The Zoo

Awkwardly patterned after Orwell's Animal Farm, The Zoo, a dystopian second novel by Richard Kalich (appearing 15 years after his first, the well-received Nihilesthete), puts half-baked socioeconomic rants into the mouths of animal characters. Headed by Wise Old Owl, a triumvirate of revolutionaries put Animal World on trial, casting any animals who develop ""inner lives,"" or human-type thinking, into the dreaded Zoo. Muddled and meandering, this menagerie will test readers' patience.