2010 book 211

Julia Stuart's The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise
You'd think a book involving the Beefeaters of the Tower of London, and in particular one Beefeater who is put in charge of the Queen's menagerie of animals (gifts from other countries) because he owns the world's oldest tortoise, and also there's a Reverend who writes erotica under the name Vivienne Ventress, and the Beefeater's wife works for the London Underground's lost articles office, and the two have a strained marriage since the somewhat mysterious death of their son, and there are some other eccentric characters--well, you'd think it'd be right up my alley. After all, the editor compares it to Amelie, Chocolat, and A Fish Called Wanda, and I like all those movies. But--it's really kind of boring. It's too slow and cozy, and even the exotic animals weren't very interesting. It's a perfectly nice book, but really not my thing at all. B-.

(A review copy was provided by the publisher.)