The Pigman, a young-adult novel written by Paul Zindel, projects a message about growing up and gaining maturity. The books follows the lives of two teenagers, John Conlan and Lorraine Jenson and their relationship with Mr. Pignati, better known as The Pigman. The Pigman is the most significant character in this book. He was a lonely man whose wife died and he resorted to a monkey, Bobo, for comfort. Lorraine and John met Mr. Pignati after randomly prank calling him one day. All three of them had daily visits everyday with each other, until Mr. Pignati suffered from two heart attacks. One of the many conflicts of this book was man vs. self. Mr. Pignati endured a lot of depression because of the loss of his wife and feeling lonely, so when the teenagers were introduced in his life, he felt happiness of sorts again. The two teenagers, John and Lorraine, also seemed to show conflict between each other because of their home lives. They never truly seemed satisfied with each other. The book gives the reader a sense of hopelessness and realization throughout the ending of this book. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I genuinely thought it was going to be a quick, easy read that wouldn’t stick in my mind for long. However, I actually thoroughly enjoyed this book and I would consider recommending it to other kids my age. I didn’t think the book would have such relevance to my life today, I definitely feel as though I experienced what the characters in the novel experienced. I felt surprisingly satisfied after reading this, and almost a sense of closure. I honestly wish the book was a bit longer. This book is an oldie but a goodie, and I would definitely recommend people to read it, especially teenagers. I would say, however, to read the beginning carefully because I missed some information and I had to go back and re-read. The book is relatively short, so it’s fast-paced, meaning you could miss some information along the way. The book is not a difficult read, and it kept me intrigued the whole time.
Olivia Lengua
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