The Petting Zoo by Jim Carroll
When poet, musician, and diarist Jim Carroll died in September 2009, he was putting the finishing touches on a potent work of fiction. The Petting Zoo tells the story of Billy Wolfram, an enigmatic thirty-eight-year-old artist who has become a hot star in the late 1980s New York art scene. As the novel opens, Billy, after viewing a show of Velazquez paintings, is so humbled and awed by their spiritual power that he suffers an emotional breakdown and withdraws to his Chelsea loft. In seclusion, Billy searches for the divine spark in his own work and life. Carroll's novel moves back and forth in time to present emblematic moments from Billy's life (his Irish Catholic upbringing, his teenage escapades, his evolution as an artist and meteoric rise to fame) and sharply etched portraits of the characters who mattered most to him, including his childhood friend Denny MacAbee, now a famous rock musician; his mentor, the unforgettable art dealer Max Bernbaum; and one extraordinary black bird. Marked by Carroll's sharp wit, hallucinatory imagery, and street-smart style, The Petting Zoo is a frank, haunting examination of one artist's personal and professional struggles.The Basketball Diaries, a bestselling memoir by Jim Carroll, was initially published in 1978 and made into a film in 1995. Carroll's work includes a second book, Forced Entries: The Downtown Diaries 1971-1973, as well as various collections of poetry. He made three albums and several spoken word recordings as the head of The Jim Carroll Band. On September 11, 2009, he died in New York City.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780143120094 |
| ISBN 10 | 0143120093 |
| Title | The Petting Zoo |
| Author | Jim Carroll |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Penguin Putnam Inc |
| Year published | 2011-10-25 |
| Number of pages | 336 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |