- Paperback: 291 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Books USA; First Printing edition (8 May 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0307279154
- ISBN-13: 978-0307279156
- Product Dimensions: 13.4 x 1.7 x 20.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,537,573 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Zoology
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
‘Ben Dolnick is a writer of incredible sensitivity. “Zoology” explores the tricky journey to adulthood with honesty, humour, and generosity.’ Jonathan Safran Foer
‘As a writer, Dolnick…demonstrates an engaging lightness of touch.’ The New Yorker
‘Ben Dolnick, has written a delightful post-ironic novel…The story is simple, sad, sweet and funny – and saved from sentimentality by a streak of cold-eyed honesty about the ubiquity of human failings.’ New York Observer
‘Tightly written.’ Independent on Sunday
‘The transition from childhood to the adult world remains as rich a vein for writers as it was when Holden Caulfield first wandered around New York…Dolnick gives his narrator a struggling, wry voice that carries the tale.’ The New York Times
‘Disarming and funny.’ Guardian
‘Dolnick…is evidently writing about familiar territory. He handles his character's feelings with sensitivity…It's a sweet tale of middle class angst.’ Financial Times
‘A gripping debut novel.’ Harper's Bazaar
‘A quintessential bildungsroman…“Zoology” is a book that drips with the nostalgia of people’s early twenties: the soul searching, the thinking and feeling deeply about things, and the falling in love…The story is easy and charming, as is Dolnick’s language and insights into Henry's particular corner of the world, family and soul…This summer story feels like the good kind of forever.’ Time Out Chicago
‘The appeal of Ben Dolnick’s “Zoology” is in the narrator’s voice. Henry Elinsky is authentically adolescent – likable, funny, irritating, self-doubting, self-obsessed…Dolnick is a talented writer whose understated style is a pleasure to read. He has made Henry an exceptionally sensitive and observant character.’ Boston Globe
‘Charming…A light bildungsroman about shoveling goat poop and growing up…Dolnick can capture in one surprisingly lucid phrase the essence of a situation.’ Publisher’s Weekly
‘An exciting, confident, and thoroughly endearing debut. Dolnick writes with a maturity that belies his years, and “Zoology” – distinguished by a rare combination of narrative patience and instinctive kindness – is a real cause for celebration.’ George Saunders, author of ‘In Persuasion Nation’
‘I love “Zoology”. Ben Dolnick’s narrator, Henry, is painfully familiar to those of us who have done some serious stumbling along life’s road, and he is as engaging and interesting a character as I’ve come across in a long, long time. Best of all, he makes me laugh out loud. “Zoology” is a sad, hilarious, wonderful book.’ Abigail Thomas, author of ‘A Three Dog Life’
‘Ben Dolnick’s “Zoology” is a bright, sweet, sad, fresh, and funny novel, very honest and ultimately quite moving.’ Gabriel Brownstein, author of ‘The Man from Beyond’
‘“Zoology” is a wonderful first novel. It shines a light on that tricky time when you are trying to get a life, own it, make it yours. Ben Dolnick is as funny as he is wise, as honest as he is charming – and he has won me over entirely.’ Laura Dave, author of ‘London is the Best City in America’
‘An exceptionally sensory author, Dolnick is one for whom the smells and the shapes of the world take center stage, a diarist collecting moments to be pored over…“Zoology” presents a portrait of a young man yearning to journey into adulthood through fields of thorny and fragile emotions the size of Jovian gas giants. His turns of phrase…fall like brilliant autumn colors, layering upon one another.’ Los Angeles Times
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.Gloss Magazine
'...a funny, charming and very entertaining story of love and other animal instincts.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Henry is struggling to attain adulthood, and having dropped out of college he goes to stay with his brother in New York, where he lands a job in a zoo and falls in love with an endearing goat called Newman. He also falls in love - in an adolescent way that should be familiar to most - with unavailable Margaret. The bulk of the story deals with his infatuation, how it resolves itself, and what it teaches him about himself, and life in general.
This is as good a debut novel as I've read in years. The scenes set in the zoo are lovely, and Dolnick, who once worked in a zoo himself, writes with great tenderness about the lives of animals kept in cages. In fact, Newman the goat seems to act as a symbol for other kinds of entrapment: Henry's, in his immature body and personality; his parents', in their marriage; the disadvantaged, in their menial jobs and in poverty. Dolnick makes profound observations about our lives without ever losing his lightness of touch. He has a real gift for fluent, accessible prose, laced with quiet humour and original descriptions, and he truly knows how to tell a story. The main characters are fully fleshed, and he makes you feel for every one of them: something that so many more experienced writers fail to do. An enchanting and very moving book, and an author to watch out for.
