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The Petting Zoos
Ten years ago a pandemic wiped out a huge percentage of the population. But while the world began to heal, Lily locked herself in worlds of her own making. It was only when she was ordered back to work, and given the opportunity to feed the skin hunger she didn’t know she had, that she came back to life.
343 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 24, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
August 14, 2022
Reading a novel about the aftermath of a deadly pandemic was tougher than I imagined - reading is often for escapism and it of course is very close to fresh wounds in our current climate. However after about 40% the story felt much more developed, interesting, different and darker. It explores an interesting concept of skin hunger after the deadly illness 'Henny Penny' has ravaged society 10 years ago. Everything is strictly controlled by a government called the 'Regency'. Main character Lily accepts an invitation to illegal 'petting zoos' for personal reasons and also as her editor requests a report on these underground illegal clubs.
Its definitely a journey of self discovery helped by the enigmatic 'zoo keeper' Kaz. Overall , after the first section which is heavy on terminology and familiar precautions, it becomes a lot more interesting and immersive and I enjoyed it more than expected. Thanks to Netgalley and Dundurn Press for the arc.
Its definitely a journey of self discovery helped by the enigmatic 'zoo keeper' Kaz. Overall , after the first section which is heavy on terminology and familiar precautions, it becomes a lot more interesting and immersive and I enjoyed it more than expected. Thanks to Netgalley and Dundurn Press for the arc.
May 24, 2022
An incredibly unique read, where the plot begins ten years after a pandemic called "Henny Penny" ravages human existence. The author had me hooked from the first chapter with their amazing writing and world-building skills. This will have you questioning the role society plays when global disaster strikes. I don't want to give too much away so just pick this one up. Warning there is some sexual content but nothing I found to be scandalous.
Thank you, Dundurn for my complimentary copy!
Thank you, Dundurn for my complimentary copy!
December 27, 2025
A really intriguing book taking place ten years after a deadly pandemic. This book focuses a lot on the personal growth and reawakening of the main character, Lily, as she navigates a world she no longer recognizes.
Want to read
January 17, 202216.01.2022 human touch has become taboo in the hypochondriacal near future, leading people to go mad with “skin hunger” and turn to illegal human petting zoos for a fix. I HAVE AN EARLY COPY and i am so excited to read this.
January 22, 2022
The Petting Zoos by author K.S. Covert is a novel I wanted to like. The plot was timely and contained just enough to pique my interest and compel me to request this as an ARC from NetGalley. Try as I might, however, there are things about this book that are in need of aggressive editing. Some may be coming in the published work (e.g. formatting errors), but some appear to be a conscious effort on the part of Covert that simply do not work or are errors egregious enough to have separated me from the page.
The story itself is certainly one of relevance. A pandemic has swept the world and left in its wake a society separated by law-required masks, gloves and clothing made impervious to the virus that was discovered to have clung to it. The illness, dubbed Henny Penny, has left nothing untouched. From food supplies to the sensation of another human’s touch, each aspect of society has in some way been disturbed and transformed. Lily is a woman who, prior to the pandemic, is purported to have led a relatively “normal” life, gathering with friends, traveling to work, etc. She contracted Henny Penny, nearly lost her life, and emerged a newly minted hermit, ordering food rations, working from home and separating herself from others who survived the worst. Even when the guidelines of the government are eased and employees are forced to return to the workplace, Lily maintains her isolation to the extent possible. As a magazine writer, her prior job of reporting is no longer in her comfort zone, and so she is asked to consider penning fictional stories for the publication. Here she shines, as her talent draws in readers and garners her fan mail. When Lily simultaneously receives a request from her boss to return to reporting in order to write a story about illegally operating human “petting zoos”, as well as a letter inviting her to visit a particular zoo, and finally a private recommendation from her doctor to give one a try, Lily is forced out of her comfort zone and into a hedonistic world where humans deprived of basic contact for so many years come together to touch and be touched and to satisfy the wanting that consumes them. Lily’s journey to self-actualization is followed as she visits zoos of varying degrees, from vanilla zoos that allow only superficial touch to mocha zoos that are ruled by an “anything goes” mantra and harken back to what were once known as swingers’ clubs.
Covert begins her book with a glossary of terms one needs to know to fully appreciate the story. I found it to be off-putting and a far too sterile introduction. As a reader, I need an immediate hook, which this vocabulary exercise just didn’t provide. Covert also structures the text in a way that is interesting to analyze but difficult to read. Main character Lily begins as a flat, gray presence that is reflected in the flat gray of the writing. As she slowly emerges from her hibernation, the writing follows suit and becomes more colorful—more engaging. Whilst I understand the author’s intent, those initial monotone pages are difficult to wade through, and there’s just not enough of an immediate payout to encourage the reader’s continued investment.
The descriptions of the leveled petting zoos, and the activities that occurred within, were well written and contained just enough sensory detail to bring the events to life. Without the reader engaging with Lily as a sympathetic character, however, the scenes aren’t in any way anchored. We know next to nothing about the person Lily was before the pandemic, and only a very small amount of who she became in isolation, so finding interest in her zoo visits is difficult at best. The result is some well-written soft porn.
There are also some continuity issues here. In one scene, Lily is visiting an illegal “rave-type” event run by her neighbor, Eleanor. The scene inside the building, as well as the fact that Lily detects a scent of marijuana, is described before she even gets out of the car. It is errors such as this that again separated me from the story itself.
Overall, the writing is sound with masterful sentence structure, wonderfully sensual imagery and a plot that hits close to home in light of current events. Profound and unapologetic editing is needed, however, in order for this book to meet its true potential.
Thanks to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for allowing me to review this ARC. Publication is set for June of 2022.
The story itself is certainly one of relevance. A pandemic has swept the world and left in its wake a society separated by law-required masks, gloves and clothing made impervious to the virus that was discovered to have clung to it. The illness, dubbed Henny Penny, has left nothing untouched. From food supplies to the sensation of another human’s touch, each aspect of society has in some way been disturbed and transformed. Lily is a woman who, prior to the pandemic, is purported to have led a relatively “normal” life, gathering with friends, traveling to work, etc. She contracted Henny Penny, nearly lost her life, and emerged a newly minted hermit, ordering food rations, working from home and separating herself from others who survived the worst. Even when the guidelines of the government are eased and employees are forced to return to the workplace, Lily maintains her isolation to the extent possible. As a magazine writer, her prior job of reporting is no longer in her comfort zone, and so she is asked to consider penning fictional stories for the publication. Here she shines, as her talent draws in readers and garners her fan mail. When Lily simultaneously receives a request from her boss to return to reporting in order to write a story about illegally operating human “petting zoos”, as well as a letter inviting her to visit a particular zoo, and finally a private recommendation from her doctor to give one a try, Lily is forced out of her comfort zone and into a hedonistic world where humans deprived of basic contact for so many years come together to touch and be touched and to satisfy the wanting that consumes them. Lily’s journey to self-actualization is followed as she visits zoos of varying degrees, from vanilla zoos that allow only superficial touch to mocha zoos that are ruled by an “anything goes” mantra and harken back to what were once known as swingers’ clubs.
