| | |  | SHOP BY TYPE | Home » » ZOO (Novel) | | | | | | | Description: | | L to R (Western Style). Ten stories of horror and science fiction from Japan’s hottest young author. In one story, the last man on Earth turns out to be a robot. In another story, a man builds a house from the bodies of his murder victims. And in the book’s eponymous story, a man sees his girlfriend’s corpse decompose… one Polaroid snapshot at a time! | | | Features: | |
• ISBN13: 9781421525877
• Condition: New
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| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Otsuichi | | Paperback:
| 300 pages | | Publisher:
| VIZ Media LLC | | Publication Date:
| September 15, 2009 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1421525879 | | Product Length:
| 8.02 inches | | Product Width:
| 5.26 inches | | Product Height:
| 0.71 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.62 pounds | | Package Length:
| 8.11 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.75 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.79 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.62 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 4 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 A unique readFeb 26, 2010
I thoroughly enjoyed most of the short stories in this book and I'm really glad that I found it! The stories are all truly unique and makes the reader reflect on what they just read. Unlike some short stories, I actually like the twists at the end of a few. Some of the stories can be kind of gory with disturbing murders. It's a great mix of both horror, fantasy, sci fi.
Here are the short stories. My top favorites: In a Falling Airplane, Find the Blood!, So-Far, Seven Rooms.
Warning, there may be spoilers:
Zoo- A man finds a picture of his decomposing girlfriend everyday in the mailbox that he can piece together to make one of those decaying movies. An interesting twist, not bad.
In a Falling Airplane- A terrorist hijacks an airplane with two passengers who are busy trying to make a business deal. I really liked this one. I was surprised at the humor and voice that this piece had despite it being translated from a different language. I was interested in the characters and what would happen next- it even made me burst out laughing at times.
The White House in the Cold Forest- A man builds a house out of dead people. I like this one the least, but it's tragic in an ironic way.
Find the Blood!- A man and his family are in a "desperate" attempt to find a bag of blood for him after he got stabbed. This one was great and again, really funny. Normally, the story wouldn't have been too interesting, but the writing style and humor makes it a fun read.
In a Park at Twlilight, a Long Time Ago- Someone finds something in a sandbox. It was really short and I forgot what it was about.
Wardrobe- There is a murder, and a wardrobe that can fit a person...This one kind of plays out like a whodunit mystery. It was alright.
Song of the Sunny Spot- This book reminds me of some robotics novels, but I still thought it was a sad, but wonderful read. A robot was built for the purpose of burying their creator and in the process, learns what it is to be human and the meaning of death.
Kazari and Yoko - Two twin sisters, one perfect, the other no one likes. I think I've seen this somewhere...alright.
SO-Far- A boy is trapped in a world where his mother thinks his father is dead and lives on, and a world where his father thinks that his mother is dead. I love the twists and idea of it!
Words of God- This boy can command anyone to do what he wants. The idea isn't too original, but the final outcome is. I like the ending, except it kind of feels like Zoo.
Seven Rooms- There are seven rooms, one each with a prisoner. There is a mote/stream thing flowing through each of the rooms. One character is small enough to fit through, and so he visits each of the rooms and finds out why they are all there. This would be perfect for a horror movie...it's gory. I have been looking for something like this in book form, so I'm happy I read it!
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Read to the end--it's worth it!!Dec 07, 2009
ZOO is a collection of short stories by acclaimed Japanese horror author, Otsuichi. It's translated, which always begs for an original reading to see what, if anything, has been lost or gained in the switch to another language. The writing isn't too descriptive. It borders on the extremely bare-bones, minimalism to the point where I began to imagine the narrative in comic book form with illustrations to fill in the emotion I felt was missing from the text (my rating reflects this--it would be a 4 star otherwise). To be fair, my only other experience with Japanese horror was The Ring and that as manga. I can never bring myself to watch the film (or any Japanese horror film), but I was so scared by the end of reading the comic I gave it away when I was finished. That being said, I steeled myself for jumping into ZOO. With time and distance, I was sure I'd appreciate the tingly terror Otsuishi's writing would elicit.
While some of the stories read quickly, there's always some lingering emotion left over that makes you want to stop and think about what was just read. Because this is an ARC, I won't quote the book, but I desperately want to. There are some gruesome scenes that, when combined with some of the more incredulous and ridiculous dialogue and behavior clash against my sensibilities of propriety. I think there's a certain appreciation that comes with Japanese horror that has to be taken into consideration before anyone attempts to read something like ZOO. It's not Stephen King by any stretch of the imagination. There's always something a little ridiculous and weird in the premise of a Japanese horror story--something that require a strong suspense of belief in what you'd expect to happen or what's accepted behavior, or turn of events. There's a lot of fantasy that has to be believed in order to appreciate the fiction created. Also, there's a lot of corny dialogue that begs for re-writes, but don't be put off. A lot of the stories have an underlying creepiness about them that stay with you long after the story's been put to rest. And that, I think, is the benefit of reading Japanese horror.
The title story, "Zoo," is about a man who receives a photo every day of his decomposing ex-girlfriend. It's also the name of a movie they saw when she was alive about the process of decay--which, as it turns out, is both metaphorical for the photographs and the protagonist's life. "Zoo" is a shocking, troubling story about a man desperate for recognition, and the horrific actions he takes to ease his conscience. His narration style he adopts can get irritating, especially as the story progresses; his speech and actions become more and more ridiculous, but it remains a haunting piece.
