Tuesday, December 18, 2007

My Steve


Title: My Steve
Author: Terri Irwin
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
$49.99

Love him or hate him, there is no denying Steve Irwin changed the face of global conservation efforts with his bold personality and genuine passion for fauna and flora. In this moving tribute to her husband, Terri Irwin takes her readers on an emotional and humour journey to understand this amazing man, their love and their life together in her book simply titled “My Steve.”

From his childhood growing up at the reptile park started by his parents, to wrangling crocodiles in the wilds of the Australian bush and river systems as a teen, working with dangerous animals was as natural to Steve as breathing. His many adventures in Australia and around the world, filming for his immensely popular TV series and grappling on a day to day basis with some of the most venomous, treacherous creatures in the animal kingdom are all beautifully retold.

Although the book is about Steve, this tale is very much about Terri’s life as well, so intertwined did two become. Terri shares with her readers her life and career before meeting Steve, their unusual courtship and marriage, their life together and their joy in having two children, Bindi and Robert, the latter so controversially dangled in front of a killer croc during a feeding demonstration at Australia Zoo.

But it is the tenderness and sorrow, so simply and honestly told by Terri, on learning about Steve’s death by a stingray barb to the heart while she and the children were in Tasmania that for me was the paradoxical highlight of this book. Terri lays herself and her emotions bare in the retelling of this horrific time in her life; a brave and gutsy move for a woman now being hounded by rumour and gossip hungry magazines eager to sniff out a scandal on her love life.

An honest open account of her life with one of the most “in your face” personalities, My Steve by Terri Irwin is a big hearted, humorous and tender story that will be essential reading for fans of this dynamic Wildlife Warrior with the famous “Crickey!” catchphrase.



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