Covert begins her book with a glossary of terms one needs to know to fully appreciate the story. I found it to be off-putting and a far too sterile introduction. As a reader, I need an immediate hook, which this vocabulary exercise just didn’t provide. Covert also structures the text in a way that is interesting to analyze but difficult to read. Main character Lily begins as a flat, gray presence that is reflected in the flat gray of the writing. As she slowly emerges from her hibernation, the writing follows suit and becomes more colorful—more engaging. Whilst I understand the author’s intent, those initial monotone pages are difficult to wade through, and there’s just not enough of an immediate payout to encourage the reader’s continued investment.
The descriptions of the leveled petting zoos, and the activities that occurred within, were well written and contained just enough sensory detail to bring the events to life. Without the reader engaging with Lily as a sympathetic character, however, the scenes aren’t in any way anchored. We know next to nothing about the person Lily was before the pandemic, and only a very small amount of who she became in isolation, so finding interest in her zoo visits is difficult at best. The result is some well-written soft porn.
There are also some continuity issues here. In one scene, Lily is visiting an illegal “rave-type” event run by her neighbor, Eleanor. The scene inside the building, as well as the fact that Lily detects a scent of marijuana, is described before she even gets out of the car. It is errors such as this that again separated me from the story itself.
Overall, the writing is sound with masterful sentence structure, wonderfully sensual imagery and a plot that hits close to home in light of current events. Profound and unapologetic editing is needed, however, in order for this book to meet its true potential.
Thanks to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for allowing me to review this ARC. Publication is set for June of 2022.
June 23, 2022
The Petting Zoos is a dystopian, post pandemic page turner. I could not put this book down and I think it will live rent free in my brain for a vey long time.
If your not ready to read a book about the aftermath of a global pandemic I would steer clear of this one.
Lily, a single women who survived the virus coined "Henny Penny" early on has been working from home, barely leaving her house. Missing the touch of another person. For over 10 years. I seriously can't even imagine. 10 years!! With strict laws still in place you have to wear masks and gloves at all time in public including specially treated clothing.
Forced to go back to the office and being a single women, set up by the government she must go to a touch clinic which awaken things inside. Her journey of self/ sexual discovery begins.
If your not ready to read a book about the aftermath of a global pandemic I would steer clear of this one.
Lily, a single women who survived the virus coined "Henny Penny" early on has been working from home, barely leaving her house. Missing the touch of another person. For over 10 years. I seriously can't even imagine. 10 years!! With strict laws still in place you have to wear masks and gloves at all time in public including specially treated clothing.
Forced to go back to the office and being a single women, set up by the government she must go to a touch clinic which awaken things inside. Her journey of self/ sexual discovery begins.
July 16, 2022
Thank you to Netgalley and Dundern Press for providing me with this advanced reader copy to review. All of my ARC reviews are spoiler-free! The Petting Zoos is expected to release June 21st 2022.
Ten years ago, the world was ravaged by a deadly virus that killed a significant portion of the population. Although recovering for the most part, the world’s survivors are neurotic and anxious, loath to leave the safety of their homes to brave the dangerous outside, and despite vaccines and government mandates enforcing the wearing of protective masks and gloves when in public, many still fear that it isn’t enough.
The government has now released a return-to-work mandate in a bid to return life to normal, and with it they announce that health clinics will be set up to offer touch therapy. When Lily, having lived alone since the pandemic began, her friends and family dead, is asked to return to work as a journalist, she is offered the chance to go to one such clinic where she suffers through an awkward, gloved massage that does little to ease neither her fear of being touched or her skin hunger.
It is after this unfortunate experience that Lily receives a request from her manager to write a story on the emergency of highly illegal clubs known as Petting Zoos, dangerous spaces where humans are allowed, entirely uninhibited, the chance to touch and be touched without the boundaries set in place by law. This instruction, followed by a letter inviting her to visit one such Zoo, prompts Lily towards a path of self-actualisation and a return to the woman she had left behind those ten years ago.
This was an absolutely fantastic reading experience that had me hooked from the moment I read the synopsis. The idea behind the story is inspired, relevant to current world events in a way that really resonated with me and my own struggles, especially during the first year or so of the Covid19 pandemic, and I found the exploration of Lily’s anxieties to be thoughtfully done and impactful.
Covert writes beautifully, inserting unknown anxieties and longings into a world that is not far removed from real life in a way that feels familiar:
“The ancients used to disagree on which organ held the soul. Some said it was the heart; others were convinced it was the liver. For me it has always been the stomach. Fear and excitement, boredom and anger, love and hate: they all make themselves felt first in my gut. So I felt a familiar punch to my abdomen when he ran his thumb along the bone in my wrist, slid his fingers between mine. My breath caught when he softly, gently, scratched the length of my life line with his thumbnail. I could hear others around me talking, but I lost all awareness of them. Kaz and I were in a bubble; outside it, nothing existed that I needed to concern myself with. It was him, and me, and his hands on my skin.”
Immersing myself in this book, that final sentence gave me shivers.
However in doing this there are, perhaps unavoidably, moments of quite grey, sterile writing that dragged down the pace of the book, especially in the beginning chapters. I wish that there had been more engagement in those moments, and though I recognise the stylistic choice to have the writing mirror Lily’s evolution as a character, it was a bit of a slog as a reader to push through. Furthermore, this wasn’t helped by the fact that we discover next to nothing about Lily before or during the height of the pandemic, so there is very little to anchor her experiences to as she begins to explore the world of the Petting Zoos, despite these moments being well written and otherwise highly evocative. I found myself wanting her to experience good things, to feel new things, to come alive again, but there was no basis in that ‘again’ because I had no ‘before’ to work with aside from a brief description of her isolation.
Regardless, this is a very strong debut, a book unlike many I have read recently and one that will certainly stick with me. I look forward to reading more from Covert in the (hopefully) near future.
Ten years ago, the world was ravaged by a deadly virus that killed a significant portion of the population. Although recovering for the most part, the world’s survivors are neurotic and anxious, loath to leave the safety of their homes to brave the dangerous outside, and despite vaccines and government mandates enforcing the wearing of protective masks and gloves when in public, many still fear that it isn’t enough.
The government has now released a return-to-work mandate in a bid to return life to normal, and with it they announce that health clinics will be set up to offer touch therapy. When Lily, having lived alone since the pandemic began, her friends and family dead, is asked to return to work as a journalist, she is offered the chance to go to one such clinic where she suffers through an awkward, gloved massage that does little to ease neither her fear of being touched or her skin hunger.
It is after this unfortunate experience that Lily receives a request from her manager to write a story on the emergency of highly illegal clubs known as Petting Zoos, dangerous spaces where humans are allowed, entirely uninhibited, the chance to touch and be touched without the boundaries set in place by law. This instruction, followed by a letter inviting her to visit one such Zoo, prompts Lily towards a path of self-actualisation and a return to the woman she had left behind those ten years ago.
This was an absolutely fantastic reading experience that had me hooked from the moment I read the synopsis. The idea behind the story is inspired, relevant to current world events in a way that really resonated with me and my own struggles, especially during the first year or so of the Covid19 pandemic, and I found the exploration of Lily’s anxieties to be thoughtfully done and impactful.
