Reviewed
Read Time
8 min read
Age & reading levelAdult
Reader ratingreader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
4.6
· 1,817 Amazon ratingsShare This Review
Our review
Birds, Beasts and Relatives
Birds, Beasts and Relatives by Gerald Durrell Review: A Joyful Return to Corfu's Wild Heart
The second volume of Gerald Durrell's beloved Corfu Trilogy deepens the naturalist memoir begun in My Family and Other Animals, following the young Gerald and his wonderfully chaotic family through further adventures on the Greek island — blending sharp comic observation, rich portraits of wildlife, and an abiding love for a landscape that shaped one of the twentieth century's great conservationists.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Readers who loved My Family and Other Animals and want to follow Gerald Durrell deeper into his naturalist obsessions, or anyone drawn to memoir that blends comic family chaos with serious wildlife observation and a vivid sense of 1930s Corfu.
Worth it if
You come to it having read the first volume of the Corfu Trilogy — the emotional payoff and the comedy of the Durrell household land far more fully with that context already in place.
Skip if
Readers who pick it up expecting the same ratio of family-comedy to wildlife writing as My Family and Other Animals may find the heavier naturalist focus a slight adjustment, and those reading out of sequence will miss much of the character groundwork that gives the family episodes their warmth.
What readers & critics say
Reviewers consistently praise Durrell's ability to blend nature writing and memoir with comic flair: raincityreads.com describes the book as "half nature guide, half coming-of-age tale, and all charmingly funny memoir," while beenews.com notes that Durrell's detailed accounts of endangered species on Corfu give the book genuine conservation resonance beyond charming reminiscence.
Sources: Rain City Reads, BeeNews, Sue's Book Reviews, JaneGS Blog, Write Out Loud Blog4.6from 1,817 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
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Birds, Beasts and Relatives is the second volume of Gerald Durrell's autobiographical Corfu Trilogy, returning the Durrell family to 1930s Greece with even deeper dives into the island's wildlife alongside the beloved household chaos. Richer in zoological detail and conservation resonance than its predecessor, it rewards readers who come prepared with the context of My Family and Other Animals — those who skip straight to this volume may find its emotional payoff slightly diminished. For lovers of nature writing, mid-century travel memoir, and sharply affectionate family comedy, it is an essential continuation.
- Is it worth reading?
- For readers already fond of the Corfu Trilogy, Birds, Beasts and Relatives is an essential and deeply rewarding continuation — its wildlife observations carry real zoological and conservation weight, and Durrell's comic rendering of family life remains a strong narrative engine. Even readers who find the balance shifted slightly away from the family comedy of the first book toward wildlife will likely agree with the Earnestly Eccentric blogger's verdict that it is 'an absolute delight to read.' Durrell's legacy as a conservationist and founder of the Jersey Zoo lends retrospective significance to his childhood observations, making this as much a document of a vocation taking shape as a collection of funny, tender stories.
- Similar books
- Readers who enjoy Birds, Beasts and Relatives will naturally want to begin — or continue — with My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell, the first volume of the Corfu Trilogy and the essential companion to this book. For memoir blended with travel and a strong sense of place, Far and Wild: A Travel Memoir by Fabiana Capuano and Brant Huddleston and The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Lost by Rachel Friedman offer a similar mix of adventure, landscape, and personal discovery. David Sedaris's The Land and Its People: Essays shares the sharp comic sensibility and affectionate, observational voice that characterises Durrell's writing. Jeannette Walls's The Glass Castle is another memoir driven by an eccentric family rendered with both affection and unflinching honesty.
- Who should read this?
- Birds, Beasts and Relatives will reward readers drawn to nature writing, memoir with a strong comic sensibility, and mid-twentieth-century travel writing rooted in a specific place and era. It is particularly suited to anyone who loved My Family and Other Animals and wants to follow Gerald Durrell's developing naturalist voice further, as well as to readers interested in conservation history who want to see the seeds of Durrell's lifelong commitment to wildlife taking shape. Those coming purely for the family-comedy register of the first book should know the balance tips somewhat more toward wildlife observation in this volume.
- About Gerald Durrell
- Gerald Malcolm Durrell was a British naturalist, writer, zookeeper, conservationist, and television presenter. His work across these fields made him one of the most recognisable figures in twentieth-century wildlife conservation and popular natural history writing.
- Where to start with Durrell?
- Readers new to Gerald Durrell should begin with My Family and Other Animals, the first volume of the Corfu Trilogy, which establishes the family, the Corfu setting, and the comic-naturalist voice that runs through the entire series. Birds, Beasts and Relatives is the second volume and its emotional payoff is significantly greater when read in sequence. The Open Road Media Kindle edition conveniently packages the complete trilogy for new readers.
- Why does this matter for conservation?
- Published sources note that Durrell's accounts of endangered species on Corfu speak meaningfully to conservation concerns, giving Birds, Beasts and Relatives a purpose beyond charming reminiscence. The young Gerald's detailed observations of animal behaviours, habitats, and precarious situations on the island carry real zoological weight, and Durrell's later founding of the Jersey Zoo means readers can trace the origins of a significant conservation legacy directly in these childhood episodes. The book functions, in part, as a document of a vocation taking shape.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
Who should read this?
