All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
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Book Reviews of All Creatures Great and Small
Book Review: Great and not-so-small
Summary: 5 Stars
James Herriot was a country veterinarion who lived in Yorkshire before (and after) World War II. His stories are funny, heartwarming, sad, and highly educational. And after reading this, you will either want to be a vet or be very grateful that you aren't one.The book opens (after a brief chapter taking place several months later) with James arriving in Yorkshire, to be the assistant to the eccentric but kindly Siegfried Farnon (yes, that is his name). He becomes accustomed to Siegfried, Siegfried's mischievous younger brother Tristan (yes, that is his name), and the gruff, kindly farmers who eke out a living in the Yorkshire Dales. Pampered pooches who are spoiled rotten, savage pigs who chase Tristan around the farm, a nightmarishly strict secretary who drives Siegfried up the wall, James's car-with-no-brakes, cows running on three cylinders, a sadistic vet who makes James wear a rubber bodysuit, and an elderly, immensely wealthy widow who adopts a pig. And through this, James falls in love with the beautiful Helen Alderson and worms his way into the trust of the farmers.
James Herriot (real name, James Wight) was truly a one-of-a-kind man. He let readers into his head throughout the book, where the cows kick him across the yard, farmers often treat him as an interloper or a nuisance, and his boss gives contradicting orders from one day to the next. But he never loses his drive or his love of animals. (Okay, he hates some animals, but only as individuals) He even lets the readers see him at his worst, when he's humiliated by some recalcitrant livestock, and one horrible scene where he and his date show up drunk and mud-smeared in front of the girl he adores. (Not to mention when Tristan got him to use very feminine-smelling bath salts) But don't think that all of these stories are funny or romantic -- quite a few are aggravating or outright sad. James didn't soften the blows at all.
The people around James are just as fantastic: Siegfried, his weird but genial boss who can kick Tristan out of the house and forget about it overnight; Tristan, the mischievous anti-scholar who usually manages to keep out of trouble; and Helen, who seems a little too saintly at times (which isn't surprising, since James married her). There are a lot of details about surgery and stuff like that that will gross out the squeamish, but at least you'll learn a lot of medical trivia. (For example, what is a torsion?)
It's sweet, sad, funny, romantic, dramatic. "All Creatures Great And Small" (and its four sequels) is a fantastic read for all ages.
Book Review: One Of The Most Special Books Ever Written
Summary: 5 Stars
There's an irony in the fact that this book I always found so calming and happy, that made everything on earth seem perfectly all right to me whenever I read it during bad times or good, is actually set during an era when trouble was brewing in Europe and the Third Reich was on the rise, destined to end this wondrous little world forever. That fact aside, I love this book. It is plainly magical. The stories here about James Herriot and his life as a rural veterinarian in 1930's Yorkshire radiate joy. Herriot knows how to tell a heartwarming, funny tale, but he never lets us forget that a country animal doctor's life is hard, sometimes tinged with sadness, and that even in a lovely place like the farming midlands tragedy is never far away. He practices veterinary medicine in a small town and out on the little family farms that dot the dales. His boss Seigfried (later his partner) and Seigfried's jovial brother Tristan work beside James as they answer midnight calls to birth calves, stitch up injured sows, and partner with the local farmers to keep England's agricultural concerns feeding the nation. Around these duties, James has assorted adventures and is a time or two lead astray by the charming, well-meaning but definitely problem-prone Tristan, who with his skirt chasing and love of the odd pint is perpetually in danger of flunking out of vet school. These lovable men allow us to come along as they mingle with some of the most amazing characters ever seen in fiction. They work with farmers who live in such isolation they have in some cases never been five miles from their own homes, and Herriot's prose celebrates their glorious idiosyncrasies. The vets are also cared for by the stern no-nonsense Mrs. Hall, whose stoical outer features hide a heart of gold within her gray-haired workaholic frame. This novel, set over about two years at the very end of the 1930's always brightens my day. It makes me wish things were still like that somewhere in this world today. (And that I could go there.)Book Review: The beginning of magic
Summary: 5 Stars
This is where it all started with James Herriott for me - a paperback tucked in with 3 or 4 other books I received for my birthday a long time ago. I couldn't tell you what the other books were, but this book, and its sequels, have become dear friends. I can tell you the stories from memory (and from my heart) and I have read the paperbacks so often I've had to replace them with hardbacks just so they'll last longer.James Herriott was a vet practicing in Yorkshire (England) from the end of the Depression until about 20 years ago.