This is as good a debut novel as I've read in years. The scenes set in the zoo are lovely, and Dolnick, who once worked in a zoo himself, writes with great tenderness about the lives of animals kept in cages. In fact, Newman the goat seems to act as a symbol for other kinds of entrapment: Henry's, in his immature body and personality; his parents', in their marriage; the disadvantaged, in their menial jobs and in poverty. Dolnick makes profound observations about our lives without ever losing his lightness of touch. He has a real gift for fluent, accessible prose, laced with quiet humour and original descriptions, and he truly knows how to tell a story. The main characters are fully fleshed, and he makes you feel for every one of them: something that so many more experienced writers fail to do. An enchanting and very moving book, and an author to watch out for.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Well paced "coming of age" novel that focuses on Henry, a realistically imperfect hero working in Central Park Zoo during a "gap year."
The zoo setting is used sparingly but effectively, especially in a night visit to the main zoo and in Henry's final, disasterous raid on the Children's section. The bulk of the novel is concerned with Henry's adolescent crush on his neighbour, Margaret, who does not return his feelings. The reader is made to feel the eighteen year old Henry's disproportionate feelings here. In fact, we feel Henry's extreme reaction to any and all the events described in the novel, from bumping his head to reading a book everything seems massively important. This is a convincing depiction of life as a teenager.
Perhaps it is unsurprising that Ben Dolnick should be able to capture these feelings so well, as this, his first novel, was written when he himself was about the same age as his protagonist. The afterword helpfully tells us that this book is based on, or at least inspired by, Dolnick's own experiences as a young temporary zoo keeper. The whole piece feels very real.
The ending is odd and seems more symbolic than the earlier chapters and it is not completely apparent that Henry has fully "grown up", but he's surely on his way.
The zoo setting is used sparingly but effectively, especially in a night visit to the main zoo and in Henry's final, disasterous raid on the Children's section. The bulk of the novel is concerned with Henry's adolescent crush on his neighbour, Margaret, who does not return his feelings. The reader is made to feel the eighteen year old Henry's disproportionate feelings here. In fact, we feel Henry's extreme reaction to any and all the events described in the novel, from bumping his head to reading a book everything seems massively important. This is a convincing depiction of life as a teenager.
Perhaps it is unsurprising that Ben Dolnick should be able to capture these feelings so well, as this, his first novel, was written when he himself was about the same age as his protagonist. The afterword helpfully tells us that this book is based on, or at least inspired by, Dolnick's own experiences as a young temporary zoo keeper. The whole piece feels very real.
The ending is odd and seems more symbolic than the earlier chapters and it is not completely apparent that Henry has fully "grown up", but he's surely on his way.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
20 reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
a great read
26 May 2007
Format:Paperback
wow, what a fantastic book. ben dolnick has created a winsome, earnest, throughly endearing everyman. henry reminds me so much of myself at times that it's unsettling. and at times, laugh out loud funny. this is the kind of book i'd end up writing if i could, and i suspect there are many people out there who will feel the same way once they read it. especially any thoughtful college-age and post-grad dudes.
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Insightful, on people and other animals
22 July 2007
Format:Paperback
First of all, I'm neither a relative or friend or acquaintance of Dolnick's (and the assumption that he's got relatives etc. writing positive reviews here is a cheap shot). I enjoyed "Zoology" very much. In some ways it reminded me of Jonathan Tropper's The Book of Joe Yet what's unusual about "Zoology" is that Henry is such a well-drawn character that we feel his hope and love, his sadness and his despair, while at the same time we see the world through his limited understanding. I don't think there are loose ends, or plot lines that are brought in and then dropped-- we don't understand so much about Henry's parents' marriage, because what (grown) child does? We don't know the details of his brother's relationship troubles, because Henry doesn't. He's wrapped up in his own life, and he's young and not fully intuitive about others: that's all internally consistent in the book. A real bonus for me was the tenderness with which Dolnick writes about animals-- Newman, especially, but others too. (That an animal named "Newman" is lost by Henry at that point in the narrative is pretty telling.) The idea here is that other animals can comfort us in ways humans often cannot: how true! I've noticed that the Amazon reviews of my own book Evolving God: A Provocative View on the Origins of Religion amount to a really fascinating mix of positive and not so positive. This has made me take notice when critiques seem to wish for a different book than the one the author has chosen to write! Why not at least consider WHY Dolnick chose to leave us with not-fully-resolved issues in Henry's world? Varied opinions, obviously, are the stuff of book reviewing; I just hope the negative reviews here don't turn people off, as "Zoology" has a lot to offer.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Nice Debut
20 July 2007
Format:Paperback
Talented writing skills by a young author. His lines are sparse and precise. There are some great observations about inner feelings and his depiction of New York City is accurate. Pretty impressive for someone just out of college. Looking forward to his next offering.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
