Giraffe: A Novel by J.M. Ledgard: book review

Giraffe (2006), based on a true event, commences in 1971 in Kenya when a female giraffe narrates her own birth. At the age of two, Czechoslovakian hunters tranquilize and capture Snehurka, meaning White Snow because of the unusual whiteness of her underbelly.

The main narrator is Emil Freymann, a Czech student, studying hemodynamics – the blood flow in vertical creatures (humans and giraffes) and the morphology of the jugular vein – which has implications for cosmonauts and high-altitude fliers. The government wants him to travel to Hamburg to supervise the passage (by barge and truck) of 33 giraffes to a small zoo in Czechoslovakia as part of a long-term breeding project during the Communist regime of the mid-1970s. Although one giraffe had died during the sea voyage, leaving 32 giraffes, it was the largest group of giraffes ever transported across the world.

Once in the zoo, the narration fragments to document the historic program, and its consequences, through differing perspectives. The third narrator is Amina Dvorakova, a shy Czech orphan and Christmas-decoration factory worker, and somnambulist (sleep-walker), who witnesses the giraffes’ arrival and is captivated by them. She sneaks into the zoo two to three times a week to visit them, behind the chapel and through the gap in the fence in the zebra enclosure. Soon she is befriended by the giraffe keeper who notices her constant presence.

The fourth narrator is Jiri, a forester and a game hunter – a sharpshooter. The fifth narrator is Tadeas, a virologist. When an animal is sick, he diagnoses a contagion for which he has no vaccine. The government policy is clear: “if an exotic animal has the contagion, it must be destroyed” to avoid risk of exposure to livestock.

The breeding program was succeeding. On April 30, 1975, there were 49 giraffes, with 23 thought to be pregnant. With news of the contagion, the zoo is closed to the public, under quarantine, and sealed off at gunpoint. During the eve of the May Day celebrations, as fireworks shoot into the sky, Jiri must shoot all of the captive giraffes, leaving Snehurka, the leader of the herd, to last – with no records to be kept. However, Amina, taking the secret path, enters the zoo.

The sixth narrator is Tomas, a slaughterhouse worker, and the final narrator is Steve, a foreign correspondent.

The novel is slow-paced, yet not suspenseful (for readers know the outcome). It is distressing and gruesome, and not for the faint-hearted, yet not heartfelt (for readers never fully resonate with each character, nor Snehurka the giraffe. This is mainly due to: (1) the novel’s brevity, (2) its multi-narrative style, and (3) its esoteric language, skillful at times but otherwise doctrinaire. It’s much like reading while being captive in a Lava-lamp: slow-motion, warped, and psychedelic while waiting to surface. Nevertheless, it is a telling expose of the captivity of exotic animals, chemical warfare in contagion, and a jugular blood bath of secret laboratories.

I met the author and his wife in Nairobi in late 2005, through a mutual friend, before his first novel was available in print. His telling of the true story was gripping – he is a master story teller, best listened to in person because his knowledge, passion, and third-person narration were more mesmerizing and suspenseful than his writing portrays.