Reader Reviews from Amazon.com:
A fascinatiing story 
This is a terrific book. The author was able to access primary sources, and describes the intellectual and social environment of this period, and even with this intellectual depth the book has the charm of a fairy tale, the narrative of a zoological piece, and pulls the reader into the journey of Zarafa. I happened to visit Paris for a few days not long after reading this fascinating book, and made a point of visiting the Jardin des Plantes. No physical trace of Zarafa remains, but I spent a few hours wandering through the small zoo and the gardens, and the knowledge of Zarafa and those twenty years of her life in Paris made it a memorable afternoon.
A marvelously "charming" historical journey of a giraffe
What I found most exciting about this excellently written history of the famed giraffe sent to Charles X by Muhammad Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, is the detailed and entertaining reporting that Michael Allin offers to the non-academician. Beginning with his own love-turned-obsession of the story of France's famed giraffe, the author leads the reader through a cast of historical characters including the young Napoleon and his retinue of 154 French savants, including Etienne Celoffroy Saint-Hilaire, who would eventually lead the giraffe from Marseilles to Paris to meet Charles X at his palace in Saint-Cloud. Allin, who has dubbed the giraffe as "Zarafa," based on the Arabic word from which the English word "giraffe" originates, deftly brings together the many threads of time, place, and occurrence that are directly and indirectly related to this amazing tale. His storytelling is engaging and will charm readers in its emotional milieu. In truth, I picked up this book from a stack of books, read the first few pages and eventually found myself half way through it (I never did finish sorting the stack). Enjoy!
Great Story
I loved this book even though at times it was sad to read as I hate wild animals being kept in captivity. The story line was very good and kept me reading for hours at a time. 5 star rating well deserved.
good easy read 
it was a bit rambling or else i would have given it 5 stars, and i would have liked a little more information on giraffes,per se., its a definte read
Couldn't Finish 
I gave this book up after a hundred or so pages without the giraffe in question showing up.
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