Giraffe by J.M. Ledgard

Why I chose to read this book:  It's about a mass slaying of giraffes in communist Czechoslovakia, based on a true story. Sounded good.

How I first learned about this book: Browsing on PaperBackSwap.

Where I got it: PaperBackSwap. Even though it's a used book site, it came to me brand-new, wrapped in plastic.

What format I read it in: Audio. 6 CDs.

What my husband made for dinner: Chicken Ragu over linguine
What I think:

I found this a very difficult book to read. It was more like a really long poem than it was a story. The language and descriptions were beautiful. It was profound and moving in parts. However, it lacked a lot of the conventions we're used to when we read a story.

For one thing, everything happened in present tense. Except for revealing the ending, the giraffe slaughter, there was little foreshadowing or flashback. Some of the characters kind of ran into each other, but didn't really interact in meaningful ways. As events unfolded, there was no clue from the context how important anything was. Everything was written in a monotone.

Two clear metaphors compared people living under communism to sleepwalkers and to the giraffes. I most wanted to learn more about the day-to-day lives of ordinary people living under communism, but there was very little of that in the book. Except the message that they were all depressed. I was also fascinated by the very few descriptions of the physiology of giraffe anatomy. It had never occurred to me how profound the circulatory and skeletal differences had to be, just to keep such tall animals alive.

Overall, I was disappointed by the book. But the ending, and I don't think I'm giving anything away by saying it describes the giraffes' slaughter, was almost powerful enough to save it. It was that good.