Comments | calico_reaction: Beukes, Lauren: Zoo City

calico_reaction

Beukes, Lauren: Zoo City

Apr 20, 2011 07:48

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blog: reviews, fiction: dark fantasy, lauren beukes, fiction: urban fantasy, ratings: good read

Comments 25

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ext_463379 April 20 2011, 14:56:23 UTC

I could be remembering this entirely wrong, but wasn't the bullet that ruined Zinzi's ear the same one that killed her brother?

I also had the impression that her brother was just caught in the crossfire. Zinzi blamed herself and her lifestyle for his death, but I don't think she directly killed him.

inverarity April 20 2011, 16:49:54 UTC

That was my take on it, too.

calico_reaction April 20 2011, 22:11:23 UTC

If that's the case, and that's what I'd originally assumed, why was she the one with the animal? Because she blamed herself? This wasn't very clear to me...

Thread 12

_ocelott_ April 20 2011, 14:33:45 UTC

Being Canadian, I prefer the spellings that everyone in the world except Americans use! Especially if it's appropriate to the setting. Drives me nuts when they try to "Americanize" the spellings and word choices of a book set in New Zealand, for example. Not only does it take away from the realism of the book, but it implies the American market is too stupid to be able to handle a voice that sounds slightly different.

calico_reaction April 20 2011, 22:13:04 UTC

I hadn't thought about the spelling matching the setting of the book. There's something to be said for that, and while I would have a problem with changing certain words (just look at the titles of the first Rowling and Pullman!), spelling seems like such a little thing. If the book's published in the US, update to US spelling. If it's published elsewhere, update the spelling to elsewhere.

But that's me. I'm a spoiled American. :)

starmetal_oak April 20 2011, 14:43:25 UTC

I have a lot of the same feelings about this book (except the British spellings - since I'm Canadian and we use the same here). I didn't care for the mystery. I wanted to see more of the world and maybe some investigation into why people suddenly started to become animalled.

But I did love it; it was just so original.

calico_reaction April 20 2011, 22:13:22 UTC

I'm glad I wasn't the only one not enthralled with the mystery!

ext_463379 April 20 2011, 15:09:15 UTC

Zoo City is probably my favorite out of the books I've read so far this year. I loved the descriptive language she uses, and I just generally loved reading about Zinzi's adventures. It looks like I'm in the minority that was actually interested in the main plot, too. :)

(Also, I reviewed it here if you're interested: http://tethyanbooks.blogspot.com/2011/03/review-zoo-city-by-lauren-beukes.html)

inverarity April 20 2011, 16:59:12 UTC

I liked this book a lot ( my review is here), but I agree with your comments -- the main plot ended up dragging for me. I was more interested in learning about the Zoo Plague and the animal companions than what happened to the pop star duo. The ending seemed rushed to me.

I didn't notice the proofreading errors -- maybe I had a more recently edited file (I bought my ebook from Borders rather than Amazon) or maybe I just didn't notice. The UK spellings didn't bother me, though. It helped remind me that this wasn't America.

calico_reaction April 20 2011, 22:14:32 UTC

Thanks for the link, I'll check it out!

I think the errors are totally unique to the Kindle, though I'd be interested if anyone else downloaded the Kindle version and had the same issues?