Zoo City

By: Lauren Beukes

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Zinzi December has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit, and a talent for finding lost things. But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she’s forced to take on her least favourite kind of job: missing persons.

©2011 Lauren Beukes (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Sci fi south african accent story. DIFFERENT

People that commit murder get saddle with a aminal that holds their soul and sometime mystical powers. The accents made it difficult to understand some of the story but, it was a fun different type of story. NOT a shifter story. A cool who done it. Worth a credit??? eh.. maybe.. Was not horrible.. ok

Great story. Terrible narration

Having enjoyed reading the book years ago, I was excited to hear the audiobook, but the narration was terrible... Awful fake South African accents and many mispronunciations. Great pity

4.5 stars

super interesting. loved the idea of a physical representation of our sins. would recommend to friends interested in expanding their world view.

Terrific story!!!

What did you love best about Zoo City?

I liked the flow,the pace, the energy. You can't wait to know what happens next, but you are excited to learn about the past too.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The twins. I can't say why, it might give away spoilers.

What does Justine Eyre bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The accents and the cultural differences that I would have missed had I read it instead. On some occasions I wasn't sure what she was talking about. But I'm from central white bread America, so that's probably a big part of it.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Oh yes. I have an hour long commute and even then I would sit and let the page or chapter wind down before getting out of the car.

Any additional comments?

The author finishes the story and there is a suggestion of a follow up, please let there be!!!!

Urban Fantasy That Does Flinch

Fans of China Mieville and William Gibson take note: Lauren Buekes??? ???Zoo City??? is every bit gritty noir as it is urban fantasy, and it shoots along like bullets through a warm night sky.

Which means, this story is not a story for the faint of heart. It culminates in one of the roughest blood baths I???ve ever listened to. The worldbuilding is everything you???d want it to be --particularly the ghettoization of the Zoos -- and Beukes turns a phrase better than most and writes broken characters with heart. Her Zinzi is an antihero who despite all her flaws and failings, somehow manages to make us care about her. That said, the ending fell a bit short for me ??? not so much a payoff of counterfeit bills, but more like a stage magician who closes out her stunning show with a rabbit trick. It???s not bad, and there's resolution, but it left me wishing for something different.

I can???t comment too much on the authenticity of Justine Eyre???s accent, but she did an impressive job reading this one ??? from differentiating between the characters, the internal dialogue of Zinzi, and all-in-all carrying this story.

If you ever wondered what might have happened if James Ellroy was raised in Johannesburg by a witch who moonlighted writing 419 scam emails on the side, this is your ticket. All in all, well worth the listen, and I???m eager to see where Beukes takes us next.

Worst South African Accent Ever

Any additional comments?

I was a bit underwhelmed by Zoo City. I thought the general Sci-fi concept could have been explored in some other context than a loose detective story. There are moments of really fresh brilliance here but overall I thought it was rather plain. Could it be that as a South African living in Johannesburg the imagery Lauren evokes is too mundane for me?

Following on that point, the narration was offensive to the point of distraction. Could it really have been that difficult to find a legitemate South African narrator. Really, there's way too much slang and African language to

First Lauren Beukes book- will definitely read more

Originality is a rare thing in any genre, but Zoo City offers up a host ofnfresh concepts. And Justine Eyre does a marvelous job. Definitely worth the credit.

Unique story idea. Disliked the narration strongly

It irks me that a book that is clearly meant to be read with some South African quirks is not being read by a South African narrator. Then if you get over that and the poor accent, it irked me even more is that the narrator couldn't pronounce basic South African slang correctly. Don't they do research for that kind of thing?

The book is unusual. It's an interesting story and I think I liked it but the narration ruined it for me. Rather get the book for this one.

Why Aussie accent?

Loved the book and Justine is excellent - just found it strange that A South African book is narrated in a Australian accent - very unfortunate.

Every bit as good as it's billed.

With a cover blurb from William Gibson ("Very, *very*good!") and an Arthur C. Clarke Award, a World Fantasy Award nomination, and other glowing recommendations behind it (Jeff VanderMeer's review in the NY Times for example) I had very high expectations for Beukes's second novel. It's every bit as "phantasmagorical" and wonderful as billed, with a delicious noir-ish plot set atop a sea of bizarre characters in a transfigured modern world. In Zinzi December's Joburg lies the slum of "Zoo City", populated by the Animaled, people whose dark deeds have saddled them with faimilars -- in Zinzi's case, a sloth. Building up from a brief stage setting (Zinzi the drug-debted 419-scammer, Benoit her mongoosed boyfriend, some missing items, some not-so-missing but quite dead persons) and dropping Zinzi into a missing persons case of her own, tracking down the female half of a twin boy-girl Afro-pop duo for the duo's megalomaniacal producer. There's African tribal magic; there's gunplay; there's a brilliant imagination at work behind it all. It's beyond a doubt worth the (very low) price and (fairly short) time investment and I highly recommend it. There are a few narration quirks here and there -- Justine Eyre does a better job than many who have attempted mainline narration in their non-native accents, but from time to time some phrases slip ever so slightly out of accent. Still, all in all, a wonderful audiobook.