Yet another bookclub choice, The Bestiary was my suggestion for this round, and I rather enjoyed it.
The Bestiary tells us the story of Xeno Atlas and his ongoing search for “The Caravan Bestiary”. Xeno is a man who has grown from a childhood mixed with both loyal care (his grandmother, his nanny) and emotional neglect (his father). After his mother dies in childbirth, these are his caretakers.
His grandmother, in particular sows the seed of his interest in all things to do with animals, and this love includes both the known and the mystical. But it is time at boarding school (after his beloved grandmother dies and his father runs off to his life as a sailor) that introduces him to the idea of ‘The Caravan Bestiary”, a book that apparently lists all the animals that didn’t make it onto Noah’s ark.
Christopher manages to write a Divinci Code-esque book that I didn’t loath. In fact, the similarities didn’t occur to me into well the book. Mostly because the similarities are superficial (thankfully). Yes, Xeno is on a mission to unravel knowledge that has assumed to be hidden by the church. But that’s about where it ends. No one is hunting him down, and there are no evil church men trying to thwart him. And Xeno is not the perfect protanganist.
Indeed, I questioned his choices regarding his relationship with his father. Xeno comes across as very hard on the man, who I didn’t feel was such a bad guy. He did his best to try and raise his son while grieving his late wife. I also didn’t necessarily buy what felt like his sudden close relationship with the Morettis. It felt to me like it came out of nowhere. But once it was there, I enjoyed watching it evolve in fits and starts, much like real life relationships sometimes.
I was also a bit disappointed by the ending. The story didn’t resolve the way I really want it to. But then I suppose the actual ending was better story telling than what I was looking for.
Despite its few flaws, the Bestiary is an engaging read. Now I want to go research bestiaries!