Jax Cooper lives a comfortable life, maybe too comfortable. Born into a powerful family. Jax is the son of the largest mogul in the world. As a journalist for The Globe, he takes on a unique, self-assigned piece: to investigate his father's empire, The Human Zoo. Disguised as one of the animals and stripped of his identity, wealth, and eugenic luxuries, Jax is challenged by what it means to be human when he meets Priya.
Born into the zoo's captivity, Priya has only known two things; she does not belong here, and she will do anything to escape, but freedom always seemed impossible until an unusual new animal, Jax, arrives.
A gripping investigation turned life changing, Jax is forced to make a decision. Will he risk dismantling society by exposing who-or what-being an animal means...or succumb to his only living protection, his family's empire?
Jax Cooper lives a comfortable life, maybe too comfortable. Born into a powerful family. Jax is the son of the largest mogul in the world. As a journalist for The Globe, he takes on a unique, self-assigned piece: to investigate his father's empire, The Human Zoo. Disguised as one of the animals and stripped of his identity, wealth, and eugenic luxuries, Jax is challenged by what it means to be human when he meets Priya.
Born into the zoo's captivity, Priya has only known two things; she does not belong here, and she will do anything to escape, but freedom always seemed impossible until an unusual new animal, Jax, arrives.
A gripping investigation turned life changing, Jax is forced to make a decision. Will he risk dismantling society by exposing who-or what-being an animal means...or succumb to his only living protection, his family's empire?
Thirteen Years Earlier
I sit in a corner. My knees touch my chin, and I pick at my fingernails. When they start to cry red, I stop. Benjy, my only friend, sits cross-legged next to me, staring at the floor. His fingers draw pictures against the rough cement. Today Iâm five, I think. That is what the people in the blue clothes say when they come in and do tests on us. One at a time, we are being taken by the tall lady who has a dark circle on her left cheek, short black hair, and green eyes. They call her Aerion. No one has come back, but they all go through the metal door that makes a whooshing sound like sucking in air. I watch as each kid grins at her, but Iâm not smiling. I know she is bad.
The soft yellow of the room I call home makes my tummy flip. I breathe in through my nose, and out through my mouth. My tongue licks my lips. The metal door opens again and cold air rushes in. Aerion locks eyes with me. She doesnât come for me though. She reaches for Benjy, snatching his arm, pulling him up to his feet.
Clinging to him, I pull him down by grabbing his arm. â3-5-6-8-5-3, let go,â Aerion says.
âWhere are you taking him?â I ask. For a second,
she looks confused.
âItâs okay, Priya,â Benjy says, patting my hand. My head shakes ânoâ as he nods âyes.â
He pulls me off his arm, and I look into his brown
eyes.
âCome back?â I whisper. âI promise,â he says.
He holds his hand up, his five fingers wide, and I
place my hand against his.
âBye, Priya!â he says walking away with Aerion. His brown, curly hair bounces as he giggles and jumps through the metal door. I rub my thumb over the number on my calf, 3-5-6-8-5-3, thinking, my name is Priya. I sit for what feels like hours as those who remain are taken.
One hour. Two hours. Ten hours. No one comes for
me.
âThey donât want me.â I start crying as wet tears slide down my face and into my mouth. Then she comes in.
â3-5-6-8-5-3, itâs time,â Aerion says soft and sweet.
My body freezes.
âWhere are we going?â I ask as her green eyes
squint at me.
âSomewhere better.â She says looking at me, then slightly turning her gaze toward the black panel in the ceiling. She reaches for me, and I bite her with my teeth. She screams with her mouth open wide and eyebrows touching one another.
âYou will mind,â she yells slapping me across the
face.
My fingers claw at her.
She kicks me in the stomach and grabs me by the hair, dragging me toward the door. My tiny hands canât reach hers as I scream wildly, pain shooting across my head. I kick out, twisting my body toward her. My foot hits her shin and she lets go. Scooting away, I huff out of my nose. My eyes dart around, looking for a way out. My heart beats against my chest so hard I look down to make sure itâs not going to pop out.
âANIMAL!â Aerion screams at me. âIâm not an animal!â I scream back.
