Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Animal sidekicks

Two books have recently arrived in the post, both of which have a lead character encumbered with an usual animal. In Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov, a journalist, Victor, shares his apartment with a depressed penguin rescued from the city zoo which could not afford to feed it. In Zoo City by Lauren Beukes, the lead character, Zinzi, wanders around with a sloth on her back which she must sustain, penance for a crime she committed. I think I'll probably read these back to back. I have to say I'm quite taken with the premise of an unusual animal sidekick. Lots of room for some imaginative storytelling. Hopefully they'll live up to expectation - they've both certainly been showered with good reviews. If you were going to pick an animal sidekick for your fictional self, what would you go for?

4 comments:

Uriah Robinson said...

Definitely a bear called Paddington, criminals might have trouble telling us apart.

Anonymous said...

I'd pick a ferret if my sidekick couldn't be the more usual dog or cat. I like ferrets :-).

Mack said...

Zoo City was a terrific read for me. Hardboiled investigation plus a fantastic element.

Hmm, what animal sidekick? I'd want something long lived, particularly in the Zoo City universe. Maybe a parrot.

Rob Kitchin said...

I think I'm going to go for a mole. To save him from the light he'll be carried around in a box. His special power is sniffing out bullshit. Muck the Mole, a useful little detective sidekick.