Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.

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I DID THE THING YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO

I judged this book by its cover.

I put this on my Want-to-Read this some months back, and really don't remember why. All I really remembered is what I saw on the cover—it had to do with rescue animals, an "unexpected life", and was called Funny Farm. The cover image has some friendly-looking animals. Something about it also reminded me of the cover of Straight Man by Richard Russo.

It looked to me like a light-hearted book full of animal stories, probably some that are inspirational, some that are funny, maybe some that are sad. Think James Herriot, David Rosenfelt (non-fiction that is), or Andrew Cotter. And while I read the publisher's description, I'd forgotten it, so I just walked into this with my assumptions from the cover.

And you know what they say what happens when you assume...

SO, WHAT IS FUNNY FARM ABOUT?

It's primarily the decades-long story of the establishment of the Funny Farm in its current form. It starts with Zaleski's mother taking her and her two siblings and escaping from their abusive husband and father, dealing with both their poverty and continued harassment from him, and how they stumbled into Animal Rescue. From there we get a little about Zaleski's outside career before we focus again on their mother's relationship and battle with cancer, before getting a few chapters about the Farm's permanent location and establishment as a non-profit organization.

More than anything else, this is a tribute to Zaleski's mother—and a deserved one.

ANIMAL TALES

The small, between-chapter, profiles/extended anecdotes about some of the Rescue's animals are what I came for, and are absolutely worth it. I'd read another book full of nothing else. I don't know that such a book would be a great read, but it'd be fun.

HOW WAS THE NARRATION?

I liked the book, but I think I liked Erin Moon's narration even more. She did a great job of bringing the text to life and augmenting the emotions.

I did think there was a weird New England-ish accent to the way she said "Mom"—particularly when she stretched it out a bit. I didn't hear it at any other point, just that one word. It happened pretty frequently, and I bumped on it each time. Not a big deal, by any means, just something I noticed.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT FUNNY FARM?

I'd have liked it more had I come into it knowing what to expect—and that's on me. Also, I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I remembered what I was getting. Not that it's bad, just not the kind of thing I put on a list to get.

There's a warmth to the writing—even as it discusses the hardships her family endured, she writes from the perspective of someone who persevered and turned the experiences into something for the better.

While not loving the book, I really liked it—and have started following the Rescue's social media accounts because I want to see some of this in action. It really sounds like a great organization. If you go into it with the right expectations, you'll likely get more out of it than I did—give it a shot.

It wasn't what I was expecting- was hoping for more animal stories but reading about Laurie's life and all her mother and her and her siblings endured before and after getting away from her fathe. Showing you how she came to run the Funny Farm which started off as her mother's dream. There were photos near the end so you could see pictures of the animals she told stories about.

Laurie Zaleski tells the story of her life from the early days of her childhood as her mother takes refuge from her abusive husband on a broken-down farm in the country to her efforts to make her mother's dream of having an animal rescue center of her own.

The stories of memorable animals Zaleski has encountered are intermingled with stories of Zaleski's life.