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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
You have to commend Beukes for a strikingly original idea that enables the plot to move into some very unusual directions (the undertow). I wanted to love Zoo City, but it's plot is often disjointed and a little hard to follow. At first I was concerned it was simply "going over my head" but the narrative just falls flat. Her efforts don't seem to harness the grand imagination that Beukes clearly has.
This seemed to me to be a great idea book. The author had a great idea (and the idea I liked, criminals with spirit animals is a rather cool idea, the creation of an othering by way of a visible burden of an animal, cool) but I didn't care for the characters and by the end of it didn't really care who lived or died.
There were moments where I stopped and the book made me think about a big idea or it had me think of ways I would have done things but I found that that almost got in the way of the story instead of making it flow for me. It took me a while to read the book, with a few others interrupting it, and there was a few times that I almost had to force myself to keep going.
Am I sorry I read it? No. Is it my kind of read? No. Will I be reading more by this author? I doubt it
There were moments where I stopped and the book made me think about a big idea or it had me think of ways I would have done things but I found that that almost got in the way of the story instead of making it flow for me. It took me a while to read the book, with a few others interrupting it, and there was a few times that I almost had to force myself to keep going.
Am I sorry I read it? No. Is it my kind of read? No. Will I be reading more by this author? I doubt it
In brief: Zinzi December has a Sloth and a munti for finding lost things, like watches or cell phones. She also has a drug debt and an attitude. Once you add a missing pop star and a pinch of blackmail, she’s going to have a very bad week.
Thoughts: Great urban fantasy in a vivid world I want to see more of. It’s exciting, funny, and suspenseful in pretty much equal measure, and gritty without being so grimy I’m turned off. I loved the combination of South Africa and magic and real-world troubles, and the mystery, which could’ve been a pretty standard missing-persons case, ended up being very fresh and different. I also really liked that Beukes drops in-world media between some of the chapters, to really flesh the world out. Zinzi herself is wonderful—smart, snarky, stubborn, and about everything you could want in a protagonist. I wish there was a sequel.
7/10
Thoughts: Great urban fantasy in a vivid world I want to see more of. It’s exciting, funny, and suspenseful in pretty much equal measure, and gritty without being so grimy I’m turned off. I loved the combination of South Africa and magic and real-world troubles, and the mystery, which could’ve been a pretty standard missing-persons case, ended up being very fresh and different. I also really liked that Beukes drops in-world media between some of the chapters, to really flesh the world out. Zinzi herself is wonderful—smart, snarky, stubborn, and about everything you could want in a protagonist. I wish there was a sequel.
7/10
While this doesn't feel necessarily as polished as her most recent work, it's still crazy and creative and just wonderful.
This is as far away from urban fantasy as you can get, which is what made it appeal to me. Zinzi December lives in Zoo City, a slum for criminals, easily identified by the animal familiars emotionally/psychologically bonded to them. The creatures are manifestations of their guilt, though not necessarily their culpability. Somewhere along the way, we eventually learn that Zinzi's sloth is the result of her guilt over her brother's death that she did not seem to have caused, which makes it a little difficult to understand why she was imprisoned in the first place.
Zinzi has a talent for finding lost things but the first client in the story ends up brutally murdered and Zinzi is suspected. Only, that is not the main story line. In fact, the story walks away from this entirely and I had to go back to see if I actually had skimmed pages without intending to. But nope. Apparently, we've moved on to Zinzi finding a lost pop star despite her usual refusal to track people.
Where things go from there, well, I'm curious, but not enough to continue for now. I also have issue with the writing style, which contains a lot of local (Johannesburg) vernacular that is difficult to comprehend as the context rarely offers clarity beyond a word being an obvious insult, in some cases.
This review is an excerpt from the BiblioSanctum - Review Bites: DNF
Zinzi has a talent for finding lost things but the first client in the story ends up brutally murdered and Zinzi is suspected. Only, that is not the main story line. In fact, the story walks away from this entirely and I had to go back to see if I actually had skimmed pages without intending to. But nope. Apparently, we've moved on to Zinzi finding a lost pop star despite her usual refusal to track people.
Where things go from there, well, I'm curious, but not enough to continue for now. I also have issue with the writing style, which contains a lot of local (Johannesburg) vernacular that is difficult to comprehend as the context rarely offers clarity beyond a word being an obvious insult, in some cases.
