Zoology
Subtitle: a novel
By: Ben Dolnick
Series: A Vintage contemporaries original
Publisher: Vintage Books
Published: 2007
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 291
ISBN-13: 9780307279156
Subjects: Fiction; Employees; Zoos; College dropouts; Dysfunctional families
Description: "Henry Elinsky, helplessly ordinary, has flunked out after his first semester of college and is living at home in Chevy Chase, Md. Besieged by his father's unrelenting optimism, his mother's unhappiness and his uncle's hypersensitivity, Henry joins his older brother in New York City and takes a job as a keeper at the Children's Zoo. Henry's time in the city is a whirlwind of self-discovery: he cleans animal pens, receives the testy treatment from his brother's rich, bitchy girlfriend and realizes his would-be career as a saxophonist isn't all that promising. Henry also revels in his unrequited passion for young aspiring writer Margaret, even though he knows he and Margaret cannot be together. It takes a family crisis and a monumental error of judgment at the zoo to nudge Henry onward."--Publishers Weekly.
Table of contents: title: Zoology is the story of Henry Elinsky, a college flunk-out who takes a job at the Central Park Zoo and discovers that becoming an adult takes a lot more than just a weekly paycheck.