The stories are charming, happy, glorious, tragic and tear-jerking. It was a wonderful but brutal time to be practicing veterinary medicine. It was before many of the surgeries we have now and Herriott was there for the introduction of antibiotics and many other medicines. Think about it - how often have you had your cat or dog treated for infections - 60 years ago there was nothing to kill the bacteria that brought death to so many. How impossibly hard it must have been for him to lose so many of the animals he treated, and how wonderful when he knew he saved them either for the farmers who needed their stock or the families who loved their pets. And the people he writes about! What characters!
I have pets and love to read the stories about cats and dogs and horses. I teach medical students and use more than a few examples from these books about the PROCESS of thinking which is so essential to any practice of medicine. His stories here and in later books about diagnosing hoof and mouth disease or husk or heatstroke or nettlerash are fascinating reading about the mind of a physician as it works while the seconds of life tick away.
This book is great, the series of books is great - curl up somewhere and get to know them.
Book Review: Passionate storytelling
Summary: 5 Stars
"All Creatures Great and Small" is a passionate and autobiographical account by James Herriot of his early years as a vet. Recently qualified, the young Scottish James finds work in the 1930s in a remote area of the Yorkshire Dales, during a time when jobs, let alone paying jobs, are scarce. In possession of only a small suitcase, he makes his way to the middle of nowhere in Northern England, waits around for an interview with his new boss, which he lands despite having fallen asleep in the garden when his boss finally returns.The eccentric Siegfried Farnon hires young James, and together they run a practice that mainly deals with cattle and farmers. Of course, being a stranger in this community is not easy, nor is it easy being a vet. Farmers have their own conclusions about cow diseases and some bizarre (non-scientific) treatments for them. It is up to James to convince them of his new found skills and to prove his worth in what is a reticent but deep down, a kind-hearted and generous community. In his job James runs across a bunch of interesting characters: his boss, Tristan who is the boss' carefree and accident-prone younger brother, farmers, a rich lady with a fat dog to whom James becomes and adopted "uncle", as well as a girl or two.
The story is warm, funny and heartwarming. The story is not only an interesting personal story, but also fascinating from a historical and scientific point of view. And let's not forget James' relationship with all the animals. Herriot demonstrates a rare talent for telling an engrossing story.
Thoroughly enjoyable, and highly recommended to audiences of all ages.
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Book Review: The Review of All Creatures Great and Small
Summary: 5 Stars
All Creatures Great and Small By James Harriot Dr. James Harriot is a veterinarian living in the Yorkshire Dales, in England, the early 1900's. In my book All Creatures Great and Small, James Harriot wrote about the unusual events that happen to him as a veterinarian assistant. Other titles by James Harriot are Cat Stories, Dog Stories, All Things Wise and Wonderful, All Things Bright and Beautiful, and The Lord God Made Them All. The purpose of his books is to prove that things aren't always what they seem. In the first chapter of the book, he is working at a "calving", when he finds that the calf is in the wrong way. He tries to pull him around, but a man called Uncle disturbs him the whole time. He finally pulls the calf out and goes home. In the second chapter he's going to Darrowby to apply to become a veterinarian assistant when his employer, Mr. Farnon isn't there. So he waits for the whole day until he finally comes in and shows him around the Dales. A very sad chapter is Chapter 6, when Dr. Harriot is called to a sick horse. He rushes out there and discovers that the horse has a classical torsion and is dying. When he tells the owner this he gets furious, but before the owner can do anything, Dr. Harriot rushes out to get an injection and finishes the job quick and easy. In conclusion, Dr. James Harriot is a wonderful writer. He has great talent. I would recommend this book to anyone because of the daily chores he does and the activities that an animals' life could depend on.