[BWF] West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge – 3 Stars

[Hannah]

This is a book that I had very high hopes for given its high average rating on GR, and so I feel a little as though I must have missed something. I liked the idea of the story – and didn’t realise that it was based on a true story until after I had finished reading it – but I did not particularly like the main character, and got annoyed by the constant references to the fact that he had a big secret that he couldn’t tell people about, and I just felt that if that was the case, why keep referring to it? I liked that the author included the actual newspaper articles about the giraffes in this novel and I felt it gave the reader a good snapshot of America in the 1930s, suffering from the lingering effects of the Great Depression, but I just didn’t find this book particularly engaging, and when we finally discover what the great secret was, I just felt that it was all very anticlimactic.

[Robin P]

I think I also gave 3 stars, I felt the story dragged. If there was a big secret I've already forgotten it (after only a few weeks!)

[NancyJ]

I’ve forgotten it too.

[Hannah]

NancyJ wrote: "I’ve forgotten it too."

I doubt this will be a book a remember for more than a week or two.

[Hannah]

Robin P wrote: "I think I also gave 3 stars, I felt the story dragged. If there was a big secret I've already forgotten it (after only a few weeks!)"

It's not really that memorable at all, and it's not even something I thought needed to be a secret.