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9 min read
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4.5 · 8,744 Amazon ratings
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My Family and Other Animals
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell Review: A Sun-Drenched Classic of Comic Memoir
First published in 1956, My Family and Other Animals is Gerald Durrell's autobiographical account of the years he spent as a child on the Greek island of Corfu with his gloriously dysfunctional family — and it remains the gold standard of warmly comic nature writing, opening the first book of what became the beloved Corfu Trilogy.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Readers who love nature writing woven through with affectionate character comedy — particularly anyone drawn to sun-drenched memoir, eccentric family dynamics, or the natural history of the Mediterranean — will find this an ideal, unhurried read.
Worth it if
Worth reading if you want a book that can make you laugh at human foibles and genuinely teach you about island ecology at the same time, without either strand ever feeling like a distraction from the other.
Skip if
Skip it if you need a tightly plotted narrative or a rigorously accurate biographical record — Durrell openly fictionalises and omits key figures, and the episodic, digressive structure is a feature rather than a flaw, but one that will frustrate impatient readers.
What readers & critics say
Wikipedia's account of the book's reception confirms it was an instant success upon publication, and Kirkus Reviews praised Durrell's ability to make his animals "as entertaining as his humans," calling the Corfu memoir the "ultimate reward" for his devoted readership. The Guardian's reader review section described it as "so vibrant, warm and weird at the same time," a characterisation that has proven durable across nearly seven decades of readership.
“This book is so vibrant, warm and weird at the same time — like your passport to a wacky and wonderful world.”
— The Guardian“Durrell's department of natural history has found him a devoted audience — and here is the ultimate reward.”
— Kirkus Reviews4.5from 8,744 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
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My Family and Other Animals is Gerald Durrell's autobiographical memoir of the years the Durrell family spent on the Greek island of Corfu between 1935 and 1939, weaving sharp family comedy around a child naturalist's encyclopedic delight in island wildlife. The gold standard of warmly comic nature writing, it rewards readers who enjoy digressive, character-driven storytelling — but those seeking tightly plotted narrative or strict biographical accuracy should note that Durrell openly fictionalised events and omitted key figures such as Lawrence Durrell's first wife Nancy. The first volume in the Corfu Trilogy, it is a natural and self-contained entry point into Durrell's broader body of work.
- Is it worth reading?
- For readers who enjoy character-driven, digressive prose, My Family and Other Animals is considered a landmark of British autobiographical writing that has lost none of its appeal in nearly seven decades. The productive tension between sharp family comedy and sincere natural history is its defining achievement — a reader drawn by the comedy will find themselves genuinely educated in Corfu's island ecology, while a reader drawn by the natural history will find themselves laughing throughout. The key caveat is structural: the episodic format rewards unhurried readers, and those expecting a tightly plotted narrative or accurate biographical record may find the acknowledged fictionalisation and loose chronology frustrating.
- Similar books
- Readers who love My Family and Other Animals tend to enjoy other books that blend place, personality, and digressive warmth. Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence shares the same expat-in-Mediterranean-sunshine sensibility and comedy of cultural dislocation. Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island offers comparable good-humoured, character-rich travel writing with an eye for the absurd. Henry Beston's The Outermost House provides the natural-history strand taken in a quieter, more contemplative direction, while Ellen Barone's I Could Live Here: A Travel Memoir of Home and Belonging speaks to the same pull toward discovering belonging in an adopted place.
- Who should read this?
- My Family and Other Animals is ideally suited to readers who enjoy nature writing threaded through with character comedy — those who treat the natural world and human eccentricity as inseparable rather than competing subjects. Fans of the Masterpiece PBS series The Durrells in Corfu will find the book richly rewarding. Readers drawn to warm, episodic memoirs in the expat tradition — or those looking for an entry point into Durrell's broader body of work — will find it a natural fit. Those who prefer tightly plotted narratives or require strict biographical rigour are less likely to connect with its acknowledged looseness.
- What age is it for?
- My Family and Other Animals is broadly suitable for readers aged 10 and up, though it is most comfortably enjoyed by confident readers around 12 and above. The vocabulary and digressive, essay-like prose suit readers who are comfortable with unhurried, discursive writing rather than action-driven plotting. It is widely assigned in schools and has been a staple of younger readers for decades, making it one of the more accessible classic British memoirs for older children and young teens.
- About Gerald Durrell
- Gerald Malcolm Durrell was a British naturalist, writer, zookeeper, conservationist, and television presenter. The success of My Family and Other Animals provided the financial foundation that allowed him to establish the Jersey Zoological Park, now known as the Durrell Wildlife Park, in the Channel Islands.
- Tell me about the adaptation
- My Family and Other Animals served as the inspiration for The Durrells in Corfu, a television series broadcast on Masterpiece PBS in the United States. The series introduced Durrell's Corfu years to a new generation of readers and viewers, and the book's cultural reach has continued to grow through this adaptation. The book also has a longer history of real-world impact — its popularity historically boosted tourism to Corfu itself.
- What are the main themes?
- The central tension of My Family and Other Animals is the interplay between comic family memoir and genuine natural history — Durrell balances his sharp, affectionate comedy at his family's expense against a sincere, encyclopedic enthusiasm for Corfu's wildlife, and neither strand overwhelms the other. Broader themes include the romance of displacement and belonging (an English family finding themselves at home on a Greek island), the formation of a naturalist's sensibility in childhood, and the relationship between memory and invention in autobiography — Durrell acknowledged fictionalising and shaping events for maximum warmth and comic effect.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
Who should read this?
What age is it for?
About Gerald Durrell
Tell me about the adaptation
What are the main themes?
