Sunday, January 15, 2017

All Things Bright and Beautiful (James Herriot)

All Things Bright and Beautiful
James Herriot
Open Road Media
Nonfiction, Animals/Autobiography
****+ (Good/Great)


DESCRIPTION: Yorkshire country veterinarian James Herriot collects more tales of his life and practice. Now a newlywed and a full partner, his life is still filled with eccentric farmers, peculiar cases, and other adventures.

REVIEW: Like Herriot's first volume, All Creatures Great and Small, this collection captures a lost time and place, a world on the cusp of great change and revolution that would eventually remake even small farm towns like "Darrowby," the author's somewhat-fictionalized recrafting of the small Yorkshire communities where he practiced. (Other details are altered as well.) He himself would soon depart to serve in World War II's Royal Air Force. More stories, some charming and some sad, unfold, including a few more flashbacks to his often-disastrous courtship of Helen. Brothers Siegfried and Tristan are less prominent here, as Herriot proved himself in the first volume and is now more a colleague than a wet-eared student. The harshness and beauty of the Yorkshire landscape and the farming life come through clearly in every story, as do the changes slowly remaking not only his practice (such as his first experiences with antibiotics) but the rest of the community (the waning of the draft horse, among other things.) It's an enjoyable collection of memories.

You Might Also Enjoy:
Being a Beast (Charles Foster) - My Review
All Creatures Great and Small (James Herriot) - My Review
The Cat Who Couldn't See In The Dark (Howard Padwee, D.V.M., and Valerie Moolman) - My Review

No comments:

Post a Comment