Zoology

When you read the title to this entry, you most probably thought that I was doing an article on the branch of biology that focuses on the study of animals; their development, classification, and physiology. As likely as that might be, Zoology is, in this instance, the title of Ben Dolnick's debut novel. Please note that this entry gives the plot of the story away.

When I was shelving adult fiction one afternoon at the library, the cover of this book caught my eye. I know you aren't meant to judge a book by its cover and all that, but something must be said about an enticing front cover. I read the back, and put it on my mental list of books to read. Then, one Saturday morning, I was browsing through the books, and I couldn't seem to find anything I wanted. Then, to my up most pleasure, I saw the stark black and white cover of this book sitting on the shelf. I snatched it up, and along with several copies of The New Scientist magazine, I scanned the book into my temporary possession.
I don't see what any of that has to do with anything though, seeing as this was meant to be a book review.

Okay, let's start with the basics about this book. It was written by the American author Ben Dolnick, who, according to the two sentences inside the back cover, was born in Washington D.C. in 1982, and now lives in New York. It was published first in 2007 in Great Britain by HarperPress.
How about genre? That is a question I really don't know the answer to. I just searched it up on Google, and according to Amazon.com, it's a light bildungsroman. Yeah, when I first read that word I said 'say what?', too.
I then searched the word up on dictionary.com (the things I do for this blog) and it said that a bildungsroman is a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist. The meaning makes sense, but it's still one of the weirdest words I've seen in a while, and it looks as thought you could hurt yourself trying to pronounce it.
By the way, a protagonist, in this context, is the leading character of a literary work.

It is written in first person, from the view of none other than the protagonist himself, Henry Elinsky. Basically this guy dropped out of university (or college) after a semester, and so he just living at home with his parents, going to his dad's primary school music classes. He plays the sax, and, probably as a result from his father, believes that a being a jazz musician is his destiny. His parents are silently growing apart, and his life is not glamorous nor fun. Basically, he is in a rut. What I would call the quarter-life crisis; the time before true adulthood; the time where you're still unsure how to make pasta, or where exactly you send the bills off to, even though you've tried a cigarette and can by vodka if you so desired.

He goes to live in New York for the summer with his older brother, and gets a job in the children's Zoo in Central Park. He meets a girl who he falls in love with; he befriends some animals; he starts to find himself (whatever that means) and a little about his place in the world. For once, thank goodness, there was no romance. It was startlingly real. His love had a long-time boyfriend and wasn't interested in a relationship. He pined for her and obsessed about her, and his dissatisfaction and frustration were skillfully portrayed. I guess this book really was about truly growing up. Not in the literal sense, I feel, but maybe in the way that your are confident within yourself.

In the back of the book, it has questions that you can ask yourself. Horrible, book-study questions.
How does Henry change over the course of the novel?
What has he learnt by the end of his summer in New York?
I really don't know, but I suppose these questions don't have an incorrect answer. He changes; he grows up; becomes a person in his own right. He learns from mistakes and experiences, by exposing himself to new things, some of them painful. He learns that he is not a musician, and he learns he has a whole life left to be lived and that he should be excited.

I would say that Zoology is a good book. Not the best novel in existence, but it kept me interested. It hasn't changed my life, but I think I've learnt a few things (it sort of impossible not to grasp something from a book). This story would probably only appeal to people under 25; I definitely related to it, even though I am trying to give up worrying so much about the future.