Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Angry Robot (2 Sep 2010)
ISBN-10: 0857660543
ISBN-13: 978-0857660541
Reviewer: Cara
Copy: Bought online
From the back of the book:
Zinzi December has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit, and a talent for finding lost things. But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she's forced to take on her least favourite kind of job - missing persons.
Zoo City was released in September 2010 with a fanfare of glowing reviews from the bloggers and tweeters and high praise from all quarters. Was this just another hype? Well, the answer is a resounding "No"! Lauren Beukes, with only her second novel, deserves to see Zoo City in the award nominations for 2010. For this is an original and exciting book which reclaims the Urban Fantasy genre as there is little romance here. Set in a near future Johannesburg, life is tough and unforgiving for those who carry their guilt in the form of a spirit animal. Prejudice abounds and the 'animalled' need to use their wits to survive.
Told from Zinzi's point of view , she has her Sloth to remind her of the murder of her brother and a past drug addiction. Her role in the murder is never made clear but we know she served her prison time and is now trying to make a life for herself in the rundown suburb of Hillbrow, the 'Zoo City' of the title. Along with her Sloth, she runs online scams and finds lost things to make a living and repay the drug debts from her 'Former Life', the past she and the other 'animalled' can never return to and rarely discuss. While this may seem to be a rather depressing existence, Zinzi has strength, resilience and plenty of attitude. And her voice throughout the novel is quirky and feisty with plenty of humour. She is a very likeable character and I found myself willing her to triumph over the dangers she faced at various points. Yet her existence is one of dubious morality. Ostracised by mainstream society i.e. the non-animalled, forced to live in what is virtually a ghetto and having to take what work she can find, it would appear that Zinzi is caught in a downward slide. By taking on a job of finding the missing half of a pop duo sensation, her life threatens to spiral out of control.
Zoo City is gritty, dark and full of weirdness. Many things are mentioned but not explained, at times leaving me wondering if I was out of my depth. But this is part of what makes the book so good. Take the Undertow, for example. This is feared by all, a dark, menacing, otherworldly presence that comes for all the animalled people in the end, but the how and why of it is never made clear. In one scene, where a grizzly bear is killed and the Undertow manifests to claim the bear's host, we know of the horror and fear felt by the onlookers as they know this will be their fate too one day, but the Undertow itself is not described, just experienced. Is it a dark phantom that drags their souls from their bodies? I don't know, and this makes it all the more terrifying. This is a strength of Zoo City; by not explaining things in detail, Lauren Beukes keeps us reading to the end in the hope that we find out, but our imaginations fill in the blanks...
One thing that really stood out was the frequent use of South African slang words. I found this disorientating and at times wished there was a kind of glossary to assist me. But I also thought this was deliberate, an attempt (and a successful one at that) to push me out of my familiar comfort zone and adapt to the world of Zoo City. In a way, I thought this might be how the main characters in the book must feel, with their spirit animals and magical talents only recently thrust upon them. They were trying to cope with a whole new way of living and the use of unfamiliar language symbolised this to some extent.
If you are looking for something new and original, then Zoo City is a very good place to start. It is dark, and shows the underbelly of Johannesburg in a grim light. There are moments of weirdness - a cannibal penguin? There are also moments of vulnerability as Zinzi tries to find her place in this new, strange world. Zoo City is written with snappy dialogue and in a fast-paced style, making it an exciting read for the most part. It does drag a bit in the middle, but then rushes headlong to the end, to the point that when I turned the last page I was left wanting more. Certainly Zoo City is not like any other book I have read and while the concept of spirit animals is similar to the daemons in Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, there is really little comparison. For to carry with you a visible manifestation of criminality in the form of an animal that has to be looked after and is inextricably tied to your lifeforce is something I have not encountered before. I wonder will there be any more books from Lauren Beukes set in Zoo City? If not, I wonder what her imagination will produce in her next book. And that is something to look forward to.
Plot: 9
Characters: 8
Style: 8
Overall rating 8/10
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