Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7323 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Knowing little about animals, Tarte and his wife naievely acquire Binky, an impish bunny, at an Easter bunny fair, little suspecting that it will soon dominate their lives and lead to a brigade of other winged and furred beasts. After Binky, they get a canary, then Ollie, an orange-chin pocket parrot, whom they return because he flings his water-logged food all over their floor and accosts them with calls and bites. Then they buy a more docile gray-cheek parakeet, which makes the Tartes realize they miss their raucous friend Ollie, whom they retrieve. Gluttons for punishment, the Tartes acquire a gender-confused African gray parrot named Stanley Sue, followed by ducks, geese, turkeys, parrots, starlings, more rabbits and cats. Every day brings an adventure or a tragedy (Ollie escapes; a duck gets eaten by a raccoon) to their Michigan country house. With dead-on character portraits, Tarte keeps readers laughing about unreliable pet store proprietors, a duck named Hector who doesn't like water, an amorous dove named Howard, a foster-mother goose, patient veterinarians and increasingly bewildered friends. Tarte has an ordinary-Joe voice that makes each chapter a true pleasure, while revealing a sophisticated vision of animals and their relationship to humans.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-A cast of characters listed in the front-along with all of the veterinarians consulted-helps to keep straight the bewildering number of animals, mostly avian and each with a personality of its own, that populates this amusing book. Newly married Michiganders Bob and Linda Tarte moved to the country per her desire, and soon she talked him into acquiring a rabbit to add to their two cats. Despite the bunny's bad attitude, one animal led to another, until there were more of them than you can shake a bird perch at. Tarte was sometimes hard-pressed to name them all, since they encompassed ducks, bunnies, cats, doves, canaries, turkeys, parrots, starlings, geese, and parakeets. While teens might not want to own any of these noisy and often bad-tempered beasts, reading about their foibles-and the foibles of the people from whom they were acquired-is great fun, thanks to the author's sly sense of humor and willingness to poke good-natured fun at himself, his wife, and their menagerie. Potential pet owners who think that caring for one or two animals would be a walk in the park will find this book extremely useful reading. In fact, they might have second thoughts about a trip to the pet store. Other readers will chuckle at the situations presented, and pet owners will no doubt identify with them.
Judy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William County, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
In charting how he went from the head of the household to the bottom of the pecking order, columnist Tarte (who usually writes about world music for The Beat magazine) reveals that he did not start life as an animal lover. Indifferent to his boyhood beagle and parakeet, he figured when his new wife began lobbying for a pet rabbit, it would be her pet, not his, and not too much trouble. But somehow, despite severed power cords and chewed woodwork, the rabbit wasn't enough. After a canary he received for Christmas wouldn't sit on his finger, he and his wife went shopping for a small parrot--which promptly bit him. It was all downhill from there, as Tarte's hilarious stories of the parade of animals that joined their household reveal. Cats, parakeets, ring-necked doves, ducks, geese, and turkeys all enter the author's life. Part Gerald Durrell and part Bill Bryson, this heartwarming book will find many readers among Rascal and That Quail, Robert devotees. Nancy Bent
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Great Book
Enslaved by ducks is hilarious. I highly recommend it to anyone who has ever had (or wants) a lot of pets. It is a quick read and I found myself laughing out loud many times with others wondering what was so funny. Bob Tarte certainly captures the essence of the different personalities of the species he happens to be writing about at the time whether it be bunnies, ducks, geese, or parrots. After reading this book you may find yourself realizing that "animals are people also".

I was in a reading rut.....
And then a friend recommended this book. She and I both own parrots...I have both a Timneh and 2 Congos, and I always like to read about parrots and the people they own.
I had just finished reading one of Stephen King's books, and was a bit out of sorts. It had been a long hard read and I was disappointed in it. And me....a big King fan.
'Enslaved by Ducks' is far removed from Stephen King. And just what I was looking for. Like another reader mentioned, Bob Tarte has a similar style to Dave Barry, who I love. The book was funny, and it was sad. When you own animals and lose them for whatever reason, it's a big deal. I just wanted the book to go on forever. Of course, now I can order 'Fowl Weather', and keep going, but I'll most likely be sad when I'm done with it.
I loved the book and the style in which it is written. It would be neat to visit with Bob and Linda and have a cup of coffee with them, and meet the menagerie.
Anyhow....I recommend the book highly, and had a great time reading it.

Liked it, but enough with the birds
The first third of the book, I laughed out loud several times. A very engaging writer. I love animals, but am not much on birds. So about halfway through the book, I pretty much had my fill of our feathered friends.