The Zookeeper

By Alex MacLennan

Book Overview

At 34, Sam Metcalfe's life looks pretty complete. He has a good job as a zookeeper, where he cares for the primates and one ageing curmudgeon of a father figure, Jack Kinsley. At home Sam is mother,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1555839363
• ISBN13: 9781555839369
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Alyson Pubns
• Length: 284 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

"Do Zookeepers feel trapped by their lives?"

Can a hesitant and sensitive Zookeeper navigate the rocky path to love? In Alex MacLennan's debut novel Zookeeper, thirty something Sam Metcalfe is forced to plot a course through love's treacherous waters where romance and passion eventually comes into his life in many disguises, not all of them expected. Sam's initial diffidence belies the fact that he's a happy-go-lucky kind of guy who thinks he's content. He has a great job working at the local zoo and he has a confidante in Laurel, his best friend who owns an up-market restaurant in Dupont Circle. But his quest to achieve happiness is mired by the fact that he's having problems achieving his goals. Recently, the zoo management has rejected Sam's hard fought proposal for redesigning the public enclosures of the Zoo's collection of black howler monkeys. Rather, Gwen his Australian boss wants him to participate in a new cross-training program to shore up some of the weaker keepers. Sam is given orders to spend some time with the seventy-year-old Jack, one of the Zoo's oldest keepers. The garrulous and old-fashioned Jack was good to Sam when he first started, and helped put him at ease, so Sam is assigned to help Jack in Lion Island looking after the wild cats. Both create a world for themselves centered on their love of animals. Meanwhile, one night while eating at Terra, Laurel's restaurant, Sam meets Dean, an ambitious local TV weatherman and is totally swept away by the man's swarthy good looks and earthy sexuality. Perhaps Dean is just what Sam needs, believing that through Dean can accomplish the perfect relationship. The months wear on and they become progressively devoted to one another. In the first few months of their romance, Sam consumes every moment with Dean ravenously, too thrilled with pure sensation to be afraid of falling in love. Like the zoo animals that Sam studies, Dean consistently defies expectations and as he gradually catalogues Dean's habits, Sam realizes that being wanted is incredible, "in such a primal way and it felt somehow dangerous - like they were falling together, delirious and unhinged into a deep black pit." It doesn't take long, however, for the cracks in the relationship to appear and Sam finds himself exhausted at the stamina required to juggle and amplify so many people's needs with happiness and love. Sam isn't ugly and he knows Dean is crazy for him, he also knows he's a catch, but he's discounted immediately by two of Dean's fashion conscious and body-sculptured friends from Los Angeles and this hurts him badly. The problems are surmounted with Dean's problem at not being totally out to his family and of course, his flawless muscular body and complete comfort in his own skin become an issue for Sam. Certainly, Laurel and her views are crucial in Sam's efforts to redefine his life, even though she has her own upsetting issues. Laurel's sisters have decided that she is the sister most likely to give up her whole life and move back to Pennsy

Finding our nests

The Zookeeper is a remarkable gay novel - it is about a gay man who is a zookeeper, but it is also about our aging process and maturing in a complex,demanding world. The main character, Sam, moves from a self-suffering care-giver to one who takes care of himself and, consequently, is able to truly care for others. The catalyst of this movement is pain, as it is so often in our lives. But Sam grows through the pain and emerges more confident and well-rounded. The Zookeeper has a strong cast of supporting characters, all of whom are very well portrayed. I especially liked Laurel - Sam's best friend, who acts as a sounding board for him. Remarkably,she is a female friend, and not a fag hag - the kind of friend we all want and need. Kudos to Alex MacLennan for a thought-provoking and fun novel.

A Cagey Novel

After finishing The Zookeeper I had to reorient myself back to reality. The author is so accomplished at creating a world filled with the scents and sights of the zoo, I almost felt like an animal whose cage had been opened and was experiencing life outside the nest box for the first time. Thick with animal imagery, the novel is an excellent debut by MacLennan. The author is, above all else, honest. He's not afraid to reveal his characters initial impulses, which are inevitably hidden behind their more restrained actions. Most importantly, it's a gay story that deals with life, not gay life. It moves beyond clichés to a story about the heartbreak of love - the struggle that we all go through.

Intelligent. thought-provoking novel about choices one makes in life

Sam Metcaffe is a 34 year old gay man, living in Washington DC, with a good job as a respected keeper at the local zoo. Having been fascinated by animals since he was a kid, this is almost an ideal job for him, which he enjoys a great deal, despite some frustrations at having to deal with the bureaucracy and politics that one finds in almost any workplace. He has a real empathy for the animals, and is likely to even go in on his days off, to check on his charges. His best friend at the zoo is Jack, an older keeper approaching 70 who took Sam under his wing when he first started at the zoo, and who shares his devotion to the welfare of the animals in his charge. Sam is close to his strong-willed mother and recently-remarried sister, and especially his nephew, teenage Jamie, whom he gave up a chance at veterinary school in order to help raise. His best friend, Laurel, is owner of a bohemian-like restaurant nearby, which is his frequent hangout. She sets him up on a blind date with an acquaintance, Dean, the weatherman at a local TV station, and they seem to have an immediate chemistry between them, which Sam hopes will develop into a relationship. Even if the often-rocky relationship with Dean doesn't work out, Sam is convinced he is happy with his life. Dean helps to open his eyes to the fact that his life has really been a series of compromises between what he really wanted and what circumstances seemed to dictate at the time, from the compromise on his education due to family need, to lack of a relationship (or want of one, before Dean) in his life, to supressing his real goals into what fits into his career at the zoo, and lately compromising his own feelings in order to "fit in" Dean's expectations. In time, Sam starts to realize that he and the animals in his charge have quite a bit in common, in that they both compromised their freedom and dreams for the safety and security of the zoo. The animals don't have a choice, of course, as there are bars on the cages. But what is his excuse? A very intelligent, thought-provoking novel about the choices one makes in life, and how they can quietly limit you from achieving true happiness. The characters are vivid and easily related to by the reader, and the story develops in realistic progression that parallels the thought processes of the protagonist. The author (who has worked at a zoo) occasionally seems to go overboard on the detail about the animals and their care, but this compliments the fact that Sam has made the animals the focus of his life, often even comparing human interactions he sees to occurrences in the animal kingdom. The message of the book can provide a valuable "pep talk" to everyone looking to make changes in their own lives. I give it a full five stars out of five.

A gem in the gay fiction genre. An interesting, wonderfully written novel.

The author has expertly brought each character to life in this wonderfully written novel. The main character Sam is a beleivable, likeable person that introspectively comes to a realization about his own life. He is someone you grow to care about and want the best for. The rest of the characters reflect friends and acquaintances that we can all identify with in our own lives. A perfect read for your summer vacation or a day at the beach.