Zoology

Zusatztext "Ben Dolnick is a writer of incredible sensitivity. Zoology explores the tricky journey to adulthood with honesty! humor! and generosity." —Jonathan Safran Foer! author of Everything is Illuminated “An exciting! confident! and thoroughly endearing debut. Dolnick writes with a maturity that belies his years! and  Zoology –distinguished by a rare combination of narrative patience and instinctive kindness–is a real cause for celebration.” —George Saunders! author of In Persuasion Nation “ Zoology is a wonderful first novel. It shines a light on that tricky time when you are trying to get a life! own it! make it yours. Ben Dolnick is as funny as he is wise! as honest as he is charming–and he has won me over entirely.”  —Laura Dave! author of London is the Best City in America “Ben Dolnick's Zoology is a bright! sweet! sad! fresh! and funny novel! very honest and ultimately quite moving.” —Gabriel Brownstein! author of The Man from Beyond “I love Zoology . Ben Dolnick's narrator! Henry! is painfully familiar to those of us who have done some serious stumbling along life's road! and he is as engaging and interesting a character as I've come across in a long! long time. Best of all! he makes me laugh out loud.” —Abigail Thomas! author of A Three Dog Life Informationen zum Autor Ben Dolnick Klappentext 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.This book is about last summer. I'll start before David saved me, though, when I was still living at home. I should have been in school, or in an apartment of my own, or teaching English in a village somewhere with noisy outdoor markets and old women who walked bent under piles of horsehair blankets. Instead I was in Chevy Chase. I slept every night under the same green baseball sheets I'd been sleeping under my entire life, the furnace clanking and chugging behind its door, and woke up every morning to Olive whining to be let in. I'd started a semester at American--just a twelve-minute drive from home--and I'd been getting three Ds and a C. I kept thinking that someone would warn me if I was really getting myself into trouble, and then they did. When I got home for Thanksgiving Mom handed me a skinny envelope with the AU stamp. There was a letter inside from Dean Popkin telling me to take some time off and come back as a freshman next fall. He'd signed it, Have a restful year. "Henry," Mom said, reading over my shoulder, "is this a joke?" She sounded like it really might be. Dad said, "Well, you know what? You may just not be a scholar. There's no shame in that--or else I should be ashamed myself. Fall comes around again, we'll see if you're ready to give it another go. But in the meantime, this is not just going to be time to loaf. Let's get you to work." So every morning, for all those months at home, I walked with Dad the five minutes up Cumberland to Somerset, my old elementary school. It was like working in a Museum of Me. Here were these same yellow hallways with their same sour-mop smell, and the library with the hard orange carpet and wooden boxes of golf pencils, and the brown tile bathrooms with their squeaking sinks and empty paper towel machines. And here was Principal Morrow with his pink head and wobbly walk. And mean, round Mrs. Kenner, who used to always say, "Do I come into your living room and put my feet up on the sofa?" (I used to picture her living in our classroom, reading The Book of Knowledge at her desk, making her dinner at the sink where we rinsed the paintbrushes.) And looking small and pale now, here was Mr. Lebby, who had lost half of his left ring finger in a woodshop accident as a kid. He was the only teacher I ever had who picked me...

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Ben Dolnick
• Editore: Vintage USA
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Tascabile
• Pubblicazione: 08.05.2007
• EAN: 9780307279156
• ISBN: 978-0-307-27915-6
• Pagine: 304
• Dimensioni: 134 mm x 202 mm x 17 mm
• Serie: Vintage Contemporaries; Vintage Contemporaries
• Categoria: Narrativa > Romanzi