Arctic Zoo follows two teenagers Georgia and Julius who lead very different lives, but both feel helpless in their own situations. I found both characters equally as enjoyable to read, so I honestly didn't mind the constant switching between them. This book covers so many modern topics, such as politics, sexuality and mental health.
Georgia unwittingly becomes a global sensation as she's caught in the right place at the right time at a political protest. We get to see her become more involved in politics as she withdraws more from her family and school, out of fear of becoming like her sister, who had a seemingly perfect life, but had become so depressed that she committed suicide. Even though her sudden fame did seem a little far-fetched, I like how she still acted like a normal teenage girl, who is not immune to things such as peer pressure, which seem to play a big part on later events in the book.
Julius on the other hand, lives in Nigeria and is a part of one of the richest families there. There's a lot of political conflict and violence going on as people fight for power; differing sexualities are not accepted, no matter your status. We see this through the treatment of Julius and his friend Duke, as they - particularly Duke - are constantly receiving both verbal and physical abuse because of who they are. And because Julius's family is not so accepting of who he is, he too withdraws from them and spends more time with Duke, who's father openly criticises and opposes his family.
There was a lot of depth to Julius's family as he discovers how corrupt they have been to gain money and power. It was pretty interesting to see Julius struggle to choose between loyalty to his family that have barely been there to them and is right.
I really enjoyed seeing how each character reacted to the events unfurling in their life, and how they recovered from them, though I do feel like this was done more in Julius's parts. For me it felt like Georgia's mental health wasn't as prominent as I felt like it should have been, with so many overwhelming things happening in her life.
I did also feel like the epilogue was a little rushed, like It was a mini info-dump to tie up some loose ends, and for us to get some closure on the characters, but apart from that, this was a really interesting book!
**TW homophobia, physical and verbal abuse**
Georgia unwittingly becomes a global sensation as she's caught in the right place at the right time at a political protest. We get to see her become more involved in politics as she withdraws more from her family and school, out of fear of becoming like her sister, who had a seemingly perfect life, but had become so depressed that she committed suicide. Even though her sudden fame did seem a little far-fetched, I like how she still acted like a normal teenage girl, who is not immune to things such as peer pressure, which seem to play a big part on later events in the book.
Julius on the other hand, lives in Nigeria and is a part of one of the richest families there. There's a lot of political conflict and violence going on as people fight for power; differing sexualities are not accepted, no matter your status. We see this through the treatment of Julius and his friend Duke, as they - particularly Duke - are constantly receiving both verbal and physical abuse because of who they are. And because Julius's family is not so accepting of who he is, he too withdraws from them and spends more time with Duke, who's father openly criticises and opposes his family.
There was a lot of depth to Julius's family as he discovers how corrupt they have been to gain money and power. It was pretty interesting to see Julius struggle to choose between loyalty to his family that have barely been there to them and is right.
I really enjoyed seeing how each character reacted to the events unfurling in their life, and how they recovered from them, though I do feel like this was done more in Julius's parts. For me it felt like Georgia's mental health wasn't as prominent as I felt like it should have been, with so many overwhelming things happening in her life.
I did also feel like the epilogue was a little rushed, like It was a mini info-dump to tie up some loose ends, and for us to get some closure on the characters, but apart from that, this was a really interesting book!
**TW homophobia, physical and verbal abuse**