Praise for The Gerbil Farmer's Daughter
People Magazine Review of Books Rates
“The Gerbil Farmer’s Daughter” three and a half stars!
People Magazine, July 13, 2009, pg. 48, Reviewed by Lisa Kay Greissinger
"[Memoir] Every family has its secrets. Holly Robinson’s happens to be that her Navy officer dad raised gerbils in the garage as a money maker. “Some men have golf, others…gerbils,” Robinson writes in this laugh-out-loud look at a fairly odd family. (Gerbils weren’t the half of it—Robinson says her parents got peace and quiet at cocktail hour on the family boat by dropping their life-jacketed offspring overboard.) An affectionate tale of domestic life and the frustrations that come with belonging." (Pdf of the review)
"I think the cover and book can be easily summed up in one word: Delight."
—Blondie, "Tales from Clark Street" Blog
"Robinson's memoir is funny and informative, a different take on family farming."
-Cape Cod Online, June 7, 2009
"Robinson’s traditional military-brat upbringing is upended by her father’s sudden and inexplicablefascination with gerbils. As she details the family’s dedication to this new project, her mother’s grudgingtolerance, and the machinations required to keep the gerbils secret from the navy (which would frownupon such kitschy weirdness), Robinson makes her family seem ordinary in spite of this one bit ofstrangeness. And her father was no rodent dilettante, as evident in her chronicling of his years of researchinto using gerbils in lab experiments and his careful business plan. What keeps this surprisingmemoir from becoming a Lucille Ball/Henry Fonda parody is, sadly, the sudden death ofRobinson’s younger sister from cystic fibrosis, a disease her father hopes can be cured through scientificinquiry. Suddenly gerbil farming isn’t so silly after all. Robinson writes with humor and honesty,creating a charming story, a reminder of how all the love and care in the world may not be enough, and amoving tribute to a father who, nonetheless, never stopped trying." —Booklist
"Journalist Robinson cheerfully recalls growing up with a closeted gerbil-breeder....It's a scenario that could have been lifted from a 1960s sitcom, but Robinson invests the narrative with pathos, good-natured moments of absurdity and plenty of keen humor....Daffy yet sweet and affecting."
—Kirkus
"...well written and humorous story of a fairl y ordinary family with enough quirks to constitute a good summer read."
—Chesapeake Kids Blog, June 24, 2009
"Wacky and tender, The Gerbil Farmer’s Daughter is as much a social history of the '60s as an intensely personal family memoir. Holly Robinson handles the heavy issues of longing and belonging with wonderful honesty and a light touch.”
—Stewart O’Nan, author of Songs for the Missing
"Robinson, a former contributing editor to Ladies' Home Journal, wryly narrates this memoir about growing up with a stern navy father who abruptly takes breeding the then little-known gerbil on the late 1960s. Though her mother equated the creatures with rats, and her father must keep his behavior hushed in his military circles, his hobby soon becomes an obsession that he believes will not only make him an income but allow him to retire. Robinson grew up as a fish out of water navy brat in the 1970s with a strong-willed mother and younger siblings--including her sister Gail who dies of cystic fibrosis at age four. But her father is the true focus; he accidentally discovers that gerbils have epileptic seizures, a discovery that leads him to become the world's largest supplier of gerbils bred for research. Robinson intersperses her compelling narrative with accounts of gerbil mayhem, managing to milk a great deal of humor and pathos out of the rodent that eventually became a common children's pet."
—Publishers Weekly
“A delightful memoir about an unusual childhood, complete with a cast of characters led by an eccentric, forward-thinking father and his incredulous, rebellious kids. Think Cheaper by the Dozen--but with cute, furry rodents thrown in. I loved it!”
—Sandi Shelton, author of A Piece of Normal and What Comes After Crazy
“What a delightful, delicious coming-of-age story—filled with a cast of enchanting, eccentric, utterly memorable characters, and with what is most endearing: the author's affection for them. This is an engrossing tale of family life, and of the extraordinary menagerie that lies at the heart of their adventures. It is as if E. B. White, Gerald Durrell, and Calvin Trillin had conspired to write the funniest, most charming and unlikely of tales. Holly Robinson's touch is sure, deft, and loving—and The Gerbil Farmer’s Daughter is a magical tale that will enthrall children—and readers—of all ages.”
—Jay Neugeboren, author of Imagining Robert and The Stolen Jew
“What does one military man do when he retires from commanding a ship? Why not build the world’s largest gerbil farm? Holly Robinson’s memoir vividly tells of her life growing up in a military family, and of her teenage years as one of the ‘employees’ in her dad’s oddly successful, sometimes exasperating, often humorous livestock venture.”
—Douglas Whynott, author of Following the Bloom and A Country Practice
“Holly Robinson reveals a fascinating, untold chapter in the history of the Mongolian gerbil in the United States as she brings us back to a time before play dates, bike helmets, or other adult meddling in private childhood affairs and tells with vivid clarity of growing up in America in the 60s - 70s, all the while struggling to hide a terrible family secret—the barns in the backyard house 9000 gerbils.”
—Donna Anastasi, President of the American Gerbil Society and author of The Complete Guide to Gerbil Care
“In the long parade of memoirs American readers have seen in recent years, have you noticed how few make you laugh out loud? Holly Robinson's book made me laugh so many times my cheeks were a little sore. Her portrait of a little-explored and often-comic landscape, along with the sure and funny narrative voice which is our tour-guide through family, gerbils, and love, is one of the best memoirs around. And her prose is sparkling, very particular, and always vivid.”
—Susan Straight, National Book Award finalist and author of A Million Nightingales and Highwire Moon
“As improbable as it was that Holly Robinson’s crisp and buttoned down Navy Commander of a dad would give it all up for the dream of becoming a gerbil guru, it is not at all surprising that his daughter would craft a memoir that captures his odd and sometimes embarrassing passion so well. Her spirited account is equal parts quirky, funny, heartwarming, and even heartbreaking.”
—Madeleine Blais, author of Uphill Walkers: A Memoir of a Family
Gerbil Farmer's Daughter recently mentioned in the Jacksonville Times Leisure/Literature section
