Meghan P. (CompulsiveBookBuyer) reviewed Forbidden Creatures: Inside the World of Animal Smuggling and Exotic Pets on + 42 more book reviews
I wrote this review for Amazon:
Honestly, this book isn't what I thought it would be. But I was enthralled nonetheless. Mr. Laufer is an admirable journalist. He takes a controversial subject and expresses multiple facets of the issue while remaining fair and relatively unbiased. I was very impressed with the way he presented the owners' stories because it would have been very easy to represent them as delusional and ignorant, if not downright stupid. But he told their stories in detail, free of judgment.
One reason I respected Mr. Laufer and enjoyed his book is that he went into this endeavor not knowing how he felt about the issue; he went into it wanting to understand other people's motives - the people who wanted to own exotic "pets," the ones who bred and sold them, and the ones who wanted to ban exotic pet ownership (as well as breeding, buying and selling, of course). He carefully weighed all sides, but the running theme was the desire to understand why people were compelled to share their homes with big cats, apes and long snakes.
He presented facts (many of which were fascinating), observations, opinions, and stories. I didn't feel that he was trying to sway his readers to one point of view or the other, which is refreshing.
Honestly, this book isn't what I thought it would be. But I was enthralled nonetheless. Mr. Laufer is an admirable journalist. He takes a controversial subject and expresses multiple facets of the issue while remaining fair and relatively unbiased. I was very impressed with the way he presented the owners' stories because it would have been very easy to represent them as delusional and ignorant, if not downright stupid. But he told their stories in detail, free of judgment.
One reason I respected Mr. Laufer and enjoyed his book is that he went into this endeavor not knowing how he felt about the issue; he went into it wanting to understand other people's motives - the people who wanted to own exotic "pets," the ones who bred and sold them, and the ones who wanted to ban exotic pet ownership (as well as breeding, buying and selling, of course). He carefully weighed all sides, but the running theme was the desire to understand why people were compelled to share their homes with big cats, apes and long snakes.
He presented facts (many of which were fascinating), observations, opinions, and stories. I didn't feel that he was trying to sway his readers to one point of view or the other, which is refreshing.