Covert writes beautifully, inserting unknown anxieties and longings into a world that is not far removed from real life in a way that feels familiar:
“The ancients used to disagree on which organ held the soul. Some said it was the heart; others were convinced it was the liver. For me it has always been the stomach. Fear and excitement, boredom and anger, love and hate: they all make themselves felt first in my gut. So I felt a familiar punch to my abdomen when he ran his thumb along the bone in my wrist, slid his fingers between mine. My breath caught when he softly, gently, scratched the length of my life line with his thumbnail. I could hear others around me talking, but I lost all awareness of them. Kaz and I were in a bubble; outside it, nothing existed that I needed to concern myself with. It was him, and me, and his hands on my skin.”
Immersing myself in this book, that final sentence gave me shivers.
However in doing this there are, perhaps unavoidably, moments of quite grey, sterile writing that dragged down the pace of the book, especially in the beginning chapters. I wish that there had been more engagement in those moments, and though I recognise the stylistic choice to have the writing mirror Lily’s evolution as a character, it was a bit of a slog as a reader to push through. Furthermore, this wasn’t helped by the fact that we discover next to nothing about Lily before or during the height of the pandemic, so there is very little to anchor her experiences to as she begins to explore the world of the Petting Zoos, despite these moments being well written and otherwise highly evocative. I found myself wanting her to experience good things, to feel new things, to come alive again, but there was no basis in that ‘again’ because I had no ‘before’ to work with aside from a brief description of her isolation.
Regardless, this is a very strong debut, a book unlike many I have read recently and one that will certainly stick with me. I look forward to reading more from Covert in the (hopefully) near future.
June 8, 2022
Thank you so much @dundurn press for sending me a complimentary finished copy of The Petting Zoos by K.S. Covert in exchange for an honest review.
To start off, I'm pretty sure this author is clairvoyant. She started writing this book in 2011 and finished in early 2020. Okay fine Hayley, why is she clairvoyant? BECAUSE its the aftermath of a pandemic where social distancing has been necessary, people are isolated, and many don't see other people for a long time - feel a little familiar?
We drop into the life of Lily a decade after the pandemic, just as a back to work order has been issued by the government, requiring that all employees stop working from home and head to the office. She is thrown into a world she's not ready to be in and soon discovers underground petting zoos, places people go to help them through their skin hunger. Beginning with the tamest of the zoos and working through them as they get progressively erotic and sexual. That's all the synopsis your getting from me
It was so interesting reading this book, and comparing it to what we've been seeing in the world the last few years. Watching Lily grapple with removing her mask in places that she has been told its unsafe and getting comfortable seeing peoples full faces again,
I really loved the way the author built in what would have happened to the infrastructure in areas outside of cities if they hadn't been maintained in 10+ years. It made me think about what areas around me would have completely degraded if we were in a similar situation.
It is very rare that I will start rate a review on here, but this one is so clearly a five star, I think everyone needs to know it. I'm glad to report that my luck with Canadian Debut authors this year continues.
To start off, I'm pretty sure this author is clairvoyant. She started writing this book in 2011 and finished in early 2020. Okay fine Hayley, why is she clairvoyant? BECAUSE its the aftermath of a pandemic where social distancing has been necessary, people are isolated, and many don't see other people for a long time - feel a little familiar?
We drop into the life of Lily a decade after the pandemic, just as a back to work order has been issued by the government, requiring that all employees stop working from home and head to the office. She is thrown into a world she's not ready to be in and soon discovers underground petting zoos, places people go to help them through their skin hunger. Beginning with the tamest of the zoos and working through them as they get progressively erotic and sexual. That's all the synopsis your getting from me
It was so interesting reading this book, and comparing it to what we've been seeing in the world the last few years. Watching Lily grapple with removing her mask in places that she has been told its unsafe and getting comfortable seeing peoples full faces again,
I really loved the way the author built in what would have happened to the infrastructure in areas outside of cities if they hadn't been maintained in 10+ years. It made me think about what areas around me would have completely degraded if we were in a similar situation.
It is very rare that I will start rate a review on here, but this one is so clearly a five star, I think everyone needs to know it. I'm glad to report that my luck with Canadian Debut authors this year continues.
May 30, 2022
How is everyone feeling about pandemic themed novels right now? Are you checking them out or avoiding them?
When I read the synopsis for The Petting Zoos I was fascinated. I also wasn’t sure how I’d feel. If the process would be too uncomfortable, like poking at a still fresh wound.
The novels takes place ten years after a disease has ravished society. A society where you must be masked and gloved and clad in stiff disease-repellent clothing. In an attempt to restore normalcy citizens are being prompted by the Regency to reintegrate. It’s time to go back to work.
It’s been ten years since Lily nearly died from Henny Penny. Ten years since she’s been in a room with another person. Writing stories of the before times in her tiny government provided apartment. Being ordered back to work, seeing other people again, is a shock to her system.
She’s prescribed biweekly visits to a clinic to be touched and hugged. An experience that leaves her feeling raw wanting skin to skin touch. So she accepts an invitation to a Petting Zoo. An illegal underground club for maskless touching: a way to feed her pent up skin hunger.
The further she goes in her exploration of these clubs the more touch she craves, and the more she discovers the connection humans need to survive.
It says it’s a sex adventure on the copy but I still don’t know why I didn’t expect this to be so horny! Once I got past the first section of describing the pandemic I really got into reading about the survivors and the rebuilding of the world.
Thank you so much to Dundurn Press and Edelweiss Plus for an ARC of this title.
When I read the synopsis for The Petting Zoos I was fascinated. I also wasn’t sure how I’d feel. If the process would be too uncomfortable, like poking at a still fresh wound.
The novels takes place ten years after a disease has ravished society. A society where you must be masked and gloved and clad in stiff disease-repellent clothing. In an attempt to restore normalcy citizens are being prompted by the Regency to reintegrate. It’s time to go back to work.
It’s been ten years since Lily nearly died from Henny Penny. Ten years since she’s been in a room with another person. Writing stories of the before times in her tiny government provided apartment. Being ordered back to work, seeing other people again, is a shock to her system.
She’s prescribed biweekly visits to a clinic to be touched and hugged. An experience that leaves her feeling raw wanting skin to skin touch. So she accepts an invitation to a Petting Zoo. An illegal underground club for maskless touching: a way to feed her pent up skin hunger.
The further she goes in her exploration of these clubs the more touch she craves, and the more she discovers the connection humans need to survive.
It says it’s a sex adventure on the copy but I still don’t know why I didn’t expect this to be so horny! Once I got past the first section of describing the pandemic I really got into reading about the survivors and the rebuilding of the world.
Thank you so much to Dundurn Press and Edelweiss Plus for an ARC of this title.
August 10, 2022
*Canadian*
"It was an age-old motion and still brand new, and I struggled for a moment to let go, to open up, to feel and to enjoy the feeling." ~Pg.260
•
🌿
Thoughts ~
Pandemic themed novels are really on the rise. I'm pretty picky about what ones I can read but this is the line that got me on this one.
"A post-apocalyptic sex adventure and a woman’s journey of self-discovery, The Petting Zoos is an erotic love story for an age of extreme caution, in which the value of safety itself is questioned."