The stories that follow trace a pathway from the awesomely gruesome to the relief of freedom and avoidance of death. All of these stories (not a single exception) deal with death in some way--death by way of murder. After a few stories, I began to get tired of this premise. The surprise was ruined if someone was always going to die; I could expect some awful, terrible death at the end, at the beginning, somewhere in the middle of each story. The suspense wasn't there. But on second thought, perhaps it wasn't death for the sake of death that I was supposed to focus on. Perhaps it was a collection built upon that title story, with death as decay: a thing to be studied over time as it faded away into something almost unrecognizable from that first unexpected glimpse. Or, perhaps, something to be watched through the metaphorical bars of language, enclosed in the cage of Otsuichi's narrative. The impact of being inundated with so much loss, so much careless and senseless death isn't fully understood until the last story, "Seven Rooms." When a brother and sister discover they only have six days to live, it begs the question: is it better going to your death knowing that it's coming or living without that anxiety, despite dying in the end anyway?
As I reflect back on the collection as a whole, I felt this message really spoke of the stories as one entity. The journey from the first to the last is an experience in preparation for the final, and what I felt to be, the best of the bunch. The impact the final story makes as I close the book, is even more appreciable in light of everything we've come to expect by that point in the collection. The relief is larger, the freedom sweeter, and hope lingers in the air like sunlight.
If you decide to pick up ZOO (I recommend this to horror fans in general, if anything, to experience another avenue of the genre), keep in mind this: there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Once you finish, I think you'll know what I mean. Many thanks to Simon & Schuster UK and Ally, in particular, for always being so awesome and generously providing me with this review copy!
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Good ideas, iffy storiesNov 06, 2009
Otsuichi is, undoubtedly, one of the best known Japanese horror writers, both in Japan and the West. And I suppose he deserves it. This collection is a hefty one, containing so many short stories and so many horrific premises that if one reads the stories in too quick succession, one is left a little shocked. But if you take the stories individually, read them through carefully and savor each one, they (almost) all feel a little empty.
Take the title story, for example. The main character receives photos of his dead girlfriend every day in the mail, and creates a 12fps film of the consecutive pictures. The story is an intellectual, psychological mess that promises much more than it can deliver. While the premise is astounding, the way it plays out leaves the reader feeling cheated, like Dorothy waking up from the dream of Oz. Another story, "Wardrobe," is the same way. Ostensibly a third person narrative, the story ends in the first person and a twist is revealed. For a minute, there is a sort of "Ah!" moment. But that goes away when the twist wasn't actually a twist--Otsuichi had just neglected to include details of the story, effectively closing the readers eyes instead of tricking them like a real whodunnit would have done.
The writing is not bad. Otsuichi can, at times, pull out some striking sentences. I am unclear, however, if this is the work of the translator or not. This is a good parallel for how most of the stories work, though. A great image or idea is thought of, and a story is constructed to take a back seat to the original image. The characters do not inspire sympathy, the plots do not promote intrigue, and the pacing of the stories is mediocre at best.
My favorite story of the bunch was "In A Falling Airplane." It's simple premise is actually highlighted by the writing and the story built around it. A plane is hijacked by a man depressed at his inability to get accepted into Tokyo University. Because he sees himself as a failure, he wants to crash the plane into the school. Two passengers, one woman and a man, strike up a conversation whereby the man, a failure of a salesman, wants to sell the woman a drug that will kill her peacefully, since she is going to die anyway. The woman, however, must decide if the plane will actually crash, if the drug is actually real, and if she can trust the man before handing over all of her money. The twists and turns of the story are fun, and while the conclusion feels unnecessary, the buildup to the climax is fantastic.
I cannot help but draw comparisons to other Japanese authors, like Haruki Murakami. Murakami's collection After the Quake: Stories contains stories that, like this book, are full of fantastic ideas based around a single unifying theme. In Otsuichi's book, it is death and decay; in Murakami's, it is an earthquake. Where Otsuichi fails to deliver in his stories past the planning stages, Murakami weaves a fantastic world that is wonderful to dive into. It is because of Murakami that I know what Otsuichi is trying to do CAN be done, but I cannot fault him for his occasional missteps. Otsuichi's stories are still good, and he is very young. He can more accurately be compared, perhaps, to the American author Chris Adrian. His most recent collection, A Better Angel: Stories, is full of stories of sickness and death. Once again, though, Adrian's writing leaves nothing to be desired like Otsuichi's does. Chris Adrian had a similar problem with his first novel, Gob's Grief. But he grew out of it, and now produces some of the best fiction in the country, in my opinion. I expect Otsuichi to do the same--ZOO shows that he has more promise than most.
I am absolutely thrilled that Haikasoru is bringing over speculative fiction from Japan. While this may not be the best collection of stories I have read in a while, it is not so terrible as my review has made it out to be. The flaws are easy to point out, but the best thing about this collection, and where it rarely fails, is that it is just plain fun to read. The slow, day to day decay of a corpse, a house built out of murder victims, a kid finding out he can control the world like God--the images and ideas are enough to drive the book by themselves. I started reading this book the day before Halloween, and it was fitting. In fact, it was the first time I had ever (accidentally) read horror fiction on the holiday. Because of this book, it may become a tradition.
So while the stories may fail to deliver, and while the horror is, sometimes, not so horrifying, this collection is worth picking up. There are some gems in here, if only in the form of an idea.
3 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Loved it allOct 12, 2009
Every story was very unique. Very interesting and thought provoking ideas of death. I could not put it down. I loved every story!
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