As a boy of fifteen I discovered the books of Gerald Durrell and was enchanted by their combination of natural history, humor, and brilliant writing. My favorite of Gerry's books was My Family and Other Animals, a memoir of the years (1935-39) that he spent on the Greek island of Corfu with his widowed mother, two brothers, and sister. He described Corfu as a sort of Eden, in which he wandered blissfully through the sun-drenched countryside, watching the animals and meeting the locals, who found the English boy as charming and fascinating as he found them. This production bears NO resemblance to Gerry's books. It tells the story of Mrs. Durrell instead. Since Gerry wrote very little about his mother - she was the patient and somewhat absent-minded head of a household full of eccentrics, was herself interested in cooking, and that's pretty much all he said about her - the writer of this show has decided to replace this woman of 1935 with a woman of the 21st century, and the script mainly involves her wringing her hands about her situation as a woman and a mother. I barely lasted through the first episode. I've read My Family and Other Animals multiple times in my life. It's an enduring delight. This production removes the very element that makes it unique and wonderful - a young boy's adventures in Eden - and in its place gives us an utterly ordinary and tedious account of an unremarkable housewife.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Shadowlands
(1993)
Condescending
5 August 2002
Shadowlands portrays Lewis as a naive old bachelor with little experience of life, sheltered if not positively shallow. But you tell me: when he was 10 his mother died; when he was in his late teens he entered the army, endured trench warfare, and was wounded; he saw his best friend killed in battle; honoring a pledge, he moved in with the friend's mother and sister and supported them for many years; he had a sexual relationship with his friend's mother, and although she was an extremely difficult woman he remained with her until her death; and during all these years his much-beloved brother Warnie was a binge drinker who often ended up face down in the gutter. Does this sound like a sheltered life to you? I can't speak for anyone but myself, but this strikes me as a pretty full life - he'd gone through more by the age of 25 than I have at 45. Lewis loved Joy Davidman, and she brought something important to his life. But to say he needed her to become a Real Human Being is condescension of the worst sort, and this aspect of Shadowlands's script is a kind of slander (perhaps a backhanded slap at Lewis's Christianity, which is "obviously" childish and unrealistic?).
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