THE PETTING ZOOS was an interesting read and tough one to review. I found myself gripped from the beginning as K.S Covert's writing style was very readable and the world building was well done. Lily's reawakening was thrilling to follow, and I was drawn into this whole skin hunger and petting zoos world, very titillating and curious. So all in all this worked for me! Not much of a review, I know, but if you are into a raunchier dystopian novel I'd recommend this!
Thank You to @dundurnpress for sending me this book opinions are my own.
For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
"It was an age-old motion and still brand new, and I struggled for a moment to let go, to open up, to feel and to enjoy the feeling." ~Pg.260
•
🌿
Thoughts ~
Pandemic themed novels are really on the rise. I'm pretty picky about what ones I can read but this is the line that got me on this one.
"A post-apocalyptic sex adventure and a woman’s journey of self-discovery, The Petting Zoos is an erotic love story for an age of extreme caution, in which the value of safety itself is questioned."
THE PETTING ZOOS was an interesting read and tough one to review. I found myself gripped from the beginning as K.S Covert's writing style was very readable and the world building was well done. Lily's reawakening was thrilling to follow, and I was drawn into this whole skin hunger and petting zoos world, very titillating and curious. So all in all this worked for me! Not much of a review, I know, but if you are into a raunchier dystopian novel I'd recommend this!
Thank You to @dundurnpress for sending me this book opinions are my own.
For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
April 18, 2022
2 stars for this one for me.
I really wanted to love this book. The beginning of this book definitely had me more intrigued. I liked the world the author set up, and seeing as we just went through two years of a pandemic it was interesting to see how things could have been so much worse for others.
I thought the character growth of lily was intriguing until about 3/4 or the story. Then it fell flat for me and I had lost the character connection I had before. To me, it got weird.
I initially liked the love story between lily and kaz, but after a while I just found it kind of tacky and back and forth. The ending of this book made me cringe a little. The happy ending threesome was too much for me.
I felt like there were story plots that were left open as well. Lily and her old roommate? All of a sudden she shows up in the story again and then there was no closure.
I really wanted to love this book. The beginning of this book definitely had me more intrigued. I liked the world the author set up, and seeing as we just went through two years of a pandemic it was interesting to see how things could have been so much worse for others.
I thought the character growth of lily was intriguing until about 3/4 or the story. Then it fell flat for me and I had lost the character connection I had before. To me, it got weird.
I initially liked the love story between lily and kaz, but after a while I just found it kind of tacky and back and forth. The ending of this book made me cringe a little. The happy ending threesome was too much for me.
I felt like there were story plots that were left open as well. Lily and her old roommate? All of a sudden she shows up in the story again and then there was no closure.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 23, 2022
A pandemic called Henny Penny ravages the world for ten years and counting. Mandatory mask and glove requirements, combined with strict laws restricting practically any private gatherings, create unquenchable “skin hunger.” It causes some people to go insane and orchestrate mass acts of violence - but others go the illicit route and visit underground “petting zoos” where you can go to touch and be touched. Lily King has lived in isolation for the whole pandemic, not touching a single other human being - and her life is about to be changed by the petting zoos.
This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022, and I absolutely loved the beginning of it. I was enraptured in the realistic (perhaps a little too close to home) speculative world building elements, almost like my favorite John Marrs books. The concept is undoubtedly creative, but the execution totally fell flat.
There are lots of ideas in the book that I liked, but I thought it was painfully slow after you get past the exposition. I found my mind wandering after only reading a few pages. Once the conceit of the premise and the plot are established - you’re aware of the pandemic, the world it’s created, the problem Lily is facing, and the concept of petting zoos - things come to a standstill. My interest flagged because it felt like there was little NEW happening, and the plot that was continuing was not one that captured my attention. I’m not sure why I was expecting the pacing or action of a thriller - perhaps because of the John Marrs comparisons - but this quickly turned into just speculative literary fiction.
Overall, I appreciated the unique concept, but I wish the story were better executed. Thank you to Dundurn Press for the ARC via Netgalley!
This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022, and I absolutely loved the beginning of it. I was enraptured in the realistic (perhaps a little too close to home) speculative world building elements, almost like my favorite John Marrs books. The concept is undoubtedly creative, but the execution totally fell flat.
There are lots of ideas in the book that I liked, but I thought it was painfully slow after you get past the exposition. I found my mind wandering after only reading a few pages. Once the conceit of the premise and the plot are established - you’re aware of the pandemic, the world it’s created, the problem Lily is facing, and the concept of petting zoos - things come to a standstill. My interest flagged because it felt like there was little NEW happening, and the plot that was continuing was not one that captured my attention. I’m not sure why I was expecting the pacing or action of a thriller - perhaps because of the John Marrs comparisons - but this quickly turned into just speculative literary fiction.
Overall, I appreciated the unique concept, but I wish the story were better executed. Thank you to Dundurn Press for the ARC via Netgalley!
June 1, 2024
Unique story, very timely with the pandemic (though it should be noted that the author had been working on the book considerably earlier than the pandemic) and does a nice job of highlighting the benefits of not shaming or stigmatizing human intimacy and sexuality. The MC has a complicated and unresolved relationship with a former friend/roommate who abandons her and then comes into play in the story in a fairly large way. I loved that the MC was like “don’t need to wallow in that negativity,” acknowledged her feelings and went on with her life instead of dwelling or being confrontational. I enjoyed the story. My complaints: the details were magnificent at times because it gave a lot of insight into how the MC processed her feelings and experiences but occasionally became extraneous. I never felt annoyed, but definitely overwhelmed. I listened to the audio and the narrator sounded a lot like DiDi Pickles from Rugrats, which got weird during some of the more explicit passages.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 9, 2023
I was expecting this book to be scandalous and all about sex and perversion and various kinks and such - in the wake of a world-shattering pandemic, the protagonist is touch-starved, and as she rejoins her world during its recovery, touch and all that comes with it is something that has gone underground, in Petting Zoos, which themselves have various kinds of philosophies and "flavors."
That's all I'll tell you about the plot, except to say that while this book is a sexy book, it's not concerned with the base nature of people - except inasmuch as that is a part of all of us. No, this is a book about sensation, not sensationalism, and at the end of the day was a fun and intriguing and thoughtful read, one that uses the pandemic as a springboard to question the nature of who we are to each other, and what we have & might become.
That's all I'll tell you about the plot, except to say that while this book is a sexy book, it's not concerned with the base nature of people - except inasmuch as that is a part of all of us. No, this is a book about sensation, not sensationalism, and at the end of the day was a fun and intriguing and thoughtful read, one that uses the pandemic as a springboard to question the nature of who we are to each other, and what we have & might become.
May 19, 2022
An emotionally shattering novel of loss, addiction, and discovering yourself.
Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Ten years after a deadly virus, the world has largely recovered, but despite effective vaccines, the law still requires people to wear protective masks and gloves at all times in public. Lily has lived in fearful isolation for ten years, afraid to re-join the world. But a return-to-work order and an invitation to go to a petting zoo — a highly illegal club where people go to touch and be touched start to bring her back to life.
