Title: Zoo City
Author: Lauren Beukes
First published April 29, 2010
416 pages, Paperback
ISBN: 9780007327683 (ISBN10: 0007327684)
Rating: 3.63
Overview
Meet Zinzi, a woman with a Sloth on her back, a knack for finding lost items, and a bad habit of running 419 scams. When a client asks her to track down a missing pop star, she reluctantly takes the job, hoping it will be her ticket out of the dangerous slums of Zoo City.
But as she delves deeper into the case, she uncovers a web of crime and magic that threatens to consume her. Soon, Zinzi is forced to confront the dark secrets of her past, including the reason for her animal companion and her own role in the city’s twisted underworld.
Will she be able to solve the case and escape the clutches of Zoo City, or will she become just another victim of the city’s dark underbelly?
About the Author
Meet Lauren Beukes, a talented writer who has proven her skill in various forms of storytelling. She is an acclaimed novelist, screenwriter, and journalist whose work has been translated into 26 languages and adapted for film and TV.
Beukes has received numerous awards for her writing, including the Arthur C Clarke Award, the University of Johannesburg prize, the August Derleth Prize, the Strand Critics Choice Award, and the RT Thriller of the Year. She was also honored by South Africa’s parliament and received the Mbokondo Award from the Department of Arts and Culture for her contribution to Creative Writing.
Beukes is best known for her novels, which tackle complex themes such as art, violence, and dystopian societies. Her works include Broken Monsters, The Shining Girls, Zoo City, and Moxyland.
She has also written a feminist pop-history book, Maverick: Extraordinary Women From South Africa’s Past, which has recently been reprinted.
In addition to her novels, Beukes has also made a name for herself in the world of comics. Her work includes Survivors’ Club, Fairest: The Hidden Kingdom, and a Wonder Woman one-shot for kids.
Beukes has also tried her hand at film and TV. She directed the award-winning documentary, Glitterboys & Ganglands, and was the showrunner for South Africa’s first full-length animated TV series, URBO: The Adventures of Pax Afrika.
She has also written for various shows, including Mouk, Florrie’s Dragons, ZANews, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s South African Story.
Before focusing on her writing career, Beukes worked as a freelance journalist for eight years. Her articles covered a wide range of topics, from electricity cable thieves to homeless sex workers, and were published in magazines such as The Sunday Times Lifestyle, Nature Medicine, Colors, The Big Issue, and Marie Claire.
Beukes currently resides in Cape Town, South Africa, with her daughter. Her impressive list of awards and achievements includes the 2015 South Africa’s Mbokondo Award for Women in the Arts: Creative Writing, and the 2010 Arthur C Clarke Award for Zoo City.
Editoral Review
Zoo City by Lauren Beukes is a gripping and imaginative novel that delves into the world of animal companions and their human counterparts. Beukes is a South African author who has won multiple awards for her science fiction and speculative fiction works.
Her writing is known for its surreal and gritty realism, exploring social commentary and the human condition through fantastical and often dystopian scenarios. Set in Johannesburg, Zoo City tells the story of Zinzi December, a former journalist turned fraudster who has been saddled with the Animal, a sloth that can literally smell her guilt.
In the world of Zoo City, those who have committed a moral crime are paired with an animal that serves as a physical manifestation of their guilt. These paired individuals are ostracized from society and forced to live in Zoo Cities, rundown ghettos where animals and humans eke out a living.
Zinzi is caught up in a web of deceit and criminal activity when she is asked to use her unique gift of finding lost things to track down a missing person. Along the way, she meets a cast of characters, each with their own animal companions and secrets.
Beukes masterfully weaves together interconnected plotlines, exploring themes of redemption, identity, and the price of survival in a corrupt and dangerous world. Beukes’ writing is richly detailed, immersing the reader in the sights, sounds, and smells of the city.
Her characters are layered and complex, each struggling with their own demons and desires. Zinzi, in particular, is a compelling protagonist, smart and resourceful, yet flawed and vulnerable.
The relationships between Zinzi and her animal, as well as between the human characters and their animals, are poignant and thought-provoking. Zoo City is not without its flaws, however.
The pacing can be uneven at times, with the plot feeling rushed in certain sections while lingering too long in others. Additionally, some readers may find the concept of animal companions and their link to human morality to be a bit heavy-handed or contrived.
Overall, Zoo City is a highly recommended read for fans of science fiction, speculative fiction, and dystopian literature. It offers a unique and creative take on the genre, with well-drawn characters and a thought-provoking premise.
Beukes is a skilled writer, and her immersive storytelling will leave readers spellbound. Rating: 4.5/5.
