Yet, he does so while hallucinating that one of the giraffes he took to San Diego all those years back is watching him from the window of his nursing home. Then we have the fact that Woody Nickel writes down his story at age 105, apparently with a clear memory of everything that happened to him 87 years ago. Bryan was Secretary of State for some of the Wilson administration and was a much more popular figure in the nation’s heartland. Woody Nickel does plenty of stupid things.īut would someone born in the Texas Panhandle in 1920 be named after Woodrow Wilson? Far more likely, if one wanted to name a newborn after a politician on the Great Plains, was William Jennings Bryan, the Nebraska populist and Democratic presidential candidate. One 1920s expression was to “take a wooden nickel.” It meant to do something stupid. Someone who wanted to be picky could have a field day criticizing this book. So, how does West With Giraffes do for credibility? West With Giraffes Analysis Readers like it when the story is done well. But, there’s a reason why so many books follow this plan. Woody and friends overcome the challenges. They get unexpected company in the form of a female magazine photographer. He has a veteran guide to help him along. It’s a quest story, and a very typical one.Īn unexpected hero, Woodrow Wilson Nickel, must rise to the occasion of delivering the giraffes safely. In other respects, however, the plot is quite basic. New to me, at least, and, I’d imagine, new to most readers.

by modified flatbed truck to reach San Diego. But their final destination is the San Diego Zoo. Two giraffes are bound for New York City by ship in 1938 when a hurricane strikes the Atlantic Coast of the U.S. It’s original in the sense that West With Giraffes is a story most people have never heard of. The plot of the book is both basic and original. How did she do? West With Giraffes Summary Linda Rutledge is the author, and this is the first book by her that I’ve read. The recent novel West With Giraffes appeared in 2021.

West with giraffes a novel