This book resonated so much with me and is very relevant in a post-Covid environment. After ten years of living in isolation, Lily returns to work and is recommended a touch therapy course due to skin hunger that most people now possess due to a no-touch rule in place during the pandemic. Lily is at first overcome with emotion at having skin-to-skin contact, and soon realizes that the sterile environment is not enough and needs more. Her boss encourages Lily to take part and write about her experience in an illegal petting zoo set up to provide people with a no strings attached intimacy. As Lily goes through each level her hunger grows and addiction sets in.
I absolutely loved this book and couldn’t put it down, not only was the writing beautiful and emotionally charged but it was so thought-provoking too, for a day or so afterwards I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Lily’s journey of self-discovery is a mirror image of the current climate we live in today and while I don’t currently know of any petting zoos it wouldn’t surprise me to hear of any in the future.
One of the only plot holes for me was the story of Sophie or Violet, I hoped that the author would have Lily and Violet reconcile, so Lily was able to have closure on their relationship.
I would recommend this book to anyone.
Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Ten years after a deadly virus, the world has largely recovered, but despite effective vaccines, the law still requires people to wear protective masks and gloves at all times in public. Lily has lived in fearful isolation for ten years, afraid to re-join the world. But a return-to-work order and an invitation to go to a petting zoo — a highly illegal club where people go to touch and be touched start to bring her back to life.
This book resonated so much with me and is very relevant in a post-Covid environment. After ten years of living in isolation, Lily returns to work and is recommended a touch therapy course due to skin hunger that most people now possess due to a no-touch rule in place during the pandemic. Lily is at first overcome with emotion at having skin-to-skin contact, and soon realizes that the sterile environment is not enough and needs more. Her boss encourages Lily to take part and write about her experience in an illegal petting zoo set up to provide people with a no strings attached intimacy. As Lily goes through each level her hunger grows and addiction sets in.
I absolutely loved this book and couldn’t put it down, not only was the writing beautiful and emotionally charged but it was so thought-provoking too, for a day or so afterwards I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Lily’s journey of self-discovery is a mirror image of the current climate we live in today and while I don’t currently know of any petting zoos it wouldn’t surprise me to hear of any in the future.
One of the only plot holes for me was the story of Sophie or Violet, I hoped that the author would have Lily and Violet reconcile, so Lily was able to have closure on their relationship.
I would recommend this book to anyone.
July 26, 2022
This novel is both touching AND a titillating sex romp! As a post-apocalyptic dystopian tale, it was right up my alley too. If you want a nuanced and caring look at how a pandemic and internal feelings of worthlessness can make a person feel separate from society and and undeserving of love, you've got it! If you want an erotic thriller, you've also got it!
And if you're nervous about outcomes and not wanting to read anything depressing at the moment, I will tell you there is a happy ending despite the sometimes dark happenings throughout.
And if you're nervous about outcomes and not wanting to read anything depressing at the moment, I will tell you there is a happy ending despite the sometimes dark happenings throughout.
April 8, 2022
The Petting Zoos is a post-apocalyptic novel that, unlike other books that fall in this genre, focuses more on the effects of an apocalyptic event on the human psyche. It had been ten years since a vaccine was created and given among the survivors of the pandemic nicknamed Henry Penny, but the fear never went away. The government that they call the Regency still strictly controls what is shown in the media, controls people's fear, and requires the populace to still follow strict rules and regulations to not catch the ever-mutating virus.
The protagonist, Lily, is a middle-aged woman who dubs herself the "Dickens of the apocalypse" because she is a reporter turned short story writer whose hopeful works served as escapism for everyone during and after the pandemic. However successful she seems, Lily has been isolated from the real world since she caught the virus over ten years ago. Finally forced to get out of the protection of her home, she is challenged to face her fears, confront the trauma of Henry Penny, as well as deal with her skin hunger. After experiencing a taste of touch for the first time in a decade, Lily starts craving it like a hungered animal. Then comes the Petting Zoos, an article to write, an enigmatic zookeeper, and the nightmares of yesterday.
Now, I was so hooked by this premise. It seemed relevant to our state today, seeing exactly that although the majority of us had been vaccinated, the fear and the dark experiences would never go away. It seems to me, however, that I missed a huge chunk of this book's description. I didn't know this is described as a “post-apocalyptic sex adventure”, and an “erotic love story for an age of extreme caution, in which the value of safety itself is questione,” which means I was shocked to see the turns the book made. I was thinking more of casual and tender touches, but I was then plunged into what seemed like soft porn. I have nothing against it since I loved how queernorm the petting zoos are, but I was shocked nonetheless. The Petting Zoo itself originated from the concepts of BDSM and I don't know why I didn't pick that up sooner.
The first 30% was promising, it explored Lily's struggles quietly as she rejoined society for the first time again. I was sympathizing when she had her first touch and when she was remembering what was before. But then things ironically got kind of stale when the plot picked up. About 60% of this book was told through dialogue exchanged between characters; with those dialogues, we were told about the worldbuilding and we were told about what these characters are feeling. I swear, everyone just articulated exactly what they felt, which is an issue to me because it felt like these characters are nothing more than two-dimensional. I personally also think that the MC did not have that much chemistry with the main romantic interest, and I didn't enjoy their time together specifically. The conclusion was a little abrupt too, and—without giving anything away—it got solved too easily for my liking.
Overall, it's safe to say I'm not exactly the target audience of this book. While that is the case, I still found the concepts interesting and I understand why this could be enjoyable for some people, hence why I'm still rating it higher. Pick this up if you're a fan of character-driven dystopian novels as well as sex adventures that explore the concepts of humans' need for connection, sex, and touch post-pandemic.
Thank you, Dundurn Press and NetGalley, for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
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The protagonist, Lily, is a middle-aged woman who dubs herself the "Dickens of the apocalypse" because she is a reporter turned short story writer whose hopeful works served as escapism for everyone during and after the pandemic. However successful she seems, Lily has been isolated from the real world since she caught the virus over ten years ago. Finally forced to get out of the protection of her home, she is challenged to face her fears, confront the trauma of Henry Penny, as well as deal with her skin hunger. After experiencing a taste of touch for the first time in a decade, Lily starts craving it like a hungered animal. Then comes the Petting Zoos, an article to write, an enigmatic zookeeper, and the nightmares of yesterday.
Now, I was so hooked by this premise. It seemed relevant to our state today, seeing exactly that although the majority of us had been vaccinated, the fear and the dark experiences would never go away. It seems to me, however, that I missed a huge chunk of this book's description. I didn't know this is described as a “post-apocalyptic sex adventure”, and an “erotic love story for an age of extreme caution, in which the value of safety itself is questione,” which means I was shocked to see the turns the book made. I was thinking more of casual and tender touches, but I was then plunged into what seemed like soft porn. I have nothing against it since I loved how queernorm the petting zoos are, but I was shocked nonetheless. The Petting Zoo itself originated from the concepts of BDSM and I don't know why I didn't pick that up sooner.