She presses behind her ear and says, âGuardians, do your job and get in here. Now!â A few seconds later two men dressed in all black enter.
Both of their faces have shiny black masks over them, showing only the straight lines of their mouths. The taller one stands by the door as the other Guardian walks toward me, his short frame identical to his dark uniform. I keep scooting until my back touches the wall behind me. As the man gets closer to me, he stops and turns around, waving his hand at the other Guardian. A man at the door comes and stands by him. Slowly, I rise, then start running, hoping to squeeze between their legs, but their strong arms pick me up, tossing me on the ground. The world looks upside down as Iâm thrown over a shoulder. The metal door reaches out for me. I thrash and fling myself against the Guardianâs clothes.
Reaching out, I grip the edges of the door, straining to dig into the metal door. Effortlessly, my fingers are plucked off. I bite down, and my teeth clash with metal. The world is dark for a moment, and then I see the light. My eyes squeeze shut. We enter a long, glass hallway.
People stand on the other side of the glass with their teeth showing. I can hear them laughing. Bright flashes of light bounce off the glass and tiny faces like mine press up to it. Iâm stillâconfused, scaredâwondering why these people are on the other side. Why they are free?
âHelp me! Please! They are taking me!â I try to shout, but it comes out as a whisper. I keep squirming, reaching my hands out, waiting for someone to help. No one comes. Warm tears fall down my face.
Out of the mass of people, a little boy appears and steps up to the glass. He has brown hair and bright blue eyes that stand out against his skin. His lips curl down into a frown. I watch as he raises his hand and places it against the glass, five fingers spread wide. Reaching my hand out, I copy him. He smiles at me and I stare at him until the Guardian takes me through another door. Then heâs gone, and I am lost.
In the future, the concept of eugenics is the dominant ideology ruling society, culture, and the world at large. Genetically engineered humans--smarter, faster, stronger, more conventionally attractive, and more ruled by logic and reason--are the norm, while "original" humans have mostly been eradicated. The remaining Originals reside in zoos, where they're treated like animals: educational reminders of how awful things used to be.
This upsetting dystopia is the reality of Kasey Rocazella's novel The Human Zoo, a romance story set in a horrifically oppressive world. The narrative follows two main characters, Priya and Jax, who come from vastly different backgrounds. Priya is an Original; she's lived in the zoo her entire life, but her wonderfully snarky and combative personality keeps her going. Jax, on the other hand, is a reporter and the privileged son of the zoo's owner. Jax has always viewed the people in the zoo as animals, but his view is upended after he decides to take on an important immersion journalism assignment: investigating his father's zoo from the inside, by pretending to be an Original himself. Jax develops a strong bond with Priya, and he'll ultimately have to decide whether he wants to protect the society he knows, or whether he wants to protect Priya and expose the inequities of eugenics.
The Human Zoo is an insightful and compelling novel of ideas, and Kasey Rocazella is particularly adept at describing the destructive impact of dehumanizing emotional and physical abuse on the psyche. The book is more focused on relationships than world building, however, so I'd recommend this novel to readers who are looking for a romance with a light dystopian background. I left this story with a lot of questions about the world that I wish had been answered. For example, it's unclear why the Eugenicists in this novel are fine with homosexual relationships, because historically eugenics-based societies have oppressed gay people. The novel also states that getting rid of emotions, in favor of reason, has successfully produced a peaceful society (caveat: Originals in cages), but repressive concepts like war, imperialism, and colonialism are all rooted in the exact opposite idea--a lack of empathy. What keeps the people of Eugenics from continuing to wage war for resources, which could be viewed as a logical pursuit? Also, given the competitive nature of Jax's job, it seems like capitalism is still running strong, but if the entire underclass has been put into zoos, then who's selling their labor to the rich?
I wanted to know so much more about this world--how wealth is stratified, how peace is practically maintained, how nations get along, how genetically-matched relationships work in terms of child rearing, etc. The Human Zoo is a great and ambitious first attempt at a dystopian novel, but the book tends to lean too hard on interpersonal conflict at the expense of fully realizing the world the characters are living in. Overall, though, the thought and care put into this work is incredibly powerful, and I'm excited to see what Kasey Rocazella comes up with next.