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herwitchiness 's review for:
Zoo City
by Lauren Beukes
I discovered this book while Googling "if you loved Pokemon growing up, try reading" and stumbling upon a Reddit thread that had a comment suggesting this book. I am so glad I saw that comment because I absolutely loved this book and it was exactly what I wanted, plus some. I won't get too much into the main plot of the book in my review, but I'll focus instead on the world and the society in it.
While it's not Pokemon at all, really, it does have a magical animal friend that becomes bonded to you if you commit a particular awful deed and feel the emotional effects of that choice in a profound way. Zinzi December feels such extreme guilt over why her brother was shot that she gains Sloth. She loses her entire prior life due to an addiction that led to incredible debt to people who had no issue using guns on innocent family members to "solve" it.
With that in mind, it is not just people who actually murder that can gain these animals, but public opinion really doesn't care about the details. All Animalled are treated the same and are at the bottom of the social and economic hierarchy. They live in areas of cities called "Zoos/Zoo City" and are largely left to fend for themselves.
Lauren Beukes did a wonderful job of exploring how we as a society would treat people who had such a visible sign of obvious guilt. She touches on various religious explanations for the Animals as well as scientific reasons without ever saying any one idea is the truth. Just as in real life, there are shades of grey that are purposely left unexplored because to explore it would mean accepting that very rarely is anything truly morally "right" or "wrong." Most things are both. Most people are both. She does a wonderful job of exploring what second chances really mean in the long run. This is the second book by her that I have read where I was sad to see it end because I wanted at least three hundred more pages.
5/5 stars, borrowed from the library, most likely will purchase a copy for my physical. i feel like i should apologize for being ramble-y in this review. i am tired, but wanted to review it now instead of saying "later" and then never doing it.
While it's not Pokemon at all, really, it does have a magical animal friend that becomes bonded to you if you commit a particular awful deed and feel the emotional effects of that choice in a profound way. Zinzi December feels such extreme guilt over why her brother was shot that she gains Sloth. She loses her entire prior life due to an addiction that led to incredible debt to people who had no issue using guns on innocent family members to "solve" it.
With that in mind, it is not just people who actually murder that can gain these animals, but public opinion really doesn't care about the details. All Animalled are treated the same and are at the bottom of the social and economic hierarchy. They live in areas of cities called "Zoos/Zoo City" and are largely left to fend for themselves.
Lauren Beukes did a wonderful job of exploring how we as a society would treat people who had such a visible sign of obvious guilt. She touches on various religious explanations for the Animals as well as scientific reasons without ever saying any one idea is the truth. Just as in real life, there are shades of grey that are purposely left unexplored because to explore it would mean accepting that very rarely is anything truly morally "right" or "wrong." Most things are both. Most people are both. She does a wonderful job of exploring what second chances really mean in the long run. This is the second book by her that I have read where I was sad to see it end because I wanted at least three hundred more pages.
5/5 stars, borrowed from the library, most likely will purchase a copy for my physical. i feel like i should apologize for being ramble-y in this review. i am tired, but wanted to review it now instead of saying "later" and then never doing it.