The first 30% was promising, it explored Lily's struggles quietly as she rejoined society for the first time again. I was sympathizing when she had her first touch and when she was remembering what was before. But then things ironically got kind of stale when the plot picked up. About 60% of this book was told through dialogue exchanged between characters; with those dialogues, we were told about the worldbuilding and we were told about what these characters are feeling. I swear, everyone just articulated exactly what they felt, which is an issue to me because it felt like these characters are nothing more than two-dimensional. I personally also think that the MC did not have that much chemistry with the main romantic interest, and I didn't enjoy their time together specifically. The conclusion was a little abrupt too, and—without giving anything away—it got solved too easily for my liking.
Overall, it's safe to say I'm not exactly the target audience of this book. While that is the case, I still found the concepts interesting and I understand why this could be enjoyable for some people, hence why I'm still rating it higher. Pick this up if you're a fan of character-driven dystopian novels as well as sex adventures that explore the concepts of humans' need for connection, sex, and touch post-pandemic.
Thank you, Dundurn Press and NetGalley, for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Ko-fi | Carrd
April 9, 2022
"Funny how when there's no official scarcity, you can live without touch for years -- perhaps not fully, perhaps not happily, but you can do it because the prospect is always right around the corner. Theoretically, you can always find a likely somebody and invite that person to touch you and they'll take you up on it and life is fine and you go on with it -- maybe with that person, maybe not."
If Covid lasted another 8 years and had a more enjoyable name (such as Henny Penny), this book would likely become a diary as opposed to a fictional delight. We follow the protagonist as she breaks out of her reclusive hibernation pattern and reenters the world. First attending. government sanctioned 'touch centres', she realises she needs more. Under the guise of her journalist role, our lead enters the different stages of the Petting Zoos - locations you can enter for touch, and much, much more...
"I was the Charles Dickens of the apocalypse". For one thing, the protagonist is hilarious. She sheds light on how isolated so many of us have become, whilst becoming so wrapped up in her own cocoon, she almost forgets to bloom out as the butterfly that's long, long overdue.
This was kind of an unexpected erotica. The book is highly descriptive and only becomes more explicity as time goes on. Yet in the context of the tale, I loved it. The book challenged a lot of behaviours I personally picked up whilst normalising the concept of social-distancing and the year I spent not leaving my own house and the touch I lost from it.
The book was so much more than just erotica or a pandemic expose, however. It was a deep look into all we have lost during this time, through an alternative timeline that visits a lot more extremes. The reader must face uncomfortable truths about the way we have all become desensitised and consider how to take forward the almost comical discoveries in the book in a calmer manner in reality.
Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc. It was marvellous.
If Covid lasted another 8 years and had a more enjoyable name (such as Henny Penny), this book would likely become a diary as opposed to a fictional delight. We follow the protagonist as she breaks out of her reclusive hibernation pattern and reenters the world. First attending. government sanctioned 'touch centres', she realises she needs more. Under the guise of her journalist role, our lead enters the different stages of the Petting Zoos - locations you can enter for touch, and much, much more...
"I was the Charles Dickens of the apocalypse". For one thing, the protagonist is hilarious. She sheds light on how isolated so many of us have become, whilst becoming so wrapped up in her own cocoon, she almost forgets to bloom out as the butterfly that's long, long overdue.
This was kind of an unexpected erotica. The book is highly descriptive and only becomes more explicity as time goes on. Yet in the context of the tale, I loved it. The book challenged a lot of behaviours I personally picked up whilst normalising the concept of social-distancing and the year I spent not leaving my own house and the touch I lost from it.
The book was so much more than just erotica or a pandemic expose, however. It was a deep look into all we have lost during this time, through an alternative timeline that visits a lot more extremes. The reader must face uncomfortable truths about the way we have all become desensitised and consider how to take forward the almost comical discoveries in the book in a calmer manner in reality.
Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc. It was marvellous.
June 22, 2022
I don’t really know how to feel about this book. I’m not certain of what I expected when I began reading The Petting Zoos. Eventually, my curiosity got the best of me, and I found myself anxious to read a book with a pandemic. Too soon? Yes, I think perhaps this book is a little too soon and hits a little too close to home for me.
I nearly quit after the first five pages, but I wanted to know about the world of “petting zoos” and for some unknown reason, I was curious about a woman who has shut out the world for a decade. As a survivor of a virus that revenged world, she locks herself in her home for a decade and shuts out the world. During this time, she developed and suffers from multiple mental disorders like health anxiety, agoraphobia, and haphephobia (a fear of being touched). She vomits after any type of skin-to-skin with another human.
As the story processes, her character develops and evolves and in turn, quite honestly it made me wonder what society would be like if deprived of a necessity for a decade. It’s quite a scary thought. I did enjoy watching the mc redevelop her senses, but I was not prepared for a book about a sexual awaken in a post-apocalyptic world. I wish the synopsis stated that in the first sentence. Although, I still find the plot alluring and couldn’t stop reading the final page. I think there is a couple of relationships that were left unfinished. This novel will sit with me for some time. The plot of The Petting Zoos is both terrifying and fascinating.
I nearly quit after the first five pages, but I wanted to know about the world of “petting zoos” and for some unknown reason, I was curious about a woman who has shut out the world for a decade. As a survivor of a virus that revenged world, she locks herself in her home for a decade and shuts out the world. During this time, she developed and suffers from multiple mental disorders like health anxiety, agoraphobia, and haphephobia (a fear of being touched). She vomits after any type of skin-to-skin with another human.
As the story processes, her character develops and evolves and in turn, quite honestly it made me wonder what society would be like if deprived of a necessity for a decade. It’s quite a scary thought. I did enjoy watching the mc redevelop her senses, but I was not prepared for a book about a sexual awaken in a post-apocalyptic world. I wish the synopsis stated that in the first sentence. Although, I still find the plot alluring and couldn’t stop reading the final page. I think there is a couple of relationships that were left unfinished. This novel will sit with me for some time. The plot of The Petting Zoos is both terrifying and fascinating.
February 10, 2022
This is a very different kind of book & all the better for it. Set within a different pandemic, this book was apparently written before the current pandemic, which I can't help wondering is a good thing or a bad thing. By that I mean I don't know if the readers will associate more or distance themselves more as a result.
Regardless, this voyage of self discovery is a pure joy to read & I found it completely addictive. The erotic sub text is well written & engaging throughout. I'm sure the reader will want to know how it all ends & how the central character finds her own boundaries, I certainly did & read through as a result.
The idea & concept are inspired, I just hope the sexual content doesn't overshadow the great story. I'll be honest & say that I wasn't a strong fan on the final fifth & it was less of ending and more a stop, but what a strong debut.
I am sure the author will just improve & improve.
Regardless, this voyage of self discovery is a pure joy to read & I found it completely addictive. The erotic sub text is well written & engaging throughout. I'm sure the reader will want to know how it all ends & how the central character finds her own boundaries, I certainly did & read through as a result.
The idea & concept are inspired, I just hope the sexual content doesn't overshadow the great story. I'll be honest & say that I wasn't a strong fan on the final fifth & it was less of ending and more a stop, but what a strong debut.
I am sure the author will just improve & improve.
Read
April 28, 2023Overall an enjoyable read. I liked the story, and liked how it made me reflect on my own thoughts and experiences regarding the covid pandemic.
August 22, 2023
The premise of the book is really interesting. I just didn’t feel like the characters were developed very well, and the story never peaked. I appreciated the plot twist but it didn’t entirely add up since the antagonist felt detached from the story throughout the read.
