A very funny book. It really is laugh-out-loud material. At a point in his early twenties, Tony was in limboland trying to decide what to do in his life that would provide him with some purpose: a few previous attempts hadn't quite provided him with the answers he was looking for. In pursuit of that lightbulb moment, he stumbled across a volunteer programme at an animal rescue centre in Ecuador: a refuge for animals rescued from cruelty. Without thinking twice about it, he signed up. What followed was for him a life-changing experience.
Tony Slater is very gifted at writing comically and laughter accompanied every page I read at the account of his daily routine looking after animals, birds and reptiles of all shapes and sizes and degrees of ferocity. Despite the tomfoolery of the writing, Tony never forgets the seriousness of the work carried out by the rescue centre, he never forgets to inform us of the beauty and uniqueness of Ecuador, and more importantly, never forgets to reveal not only how much the animals came to mean to him in the short time he was there, but also how much the whole experience touched him.
A guaranteed tonic.
We are FB cousins..I know someone that you know and I am also a writer. Very seldom do I come across such a generous, sweet-hearted, gets the point across review. Tony James Slater is fortunate to count you as a fan...now..I'm off to Amazon.com ;D
ReplyDeleteI really do agree - it was a fantastically funny book! And I did get a few odd looks when I was laughing at some of the things that happened.
ReplyDeleteCathy, I can't thank you enough for this glowing review! I do believe it's the nicest thing anyone has ever said about my writing. I mean, an eBook's not even good for propping up a table... I'm really, really glad you enjoyed it. And as it happens I've finally gotten around to starting the next one - featuring (amongst other things) the decapitated head of a dog in a box, and what not to say to a US customs officer!
ReplyDeleteOnce again, many thanks! If you don't mind, I'll link to this review from my blog. Ha! That'll show 'em... :0)
Tony