Summarize this book
My Family and Other Animals chronicles the years between 1935 and 1939 when the widowed Durrell family — mother, eldest brother Larry (the future novelist Lawrence Durrell), gun-obsessed Leslie, diet-fixated Margo, and youngest child Gerald — uprooted themselves from damp England to the sun-soaked Greek island of Corfu. Gerald, then ten years old, uses three successive family villas as loose structural anchors for a procession of episodes combining comic family observation with richly detailed natural history — toads, scorpions, geckoes, octopuses, bats, and butterflies all pass through the pages alongside colourful human figures such as the fiercely loyal taxi driver Spiro 'Americano' Hakiaopulos and the polymathic Dr. Theodore Stephanides, who becomes Gerald's mentor in natural history. Originally conceived as a natural history of Corfu, the book became equally a family portrait, and Durrell acknowledged it fictionalises and exaggerates throughout.
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A landmark of British autobiographical writing, My Family and Other Animals has lost none of its appeal in the nearly seven decades since Gerald Durrell first put it to paper while recuperating from jaundice in Bournemouth in 1955.
What the Book Actually Is
My Family and Other Animals is an autobiographical memoir — exaggerated and sometimes fictionalised, by Durrell's own design — chronicling the years between 1935 and 1939 when the Durrell family relocated from damp England to the sun-soaked Greek island of Corfu. Gerald, the youngest, was ten years old at the start of this period.
The cast of characters is half the book's joy: his widowed mother, navigating island life with bemused good nature; eldest brother Larry (the future celebrated novelist and poet Lawrence Durrell), who fills the villas with artistic and literary visitors; gun-obsessed middle brother Leslie; and diet-fixated sister Margo. Binding the family to their adopted island are two indispensable figures — the fiercely loyal taxi driver Spiro "Americano" Hakiaopulos, and the polymath Dr. Theodore Stephanides, who becomes young Gerald's mentor and guide in natural history.
The book is structured in three sections, each corresponding to a different villa the family occupied on the island, giving the narrative a loose episodic shape that suits its unhurried, digressive pleasures.
Its Origins and Place in the Canon
Although Durrell had already established himself with books about collecting animals in the wild for zoos, My Family and Other Animals was the work that transformed his public profile entirely. According to Wikipedia's account of the book's reception, it was an instant success upon publication.
The memoir is the first and most celebrated volume in the Corfu Trilogy, which continues with Birds, Beasts, and Relatives and concludes with The Garden of the Gods. Its cultural reach has only extended over time: the book served as the inspiration for the Masterpiece PBS television series The Durrells in Corfu, introducing Durrell's Corfu years to a new generation of readers and viewers.
The success the book generated also had real-world consequences for Durrell personally — it provided the financial foundation that allowed him to establish the Jersey Zoological Park, now known as the Durrell Wildlife Park, in the Channel Islands.
The Book's Dual Appeal: Comedy and Natural History
The memoir's enduring appeal rests on the productive tension between two impulses: Durrell's sharp, affectionate comedy at his family's expense, and his sincere, encyclopedic enthusiasm for Corfu's wildlife. The procession of creatures Gerald brings home — toads, scorpions, geckoes, glowworms, octopuses, bats, and butterflies among them — is treated with the same loving attention that Durrell brings to the human eccentrics surrounding him.
Penguin Random House's description of the book captures this duality well: it was originally intended as a natural history of the island but became equally a portrait of a family. The result is a book in which neither strand overwhelms the other; the fauna of Corfu and the foibles of the Durrells are observed with equal, delighted precision.
A reader drawn by the comedy will find themselves genuinely educated in island ecology; a reader drawn by the natural history will find themselves laughing throughout.
Honest Limitations: Fictionalisation and Selective Memory
Durrell himself acknowledged that the memoir exaggerates and fictionalises, and the record is clear on specific points where the book departs from the historical record. Lawrence Durrell, for instance, actually lived in a separate part of Corfu with his first wife Nancy — whom Gerald omits from the narrative entirely.
The chronology of events is also inaccurate in places. For readers who approach the book expecting strict documentary truth, these departures matter.
This is not a flaw in the literary sense — comic memoir has always licensed embellishment — but readers seeking an accurate historical account of the Durrell family's Corfu years will need to supplement the book with other sources. The memoir is best understood as Gerald Durrell's version of those years: selective, shaped for maximum warmth and comic effect, and written from the perspective of a child who was already becoming a naturalist-storyteller.
Who This Book Is For
My Family and Other Animals is published by Penguin Books as the first volume in the Corfu Trilogy, and it is a natural starting point for anyone new to Durrell's writing. The Guardian's reader review section, which hosted a response to the book, described it as "so vibrant, warm and weird at the same time" — a characterisation that holds up across the book's long readership.
It is a book designed to be read with pleasure rather than urgency: episodic, digressive, and generous in its attention to both people and animals. Readers who enjoy nature writing threaded through with character comedy — in the tradition of writers who treat the natural world as inseparable from human experience — will find it deeply satisfying.
Those who prefer tightly plotted narratives or strict biographical rigour may find the memoir's loose structure and acknowledged fictionalisation less to their taste, but for its intended audience, Durrell's Corfu world remains as alive and inviting as ever.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
- 1
- 2
en.wikipedia.org
- 3
- Further reading
- 4
Gerald Durrell, LuvemBooks
- 5
ia601507.us.archive.org
- 6
- 7
introvertedreader.com
- 8
- 9
Kirkus Reviews
Age & Reading Level
Our age band
Adult
Our age band groups books for browsing; it isn't an age a review gave.
who it suits
Skip if you want a tightly plotted narrative or an accurate, documentary biographical account of the Durrell family's Corfu years.
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