June 15, 2022
This book was wild! It takes place 10 years after the deadly virus, Henny Penny, has plagued the globe and the significantly reduced population is starting to return back to normal. (I know what your thinking…is this based on a true story? Well fun fact… the author actually started writing this book before our real life pandy that’s happening right now).
There is an interim government - the Regency - that governs the people. They put in place extremely strict rules regarding wearing protective gear due to fear of the virus returning. The regency goes so far to ban touching, which births underground, illegal clubs called Petting Zoos.
After a decade without human contact, we follow Lily’s post apocalyptic journey navigating her journey through self discovery, after being a shut in for 10 years. Character development, prose, plot, story 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼. This story was eerie but oddly comforting, had a good amount of 🌶, overall great read!
There is an interim government - the Regency - that governs the people. They put in place extremely strict rules regarding wearing protective gear due to fear of the virus returning. The regency goes so far to ban touching, which births underground, illegal clubs called Petting Zoos.
After a decade without human contact, we follow Lily’s post apocalyptic journey navigating her journey through self discovery, after being a shut in for 10 years. Character development, prose, plot, story 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼. This story was eerie but oddly comforting, had a good amount of 🌶, overall great read!
February 9, 2023
Can you imagine not being touched for 10 years?
And can you imagine being single and it being illegal, perhaps even deadly, for you to touch another for a decade?
In the wake of a deadly pandemic, Lily slowly begins to emerge from her prolonged quarantine. As part of her return to work, Lily is asked to write a human interest piece detailing her experience with the therapeutic massages and their effectiveness in tactilely integrating people back into society. What she does not anticipate is the extent to which her skin hunger has manifested, how deeply she has longed for human touch. So when the opportunity presents itself to investigate and write about illegal petting zoos, clubs at which people allow strangers to touch you, Lily does so without hesitation. Lily hungrily explores the tantalizing underground world of tacts and stims, of varied pleasures found in the human touch she has gone so long without.
Surprisingly, this story was quite investigative in tone rather than salacious, despite its subject matter. It is an in-depth exploration of Lily’s insatiable skin hunger and the ways in which she must scratch that itch in this new society. The story is driven by introspection and discovery rather than conflict. Often, the reader feels removed from the society scenes, disassociated until Lily dives back into the petting zoos, losing herself in this new addiction, to the tactile excitement.
Overall, this was a strange but fascinating book about a woman’s insatiable appetites and the ways in which she rediscovers passion. It is also, perhaps, one of the more hopeful post-pandemic stories that I have read so far.
And can you imagine being single and it being illegal, perhaps even deadly, for you to touch another for a decade?
In the wake of a deadly pandemic, Lily slowly begins to emerge from her prolonged quarantine. As part of her return to work, Lily is asked to write a human interest piece detailing her experience with the therapeutic massages and their effectiveness in tactilely integrating people back into society. What she does not anticipate is the extent to which her skin hunger has manifested, how deeply she has longed for human touch. So when the opportunity presents itself to investigate and write about illegal petting zoos, clubs at which people allow strangers to touch you, Lily does so without hesitation. Lily hungrily explores the tantalizing underground world of tacts and stims, of varied pleasures found in the human touch she has gone so long without.
Surprisingly, this story was quite investigative in tone rather than salacious, despite its subject matter. It is an in-depth exploration of Lily’s insatiable skin hunger and the ways in which she must scratch that itch in this new society. The story is driven by introspection and discovery rather than conflict. Often, the reader feels removed from the society scenes, disassociated until Lily dives back into the petting zoos, losing herself in this new addiction, to the tactile excitement.
Overall, this was a strange but fascinating book about a woman’s insatiable appetites and the ways in which she rediscovers passion. It is also, perhaps, one of the more hopeful post-pandemic stories that I have read so far.
March 14, 2022
I received an ARC copy of this book to review!
Holy. Cow. This book was everything I wanted it to be and more!
We follow the main character Lily, who is trying to navigate life 10 years after a major pandemic hit. Working from home, deaths of loved ones, masks, and very little social interaction cause her a great deal of anxiety and unhappiness in life. (Sound familiar?)
But she slowly begins to take the journey of getting back into this new strange world, interacting with people again, and forming new bonds. This is a mesmerizing feat for her, and as readers we get to watch her character blossom as she finds herself again.
The pandemic made most people afraid of transmission of the virus, so in the past 10 years Lily really hasn't had any human contact, let alone touch. This brings the government/health care workers to form touch therapy clinics. People can go, in a non-sexual way to experience cold, clinical "touch" again.
But what about people who crave more? Touch without the gloves? Actual human interaction? Enter petting zoos. Different levels of zoos for different levels of touching each other. (This is where things can get spicy!)
It was insanely hard to put this book down once I started it. Actually, I finished it in one day! The themes in this book are incredibly relatable to personal struggles in the real world currently, and added to the appeal for me.
Holy. Cow. This book was everything I wanted it to be and more!
We follow the main character Lily, who is trying to navigate life 10 years after a major pandemic hit. Working from home, deaths of loved ones, masks, and very little social interaction cause her a great deal of anxiety and unhappiness in life. (Sound familiar?)
But she slowly begins to take the journey of getting back into this new strange world, interacting with people again, and forming new bonds. This is a mesmerizing feat for her, and as readers we get to watch her character blossom as she finds herself again.
The pandemic made most people afraid of transmission of the virus, so in the past 10 years Lily really hasn't had any human contact, let alone touch. This brings the government/health care workers to form touch therapy clinics. People can go, in a non-sexual way to experience cold, clinical "touch" again.
But what about people who crave more? Touch without the gloves? Actual human interaction? Enter petting zoos. Different levels of zoos for different levels of touching each other. (This is where things can get spicy!)
It was insanely hard to put this book down once I started it. Actually, I finished it in one day! The themes in this book are incredibly relatable to personal struggles in the real world currently, and added to the appeal for me.
August 25, 2022
I think I, along with other reader, expected something different from this one. There was honestly more to dislike than like, which is why it took me a while to review this. Was it a good book? No. It had an interesting premise which had great parallels to our current COVID-19 out breaks yet takes it a step further into the dystopian. However, this book does not explore those themes by choosing to focus on the sex clubs more often than not. It is understandable, the dimensions of takes one can have on physical touch as it is restricted in this universe but the way it turns out is more sexual than not, less nuanced.
Did I enjoy this book? Sadly not but thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn for the eARC.
Did I enjoy this book? Sadly not but thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn for the eARC.
July 7, 2022
Set a decade after a global pandemic the main character Lily has to learn to live again, leaving her apartment and reintegrating into society. And how to find a way to connect to other people, especially through touch.
A lot of Lily’s fears and anxieties are sure relatable in a Covid world. The writing is crisp, the characters very believable. Worth the read. As noted by other reviewers there are sex scenes but they aren’t gratuitous or written in stupid, florid language.
A lot of Lily’s fears and anxieties are sure relatable in a Covid world. The writing is crisp, the characters very believable. Worth the read. As noted by other reviewers there are sex scenes but they aren’t gratuitous or written in stupid, florid language.