This review is an excerpt from the BiblioSanctum - Review Bites: DNF
So, I was reading 419, which was all about 419 scams, and was very unimpressed. It wasn't perceptive, it didn't grab me, and the characters all seemed flat. Move your gaze a week or so, and I start reading this urban fantasy set in Johannesburg, and although 419 scams are only a very small part of what this book is about, the small space they occupied in this book was far more interesting and trenchant than the entire other book on the matter.
Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the recent changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the recent changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
Zinzi December is one of the 'animalled', she did something bad in her life and a sloth materialised and became psychically linked to her. It isn't all bad, the animalled also get a gift (or curse) to go with their animal, and in Zinzi's case that is the gift of finding lost things. With her latest client murdered, Zinzi is forced to take on her least favourite type of case: missing persons.
Having not particularly enjoyed Beukes' previous novel, [b:Moxyland|3491640|Moxyland|Lauren Beukes|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328732006s/3491640.jpg|3533237], I wasn't going to pick this one up, but it came highly recommended by someone whose judgement in books I trust, and I'm very glad I did. I don't normally go for urban fantasy, but there's a lot to recommend in this book. The world is very skilfully drawn and just slightly squint to our own. It's a mark of Beukes' skill that the addition of the animals seems an almost natural addition to our own. Normally, it's not something I notice, but I very much admired Beukes' use of 'show, don't tell' in her writing. We are never infodumped with information about the animals or the world, but the facts we need are woven skilfully into the narrative, and we never feel at sea in jargon.
Zinzi is a flawed protagonist, a recovering drug addict paying off debts to gangs by writing 419-style scam emails, but she holds our sympathy and as our guide to the world is definitely sympathetic as she tries to rebuild her life, even when you find out what she did to deserve her sloth.
The story started to accelerate in pace towards the end and, to me, got slightly confusing. I think that a re-read would help with this and it certainly didn't spoil the book for me. I would recommend this novel, even to people who wouldn't normally read fantasy; Beukes certainly deserves the Arthur C. Clarke Award that she received for it.
Having not particularly enjoyed Beukes' previous novel, [b:Moxyland|3491640|Moxyland|Lauren Beukes|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328732006s/3491640.jpg|3533237], I wasn't going to pick this one up, but it came highly recommended by someone whose judgement in books I trust, and I'm very glad I did. I don't normally go for urban fantasy, but there's a lot to recommend in this book. The world is very skilfully drawn and just slightly squint to our own. It's a mark of Beukes' skill that the addition of the animals seems an almost natural addition to our own. Normally, it's not something I notice, but I very much admired Beukes' use of 'show, don't tell' in her writing. We are never infodumped with information about the animals or the world, but the facts we need are woven skilfully into the narrative, and we never feel at sea in jargon.
Zinzi is a flawed protagonist, a recovering drug addict paying off debts to gangs by writing 419-style scam emails, but she holds our sympathy and as our guide to the world is definitely sympathetic as she tries to rebuild her life, even when you find out what she did to deserve her sloth.
The story started to accelerate in pace towards the end and, to me, got slightly confusing. I think that a re-read would help with this and it certainly didn't spoil the book for me. I would recommend this novel, even to people who wouldn't normally read fantasy; Beukes certainly deserves the Arthur C. Clarke Award that she received for it.
Hours have passed, and I'm still baffled. [a:Lauren Beukes|426034|Lauren Beukes|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1355991431p2/426034.jpg] managed to surprise me with a world unlike any other I have experienced (through literature or other media), and that's an achievement in and of itself. My unfamiliarity with the African continent may have helped to create a sense of wonder and curiosity on my part may have done the rest, but this book remains the most intellectually stimulating reading in a very long time.
It's certainly not perfect, but whoever manages to write a book about social struggles without making it feel ham-fisted, wraps it in an interesting story, and finally adds a wonderful dose of originality that perfectly ties in with both the narrative and the thematics...that's a talented writer if I ever noticed one.
It's certainly not perfect, but whoever manages to write a book about social struggles without making it feel ham-fisted, wraps it in an interesting story, and finally adds a wonderful dose of originality that perfectly ties in with both the narrative and the thematics...that's a talented writer if I ever noticed one.
An alternate reality where criminals are 'animalled'. I liked the idea in His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman and this is a different take on that idea. I liked how the world was presented as is so there wasn't lots of boring explanation going on. It did result in me feeling a little lost in the story at times but it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book at all.
Great book! Full review is on my blog: http://the-bookish-life.com/review-zoo-city-lauren-beukes/