About Gerald Durrell
Where to start with Durrell?
Why does this matter for conservation?
Summarize this book
Birds, Beasts and Relatives is the second installment of Gerald Durrell's Corfu Trilogy, picking up where My Family and Other Animals left off as the young Gerald — already a devoted naturalist by age ten — continues his obsessive pursuit of Corfu's wildlife alongside his wonderfully eccentric family in the 1930s. The narrative weaves together animal rescues, family comedy, and vivid glimpses of Greek culture, including the disruption caused by King George's return to Greece and the chaos brought on by visiting personalities such as the memorably eccentric Prince Jeejeebuoy. It functions simultaneously as autobiography, nature writing, and travelogue, all in Durrell's singular comic voice.
Follow up
What is the Corfu setting like?
What is the Corfu Trilogy?
Do I need to read the first book first?
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Our Review
This review covers the content and published reception of Birds, Beasts and Relatives based on available sources; hands-on application is not assessed here, as this is a memoir rather than an instructional text.
What the Book Actually Is
Birds, Beasts and Relatives is the second installment of Gerald Durrell's autobiographical Corfu Trilogy, following the Durrell family as they return to the Greek island of Corfu in the 1930s. The book continues from where My Family and Other Animals left off, with a young Gerald — already a committed naturalist by the age of ten — living in an unconventional household alongside his mother and siblings, all while pursuing his obsessive fascination with the island's wildlife.
The narrative moves through episodes of animal rescue, family comedy, and encounters with local culture, including the chaos surrounding King George's return to Greece and the disruptions introduced by visiting personalities such as the memorably eccentric Prince Jeejeebuoy. It is autobiography, nature writing, and travelogue woven into a single, distinctive voice.
The Naturalist at the Center
Where the first book in the trilogy established the premise, Birds, Beasts and Relatives places Durrell's passion for wildlife even more firmly at the heart of the narrative. His detailed observations of Corfu's animals — their behaviors, habitats, and, in some passages, their precarious situations on the island — carry real zoological weight alongside the comedy.
Published sources note that Durrell's accounts of endangered species on Corfu speak meaningfully to conservation concerns, making the book something more than charming reminiscence. The young Gerald's eye for animal behavior gives each creature its own personality and place in the story, rendering the natural world of Corfu as vivid a character as any member of the Durrell household.
Comic Texture and Family Portraits
One of the trilogy's most celebrated qualities is Durrell's gift for rendering his family on the page with both affection and precision. The chaos of the Durrell household — its personalities colliding, its visitors arriving uninvited, its domestic arrangements perpetually disrupted by Gerald's latest animal acquisitions — provides the comic architecture that holds each episode together.
Some readers, as one blogger at Earnestly Eccentric noted, find that the book's deepened focus on wildlife comes at a slight cost to the family-dynamic comedy that made the first volume so immediately winning, though the same reader described it as "an absolute delight to read." The balance between Gerald's interior world as a naturalist and the outward farce of family life is what gives the Corfu Trilogy its distinctive register.
Place, Culture, and the World Beyond the Island
Durrell's portrait of Corfu functions not merely as picturesque backdrop but as an active shaping force on the narrative. The island's landscape, wildlife, and Greek culture — observed through the eyes of an English boy who clearly loves his adopted home — are rendered with specificity and warmth.
As the Earnestly Eccentric blog observed, Durrell paints Corfu as "an idyllic picture of the island," almost "cordoned off from the rest of the world's conflicts, almost like a little bubble" — which makes the book's ending, when the family's time on the island must draw toward a close, land with unexpected emotional weight. The 1930s setting gives the memoir a quality of preserved time, capturing a Corfu that no longer exists, and the book's cultural observations — Greek customs, local characters, village life — add texture that goes well beyond a simple nature diary.
Who This Book Is For and Where It Sits
Birds, Beasts and Relatives is best approached as part of the Corfu Trilogy rather than a fully standalone read, since its emotional resonance depends on familiarity with the family established in My Family and Other Animals. That said, the Open Road Media Kindle edition — published in October 2016 — makes the whole trilogy readily accessible to new readers.
The book will reward readers drawn to nature writing, memoir with a strong comic sensibility, or mid-twentieth-century travel writing rooted in a specific place and era. Durrell's legacy as a conservationist and founder of the Jersey Zoo lends his childhood observations a retrospective significance: the seeds of a lifelong commitment to wildlife are visible throughout, making this as much a document of a vocation taking shape as it is a collection of funny, tender stories about a boy and his animals.
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
- Further reading
- 3
Gerald Durrell, LuvemBooks
- 4
- 5
newbookrecommendation.com
- 6
- 7
raincityreads.com
- 8
fantasticfiction.com
Age & Reading Level
Recommended age
Adult
who it suits
Skip if you're looking for laugh-out-loud family comedy above all else and have little interest in detailed wildlife and nature observation.
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