The Zoo

by Richard Kalich

This is the darkly comic story of Wise Old Owl and his attempts to animalize Animal World. They have an all too familiar ring to our own human history. Joining forces with Muerte Buzzard, Sly Fox and Michael Ferret, a Zoo is built to "zoo-in" all those animals deemed responsible for the world’s plight. First zoo’d are those animals who look different. Followed by artists and thinkers. Especially dangerous are animals possessing an inner life. It’s not long before the entire population is at risk.

Then, some of the more courageous animals rebel. They call upon the two-faced Ferret to organize a Revolutionary Army with the guru Polly Parrot at the lead. But here the novel takes an unexpected turn.

191 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2001

About the author

Richard Kalich was born in New York and grew up on the Upper West Side. He's the author of The Nihilesthete (1987), Charlie P (2005), and Penthouse F (2010), published in 2014 in a single volume as Central Park West Trilogy, which encapsulates Kalich’s uncompromising examination of the state of modern life, as well as his metafictional experimentations with form and language. His later works include The Assisted Living Facility Library (2019) and A Man Made Long Ago (2021). He has been nominated for the National Book Award and for a Pulitzer Prize.