Zoology

March 5, 2007
The animal residents of the Central Park Children's Zoo are not the only creatures gently scrutinized in Dolnick's charming debut, a light bildungsroman about shoveling goat poop and growing up. 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. Dolnick can capture in one surprisingly lucid phrase the essence of a situation, though his narrator's benign travails may not resonate with readers not of the 18–25 demographic. This is very much a young man's book; it will be interesting to see what Dolnick does next.

May 1, 2007
What does it mean when you spend a summer in New York City and your best friends end up being someone else's girlfriend, a Nubian goat named Newman, and a voluble Pakistani immigrant reduced to working as a doorman? In Dolnick's debut novel, summer in New York for Henry Elinsky is both an escape from and a confrontation with life. Bailing out of college halfway through his first semester, Henry spends a miserable semester as his father's teaching assistant back in his old elementary school. When his beloved older brother offers him a spare room for the summer, Henry jumps at the chance. He is soon spending his days cleaning up after the animals in the children's zoo and evenings enchanted by Margaret, a college student spending the summer as a nanny. More adept at drifting than decision making, Henry bumbles through the summer, slowly being stripped of his illusions. Oddly enough, facing his mediocrity as a musician, the hopelessness of winning Margaret, the crumbling of his parent's marriageeven an unthinking betrayalwill move him out of his limbo and grant him a new maturity. Written with humor and insight; a worthy addition to fiction collections.Jan Blodgett, Davidson Coll. Lib., NC

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2007
Adult/High School-Henry has flunked out of college and is living at home with no real plans for the future, so a summer in New York seems to be the perfect solution. Pitiable, annoying, endearing, and infuriating, the young man has plenty of conflicts in his life, but seems disengaged from most of them. While his father's heart attack scares him, he is more obsessed and upset by the unrequited love he feels for Margaret, the girl downstairs (to be fair, her ambivalence is confusing). He never seems to connect with anyone other than her, and with the Nubian goat in the petting zoo where he works. This disconnect is captured perfectly by Dolnick, but it leaves readers disconnected as well. In the midst of Henry's biggest crisis, it is difficult to empathize with him, and his actions during that crisis increase that difficulty. But that is part of the fine characterization, and it is the ability of the author to draw readers into the protagonist's world that will keep them turning pages."Mary Ann Harlan, Arcata High School, CA"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2007
When Henry Elinsky is asked by the dean to "take some time off" from his freshman year, he briefly returns home to Chevy Chase and a job at his old elementary school. Depressed at being back under the roof of his barely speaking parents, Henry jumps at his older brother Davids invitation to join him and his girlfriend in New York for the summer. Henry lands a job in the Central Park Childrens Zoo, but the hours are long, and shoveling poop and chopping endless vegetables are not so glamorous. Circumstances improve when Henry meets Margaret, also in New York for the summer. Although she has a boyfriend back home, Margaret and Henry seem to be kindred spirits. She shares personal childhood moments, and Henry shares his quirky zoo world. He not only falls in love but also begins to emerge from his self-absorbed state, becoming more perceptive of those around him. Dolnicks coming-of-age debut sparkles with wit and insightful commentary on the human need for unquestioning devotionincluding that offered by our animal companions.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)