The Old Men at the Zoo, by Angus Wilson

Upon first choosing this book for my next reading, I was quite excited to find out the plot. It is listed under fantasy and sci fi in the 1000 Novels List, so I was pretty interested to see what exactly the old men would come up with at the zoo. However, this was definitely not the case. Upon reading the scene of the poor boy who got killed by a trampling of a giraffe, and the conversations as to whether the kick to the testicles was the true killing point of the young man, it seemed that the book would have a light and humorous air about it. However, delving deeper into the book I found that this was not the case. In fact, at one point I remember crying out 'Why is he just writing about a bunch of old men at the zoo?!?!' Yeah, ironic, right?

I find the character list, complete with names of characters, their spouses, and their positions, a very vital part of this book. With the immense amount of characters, it is easy to forget who does what and why they're acting the way they really are. Especially with the way Mr. Wilson changes the importance of the characters so frequently throughout the book. AT one point this man is scooping poop in the lemur cage and the next moment he is the director of the zoo.

In case you couldn't tell, I found many aspects of this book confusing. There were many times where they were jumping forward weeks, months, or years, though the exact amount of time was never specified, and how we got to this specific area was often hard to understand. However, the plot of the book becomes slightly more understandable when you realize that it is a satire, conveying Angus Wilson's fears of war to come. Though it was written in the 1960s, it is based in the 1970s, therefore being 'fantastical' because it is written in the future (though now the past).

Despite the confusing aspects of the book, around page 250 the book started getting immensely interesting. The war breaks out and suddenly the struggle for survival begins. Previous to this, the book seems to center around the affairs of the zoo and the possibility of war. However, it takes a while for war to actually break loose. I'm not the type of person to analyze a book, however you can definitely see the correspondence with the affairs in the zoo and the threat of war.

I borrowed this book from my college's library, and one of the most intriguing things to me is it's previous check out dates. It was first checked out in the 1960's, around the publishing of the book. It was checked out once again in 1973, perhaps to compare the current world conditions to the predictions of Angus Wilson. And then, the next check out was me. How shocking to think that this particular edition has not been read through in over thirty years!

This book is definitely confusing, especially if you don't realize it is a satire until after page 100! However, there are many moments of occasional humor throughout the book that allow the book to continue movement well. IT is hard to take a break from this book because the chapters are around 70 pages long with very few breaking points in between. Because of these facts I give this book 1.5 OUT OF 5 STARS.

Now Reading:: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson