Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads Het huis met de leeuwen.
Dutch history non-fiction is not something I usually tackle. However, since this one very much had to do with the Rotterdam Zoo and I do have a huge interest in animals, I did pick it up. It was honestly way darker than I expected, so content warnings for war, racism, antisemitism and animal death/suffering apply in this review and for the book itself.
We follow the young woman Corry Kuiper, who has married the current director of the old version of the Rotterdam Zoo in the time between World War I and II. They have several children, however Corry often feels restless and starts to write in order to put her thoughts to paper. She also ends up taking in several young animals of the zoo to raise, such as dingo pups or lion cubs. Things start getting increasingly difficult as Nazism is on the rise and World War II is about to break out. Eventually the old Rotterdam Zoo, including the many animals in it, is bombed during the start of World War II. Corry and her family see all the heartbreak firsthand and are forced to adapt to the situation.
What a depressing book. Well-written, mind you, and the author clearly did a ton of research, but holy shit. Honestly, maybe this is on me for not reading the blurb on the back cover. I did know it was about a zoo in the early 1900s going in, but I didn't think about all the things that could come with that. Because this book is dark.
Even the misogyny (subtle and non-subtle) that Corry faces aside, there's just so much dark stuff going on. Human zoos are indeed brought up, and at one point a black boy of Tanzania is even brought in to the Rotterdam zoo to work as a zookeeper for their new rhino calf, Kali. A boy who was torn away from his family and homeland just to work in a zoo with a dangerous animal. Also, he's only eight when this happens. And of course there's the blatant antisemitism that comes with the start of World War II.
I did like following Corry as a central character, as in several aspects she was pretty ahead of her time, much like the blurb insists she is. However, on several occasions I also felt let down by this supposed "ahead of her time"-ness. She supposedly is, yet she has no problem visiting a human zoo where various people of color are displayed as nothing more than an attraction. Not even a thought from her side that's like "hey, this is messed up".
And when Nasor, the Tanzanian boy who later works at Rotterdam Zoo, is introduced, she seems horrified at the situation not because he's a child torn away from his homeland at age eight (though she does bring up him being away from his parents is messed up), but instead because of his lack of an education. I guess that applying modern standards to a person who lived this long ago is a bit difficult, but the book keeps hammering home that Corry was ahead of her time when she did do stuff like this.
She does do a lot of good, though. She's very kind to Nasor and later during World War II ends up giving shelter to several Jews, including a girl who she looks after for two years and takes in as her "niece".
There's also (with this being a book about zoos in the 1900s) some things in the zoo that definitely wouldn't fly today, and that's not even mentioning the bombings. Though Corry's husband Koen does seem to have the best interest of the animals at heart, we all know that animal husbandry back then just wasn't what it is today. Still, I don't think that Corry and her family meant any harm to the animals as they're shown loving them, just not by modern standards and practices. A prime example is the lion cub Tammo, who they bottle-feed and raise and eventually perishes in the fires caused by the bombings together with his mother-figure, a dog named Black. Just very sad.
While the book was well-written, I didn't get into it as much as I'd hoped. It was definitely good, don't get me wrong, and I think it's an important historical book if you care about the history of Rotterdam Zoo. I just didn't get into it very much, personally, but I'm not saying it's bad by any means.
The final epilogue where we learn what happened to each major player is also pretty needed as there were many people that came into and vanished from Conny's life throughout the story. Not all of them have happy endings, as is to be expected.
Overall an important historical book, just beware of the content warnings and get ready for some really dark content should you want to proceed and read it. I just personally couldn't get into it very much.
Rating: 3/5
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