KYLE M. JOHNSON
PRIDE STAFF WRITER

It should come as no surprise that Benjamin Mee’s appropriately- titled memoir “We Bought a Zoo” is about a family who, well, buys a zoo.

In his novel, Mee documents his experiences during the restoration of his zoo leading up until the opening day. In the midst of this overwhelming yet exciting process, tragedy strikes when Mee’s wife dies. Instead of putting life and the zoo on hold, Mee uses the onset of opening day as a productive distraction from his loss.

Mee’s accounts of this time in his life are heartwarming and sweet and, at times, devastating. The balance between moments of tragedy and frustration are carefully balanced with humorous or even tense interactions between the humans and the animals.

However, Mee’s storytelling is sometimes difficult to progress through due to the minimal dialogue in the text. His story often feels as if you are listening to someone recount a series of incidents while often withholding any conversations that may have taken place during the events.

With the story being told from Mee’s point of view, his illustration of himself is wonderfully humbling. His ability to be touched by subtle gestures of sympathy following the loss of his wife, and his absolute need to hide his sadness from his children gives us an image of a very human, common man overcoming a loss.

A film adaptation is being released Dec 23, 2011 making “We Bought a Zoo” a likely best-seller this winter.

Photo courtesy of Amazonmedia.com