoiler, as her death is revealed on the book jacket). Her death was particularly sad becaus
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Jan 10, 2012
Danielle
rated it:
The only reason I am giving this book a 3/5 stars is because the overall story was inspiring. However, the writing and portal of the story was a let down. I anticipated reading this book after I saw the previews for the movie, I really hope the movie is more exciting then then book. I had a really hard time getting through this one. The beginning was good, then about 2/4 of the way through the whole story became very redundant. Mee mentions similar scenarios of moving the "big cats" an
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Feb 01, 2009
Bonnie
rated it:
I enjoyed this book, but skimmed the last few chapters because it was due at the library and I didn't want to renew it. As others have mentioned, it is written in a journalistic style and has some repetition, which didn't bother me because I sometimes need to be told something more than once to remember it. I found the details enlightening in respect to good business practices, animal behavior, and in particular the brain cancer which afflicted Ben's wife. Writing the book was clearly therapeuti
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