Lynda Rutledge

1938: The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. What follows is a twelve-day road trip in a custom truck to deliver Southern California’s first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy Woodrow Wilson Nickel. Present day: At 105, Woody feels his life ebbing away. When he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds himself recalling an experience he cannot take to his grave. In retelling his story, he explores what it means to be changed by the grace of animals, the kindness of strangers, and the passing of time. -- adapted from jacket

A Novel

West with Giraffes

Emily

whenever I locked eyes with an animal I felt something more soulful than I ever felt from the humans I knew, and what I saw in that sprawled giraffe’s eye made me ache to the bone.

The boathouse where I’d been standing had blown away along with Cuz, my third-cousin boss. Found him in a shallow pool of boat shards, a sloop’s mast stuck straight through him.

You can't just come out with these banger quotes 😭

Somehow, though, I know there is still you. And there is still this story that’s yours as good as mine. If it goes extinct, too, with my old bag of bones, that’d be a crying shame—my shame. Because if ever I could claim to have seen the face of God, it was in the colossal faces of those giraffes. And if ever I should be leaving something behind, it’s this story for them and for you.

Francine Corry

West with Giraffes has much to recommend it as I am a fan of historical fiction, coming of age, travel and animals and this is a book which combines all of these elements. It is based on a true life story of two giraffes who arrived in New York City after surviving a hurricane at sea. They became known as the Hurricane Giraffes and they were being trucked from NYC to the San Diego zoo. West with Giraffes re-imagines their trip across country with the young dust-bowler Woody Nickel at the wheel.

(view spoiler)[It is somewhat reminiscent of two other coming of age stories set in the 1930s, Water for Elephants and The Lincoln Highway. It uses the element of a man in a nursing home remembering his youth as does Water for Elephants. While the Lincoln Highway traverses west to east, West with Giraffes travels east to west along the Lee Highway. (hide spoiler)]

West with Giraffes has what a call a Perils of Pauline plotline, with something near catastrophic happening nearly every minute. While I am always about the story being interesting this kind of plot can wear and one begins to wish that a deeper level could appear.

I loved that the book talked about the animals and love for animals, also examining the legitimacy of the belief that "it's only an animal." 

I would like to thank Lynda Rutledge for making me more aware of Giraffes and their plight.

I really loved the characters in this book - I find there is something so innately likable about animal lovers. At times the book was a bit hokey or fantastical, but I loved the overall story line, and the final chapters were bittersweet and beautifully written. 

Jacqui Spears

Gretchen Sartele

I’m not usually a fan of Dust Bowl-era fiction, but this book grabbed me and pulled me right in. A wonderful story of loving animals and recognizing the need for conservation. The narrator’s twist at the end had me in tears. Highly recommend.

West with Giraffes A Novel

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