July 14, 2022
This wasn’t a bad read, and the idea of the petting zoos was certainly interesting. But it lost me at all the changes Lily made so rapidly. I expected to read more about the pandemic and less about open group sex clubs. The author seemed to be projecting their own fantasies onto Lily/Kate and I found some of the characters actions confusing and muddled. The plot “twist” with the character reveal was too obvious from the beginning. I felt the ending left a lot to be desired.
April 14, 2022
Spoiler-Free Review:
This incredibly relevant book does the “post-pandemic world” in a way that is fascinating to read. Artfully targeting a population that has felt the strain of watching the modern world change before their eyes and feeling hopeful for their own security, while also, being powerless to the division between the individual and the community, and fears of the other.
Isolation, depression, and physical well-being are all things that the main character Lily describes experiencing in the Henny Penny pandemic. This combination of these limitations slowly erodes Lily’s character and builds as a form of tension, adapting to the circumstances, Lily folds into herself as the years go by terrified of this life-threatening disease that has killed the majority of her family and friends.
I praise this book for starting its storyline after guidelines and restrictions have been lifted. I personally would not have an enjoyable reading experience if I was immersing myself in the consciousness of a person in quarantine.
In a COVID lingering world it takes a skilled writer to make a book with these themes feel fresh, liberating, and hopeful. Themes of questioning the government’s motivations for keeping such restrictions in place longer than strictly necessary.
Character Development
Lily begins the book as a character whose fear rules their life. Fear of others, of disease, of texture in fabric where the disease often lives, fear of removing her protective equipment despite being vaccinated and the reader has the joyous experience of watching these layers of fear fall away and seeing this beautiful character unfold over the course of the book.
As per the title, the majority of the book and character development occurs inside of a “Petting Zoo” a place where people escape the strict guidelines of the Regency (make-shift pandemic government). Removing the protective masks and gloves and giving people a chance to touch each other, not necessarily as a form of sexual gratification, after 10 years of no human contact many individuals want to feel another person validate their existence by making that physical connection.
“A trifecta of legitimacy to overwhelm any noise from my bourgeois conscious” (page 59)
These establishments are illegal, often looked down upon by society, and more often than not seen as sex clubs. Our main character Lily is a journalist who is asked by her boss to investigate these establishments, recommended to go by her doctor, and invited by an anonymous emailer. She uses these pushes to take the leap and follow her true desires to participate in a petting zoo.
Sexual Liberation
“Maybe these people [in the zoos] weren’t lost, maybe they were free” page 108
Lily comes from an abusive upbringing and struggles with addiction to things that relieve her stress: cigarettes, people, food, anything that gives her a sense of liberation. We see this unfold as the novel progresses and the desire for a “vanilla” (non-sexual) touch grows to more sexual levels in the petting zoos.
The book itself does have sexual scenes, which in all honestly were written incredibly well. More often than not in most literature, I skip over these pieces of text, however, in Petting Zoos the author sets up the scene artfully building tension in the storyline and providing these scenes as a release.
“The city was blossoming into spring and so was I” p.129
Questioning of Authority
“I was never going to accomplish anything, I had to decide what I wanted and take it instead of accepting whatever fell in my lap” p.217
Something I think most people have felt throughout the COVID pandemic, at least once, is the questioning of authority as a whole. With ever-changing guidelines and pandemic security measures, the right of the people is to ask the question of why. Without invalidating societies’ attempt to preserve security, this book allows for small moments to recognize fear must not come above our ability to live valuable lives. Cherishing the ability to form communities, build human connections, and have bodily autonomy.
“…defying the inhibitions that had kept me from being able to give my soul a voice made me feel triumphant… I’d minimized myself and my needs and my place in the world for most of my life” – page 308
Themes
Sexual liberation, Addiction, Abuse Driven Behaviours, Government Illegitimacy, Questioning Authority, Desire, Profound Connection, Community, Release
This incredibly relevant book does the “post-pandemic world” in a way that is fascinating to read. Artfully targeting a population that has felt the strain of watching the modern world change before their eyes and feeling hopeful for their own security, while also, being powerless to the division between the individual and the community, and fears of the other.
Isolation, depression, and physical well-being are all things that the main character Lily describes experiencing in the Henny Penny pandemic. This combination of these limitations slowly erodes Lily’s character and builds as a form of tension, adapting to the circumstances, Lily folds into herself as the years go by terrified of this life-threatening disease that has killed the majority of her family and friends.
I praise this book for starting its storyline after guidelines and restrictions have been lifted. I personally would not have an enjoyable reading experience if I was immersing myself in the consciousness of a person in quarantine.
In a COVID lingering world it takes a skilled writer to make a book with these themes feel fresh, liberating, and hopeful. Themes of questioning the government’s motivations for keeping such restrictions in place longer than strictly necessary.
Character Development
Lily begins the book as a character whose fear rules their life. Fear of others, of disease, of texture in fabric where the disease often lives, fear of removing her protective equipment despite being vaccinated and the reader has the joyous experience of watching these layers of fear fall away and seeing this beautiful character unfold over the course of the book.
As per the title, the majority of the book and character development occurs inside of a “Petting Zoo” a place where people escape the strict guidelines of the Regency (make-shift pandemic government). Removing the protective masks and gloves and giving people a chance to touch each other, not necessarily as a form of sexual gratification, after 10 years of no human contact many individuals want to feel another person validate their existence by making that physical connection.
“A trifecta of legitimacy to overwhelm any noise from my bourgeois conscious” (page 59)
These establishments are illegal, often looked down upon by society, and more often than not seen as sex clubs. Our main character Lily is a journalist who is asked by her boss to investigate these establishments, recommended to go by her doctor, and invited by an anonymous emailer. She uses these pushes to take the leap and follow her true desires to participate in a petting zoo.
Sexual Liberation
“Maybe these people [in the zoos] weren’t lost, maybe they were free” page 108
Lily comes from an abusive upbringing and struggles with addiction to things that relieve her stress: cigarettes, people, food, anything that gives her a sense of liberation. We see this unfold as the novel progresses and the desire for a “vanilla” (non-sexual) touch grows to more sexual levels in the petting zoos.
The book itself does have sexual scenes, which in all honestly were written incredibly well. More often than not in most literature, I skip over these pieces of text, however, in Petting Zoos the author sets up the scene artfully building tension in the storyline and providing these scenes as a release.
“The city was blossoming into spring and so was I” p.129
Questioning of Authority
“I was never going to accomplish anything, I had to decide what I wanted and take it instead of accepting whatever fell in my lap” p.217
Something I think most people have felt throughout the COVID pandemic, at least once, is the questioning of authority as a whole. With ever-changing guidelines and pandemic security measures, the right of the people is to ask the question of why. Without invalidating societies’ attempt to preserve security, this book allows for small moments to recognize fear must not come above our ability to live valuable lives. Cherishing the ability to form communities, build human connections, and have bodily autonomy.
“…defying the inhibitions that had kept me from being able to give my soul a voice made me feel triumphant… I’d minimized myself and my needs and my place in the world for most of my life” – page 308
Themes
Sexual liberation, Addiction, Abuse Driven Behaviours, Government Illegitimacy, Questioning Authority, Desire, Profound Connection, Community, Release
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