All Creatures Great and Small
Prizren, Kosovo - Photo by Mitchell Byers
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
Review written by Grace Mruz
247! It took good ole Jim 247 pages to finally get me excited for what may come about next in his journey in the Yorkshire Dales. Admittedly, he almost had my attention by page 211 with a scandalous affair, but our pope prospect had chosen to promptly return to his dwellings with Siegfried and Tristian rather than allowing such unholy actions to consume his life (or the pages in his book). Thus returning to a monotonous life, and reminding me why I opt for television and cinema
As someone who reads for entertainment, and not relaxation this was an absolute struggle of a novel to power through. Every chapter reminded me of a sitcom in which there was some returning characters, but in reality you could take any chapter at any point, give it to an individual with no prior knowledge of the story to read, and I do not believe there would be many questions. This isn’t really my source of enjoyment or entertainment for books. However, someone I love deeply recommended this “Nobel Peace Prize” worthy novel to me. So, every time I picked up the most tame and uneventful stories I have ever read I persisted through.* Admittedly, this has taken me over three months to carry on to the end. My stubbornness has finally taken my to page 247 where Mr. James Herriot has at last managed to gain my excitement and with in one turn of the page lost it.
Good lord sir, you kept a woman, who is far too busy to hear about your life, listening to your story for hours and still didn’t follow up until the cows cast was ready to come off?! In complete opposite narrative tone from James, grow some damn balls! No woman wants to ONLY hear about you and not be asked any questions UNLESS they are hopeful that there will be a chance soon for them to do the talking. Yes Miss Helen definitely does not need a man, but it appears as if she would like one!
However, before I can throughly analyze the relationship between these two star crossed lovers. I want to take a moment for a character that completely shattered my heart by sharing the same fear I have creating my first connection to the book. Prior to having the tremendous honor of meeting and falling irrevocably in love with our normal blog master, I went through the soul crushing process of having to watch the life leave the eyes of my best companion. That dog taught me what unconditional love looks like as well as many life lessons such as, a walk and treat can turn around any day. Kota was a constant comfort from high school, college, and my adult years. He welcomed my dog into the pack and taught him how to turn on the charm to get the extra handful of kibble outside of regular feeding times.
Miss Stubbs’s interactions with Mr. Herriot brought me back to a vulnerable state. Much like Miss Stubbs, death isn’t a major fear for me, but the concept of the afterlife tends to send my thoughts down an anxiety fueled spiral. Adding in the idea of an afterlife with animals, well now that just truly spikes all of the cortisol in my body. James reassuring a grieving, terrified, old woman that animals absolutely have souls and will be in heaven was also a reminder for myself. This reminder both destroyed and rebuilt me as I recalled my fond memories with Kota, and felt the salt water slide down my face knowing that this entire experience is one of community and peace.
Now, it would be the moment I let my guard down that James decides to bring back his love interest, Helen. Even my guarded heart was chipped away each time James gave us a peek into his admiration for Helen. The innocent for most but blinding idea of snuggling with his interest made me want to hit the host of this blog and ask “wait, tell me about how nervous you were for our first date?!”. Their connection brought me back to the beauty in the innocence and unknown before getting to know someone you are hoping to soon tell others every detail about. Once again though James got my hopes up just to let them fall.
Upon undertaking this doorstopper, I realized my high school language arts lessons were subconsciously overtaking my ability to fully engage with the story. I kept looking for symbols like fire and water that represented a deeper meaning, such as a clean start, as I was trained to do. However, this work is a biography and not the fiction I crave. Animal and human bonds were the main theme throughout the book, and the only lessons I took away was persistent work with passion helps build community. Although both are heart warming and how I also strive to build the foundation of my life, the stories were just a bit hard to undertake while living in a world with constant and available entertainment.
My final qualm with this whole story is the theme of “men having the nerve”. James has the audacity to mess up his date with Helen, never follow up, go out with another woman and get belligerent while running into Helen, then call her a “big girl”!? He ought to be so lucky to breathe her air and he does all that?! Siegfried is also a living example of this in almost every single one of his actions, but no one has the time to care.
Overall, this was not my ideal book. It actually was a painful read. However my stubbornness and irrevocable love for the author of this blog helped me push through every page.
*writer’s note: for such a benevolent man, he really emphasizes taking his shirt off
