The Zookeeper

by Alex MacLennan

"Sam Metcalfe has it all. Well, that's not exactly true. He's got a great job at the local DC zoo, but he can't seem to realize his goals. He's got amazing friends and family, including the troubled Lauren, but they seem to be running off in every direction but home. He's even found himself a brand new boyfriend, the apparently perfect Dean, except there seem to be cracks in the very foundation of their relationship." Now, opportunity is coming Sam's way. He has a chance to finally discover not only his true calling, but his true self. Will the zoo that is his life allow him the freedom to chase after his long-desired dreams?

Genres: LGBT, Fiction

279 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed reading a gay book that was not over sensationalized, but somewhat subtle and compassionate. Many gay novels I've read lack subtlety and are overly sexual. More later . . .

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating 3.5 stars

I bought this book several years ago because the author taught at the university my daughter attended. It’s not the subject matter I usually read, but I thought Sam was portrayed as wonderfully human with all of his self-doubt and insecurities. His tendency to be extremely loyal and meet the expectations of others has worn him down, and I cheered him on as he came to terms with that. I loved the ending!

[LARRY · Rating 4 out of 5]

As posted in [http://www.amazon.com]:

*The Zookeeper* was a good read, being light on plots.

Sam Metcalfe is a zookeeper at the National Zoo in DC. He is mainly responsible for black howler monkeys. Sam has some great ideas for projects and renovations for the Zoo. However, his proposals are constantly being shelved or rejected. He's also a "keeper" of other people's lives:

Jack - He's an older guy at the Zoo, who trained Sam when he first came on. He's responsible for the big cats. His wife has been dealing with cancer. Jack deals with it by drinking. At times, he comes to work ineberated.

Laurel - She is Sam's childhood best friend. She's the chef and owner of Terra, a trendy restaurant in Dupont Circle. She has been pressured by her sisters to take care of their mother in Pennsylvania. Their mother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

Jamie - He is Sam's nephew. Sam is a father figure for Jamie. Jamie pretty much has a good relationship with his mother. However, problems arise every now and then. Jamie has expressed going to a particular high school but his mother is set on another school.

After a blind date, Sam has struck gold with Dean. Dean is a closeted meteorologist for the local news channel. Dean is like the perfect gay man...having a wonderful job, toned body, fantastic place and an impressive circle of friends.

Sam is in love with Dean. Dean seems to reciprocate the feeling. However, things start to change especially when Dean aims for an anchorman position in New York City.

From this moment, Sam realizes that he's losing control as a "keeper". The worst is his own life. He starts to question decisions that he has made. But before he can straighten out his life, he feels that he needs to make sure the the people in his lives are alright.

Overall, it was a good read with simple plots. This is something that you could read over the weekend. It's simply boy-meets-boy-and-boy-wonders-if-this-is-the-happy-life-and-if-he-is-content-with-it.

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a surprisingly touching book this is. I'd ordered it in error, having confused this title with another for a book club, and so the book sat on my shelf for several years. Lo and behold, I pick it up and immediately fall in love with Sam, the main character, who is an adorably insecure guy, completely overtaken with mothering the world. The well-rounded characters are what makes this book work. I knew them well enough by the end to tell you what each would be thinking.

I enjoyed the friendship between Sam and Laurel the most, I think. I question some of Laurel's decisions and I know that if I had a friend like Sam, I couldn't have done what she did.

I couldn't give it five stars because, although I loved the large metaphor throughout, I felt like the author explained it too much to the reader, especially in the final chapters.

As a first work of fiction, I think this is pretty amazing and I think the author can only get better.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a promising first work. A great all-in-one day read. The plot does meander at points and intermittent shifts in POV--especially the shifts to Laurel--sometimes seemed like cheating on the part of the author. Mostly though the thematic elements ("who am I," "how do I relate to others" "what defined my happiness") were universal and touched on real feelings I had a reader. And the confusion on the part of the main character around these feelings was totally understandable. However, it sometimes felt like the author himself did not know how he wanted to address these themes and ended up repeating some ideas and feelings too much while emphasizing others too little. I think this probably could have stood for some tighter editing, but again, shows a lot of promise for the future.

[Lori Kobayashi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book after the author wrote a review on here for a book that I had just read. The review by the author was so in line with what I thought, I just HAD to read his book. That being said- I'm SO glad I did. While the plot (at first) seems fairly simple, the characters were so rich that it left me thinking about everyone in the book long after I put it down.
I look forward to reading more from this author

[Jourdan Lane]

The Zookeeper by Alex MacLennan (2006)

[Tracy]

The Zookeeper by Alex MacLennan (2006)