Paul Zindel (1936–2003)
Author of The Pigman
About the Author
Paul Zindel Born on Staten Island, New York, Zindel was raised by a single mother who pursued a variety of odd and mostly unsuccessful jobs and took in terminally ill patients to supplement the family income. Due to her eccentricity and restlessness, the mother moved the family from one apartment show more to another, making it difficult for Zindel to form lasting friendships. As a consequence, the boy lived in the world of his imagination, developing interests in both science and writing. Zindel majored in chemistry at Wagner College on Staten Island, completing both bachelors and masters degrees. During this period he also took a creative-writing course offered by the playwright Edward Albee. After college he worked briefly as a technical writer for a chemical company and then discovered a more fulfilling vocation as a teacher of chemistry and physics at a Staten Island high school. It was during this period in the early 1960s that Zindel was able to develop his potential as a playwright by drawing on his own background as well as the experiences of his young students. The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds premiered at the Alley Theater in Houston in 1965, was presented in a condensed version on television the following year, and finally opened off-Broadway at the Mercer-O'Casey Theater in 1970. Because of a fire in the theater, the play was moved, with a new cast, to the New Theater on Broadway, where it ran for a total of 819 performances. In addition to being enormously popular, Gamma Rays earned in 1970 an Obie Award as the best play of the season, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award as the best American play, and the Vernon Rice Drama Desk Award for most promising playwright. In 1971 the play was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Gamma Rays is the story of an embittered, half-mad widow, Beatrice Hunsdorfer; her teenaged daughters, Ruth and Tillie; and Nanny, a decrepit old woman who boards with them. The family lives in chaos, with Beatrice dealing out petty vengeance to everyone. Nanny has been abandoned by her daughter. Ruth is wanton, untidy, and subject to seizures. Tillie, however, has become interested in science and enters her marigold experiment in the science fair; by exposing the marigold seeds to radiation, she shows that some produce normal plants, others produce mutations with beautiful double blooms, while still others die. The metaphor, of course, is that Tillie has emerged from her chaotic environment as a beautiful and whole person, a human "double bloom." Zindel's other plays include And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little (1971), The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild(1973), Let Me Hear You Whisper (1973), and Ladies at the Alamo(1975). While these plays continue to show Zindel's skill in writing excellent roles for women, none of them have matched the critical and popular success of Gamma Rays. Since the late 1960s, Zindel has also written several novels for young adults. The Pigman (1968), which is about a lonely widower and two destructive teenagers, has sold more than 1 million copies. His other novels include My Darling, My Hamburger (1969), I Never Loved Your Mind (1970), Pardon Me, You're Stepping on My Eyeball (1976), Confessions of a Teenage Baboon (1977), and The Undertaker's Gone Bananas (1978). As in Gamma Rays, these works display not only a penchant for grotesque humor but an uncanny awareness of the problems of teenagers. Zindel's works, which also include several screenplays, explore the themes of loneliness, escapism, and eccentricity. His best works are humorous, perceptive, and warm; they present an affirmation of life emerging from desperate and grotesque circumstances. He is especially noted for his excellent women's roles, which has helped sustain him as a best-selling playwright for school and community groups. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Paul Zindel (1936-2003) from Life in Legacy
Series
Works by Paul Zindel
Rache ist nicht wirklich süss 2 copies
Eine Begonie fur Miss Applebaum 2 copies
Amulets Against the Dragon Forces (Plays by Paul Zindel (Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author)) (2012) 1 copy
A Collection of Five Books by Paul Zindel: The Pigman; Pardon Me, You're Stepping on my Eyeball; Harry and… (1986) 1 copy
City Safari No. 3 1 copy
The Ladies Should Be in Bed 1 copy
Associated Works
The Actor's Book of Contemporary Stage Monologues: More Than 150 Monologues from More Than 70 Playwrights (1987) — Contributor — 178 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1936-05-15
- Date of death
- 2003-03-27
- Burial location
- Moravian Cemetery, Staten Island, New York, USA
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Staten Island, New York, USA
- Place of death
- New York, New York, USA
- Places of residence
- Staten Island, New York, USA
- Education
- Wagner College
- Relationships
- Zindel, Lizabeth (daughter)
- Awards and honors
- Margaret A. Edwards Award (2002)
Members
Reviews
Henry Ledniz and Zelda Einnab are distressed when their favorite science teacher, Miss Applebaum, retires suddenly. When they take her a begonia, Miss Applebaum meets them at the door wearing a bathrobe. She is obviously tired and having trouble breathing. Dr. Oblicheck comes, and Henry and Zelda see him stick a long needle into Miss Applebaum's chest. The treatment leaves her feeling better, and she invites them to spend next Saturday in Central Park. Before Saturday arrives, Zelda finds out that Miss Applebaum has terminal cancer. At Central Park, Henry and Zelda watch Miss Applebaum feed the homeless. She shows them her favorite haunts and Central Park's "roller coaster." After returning to Miss Applebaum's apartment, Bernice, Miss Applebaum's niece, arrives and orders her aunt to bed. She tells Henry and Zelda to let her aunt die in peace. Miss Applebaum assures Henry and Zelda that Bernice’s only real concern is Miss Applebaum’s estate. Ignoring Bernice's advice, the trio's next jaunt is to the Metropolitan Museum. Then, Henry and Zelda talk Miss Applebaum into seeing an oncologist who puts her in the hospital for treatment. Henry and Zelda soon realize that they’ve made a mistake. Miss Applebaum's cancer is so advanced that she’s destined to die in the hospital. Instead of leaving her to “die in peace,” they help her live for the time she has left.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com… (more)
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com… (more)
I read this for Banned Book Week not knowing what to expect and whoa man did I love love love it. It's like Catcher in the Rye only with a girl and less self-obsessed (go figure). It's been challenged because the kids in it drink and smoke and hate school and have awful parents and swear (although the swearing is mostly like "@#$%").
A short book which, once it gets going, has a breakneck pace and a slapstick black-humour slant. It is a little slow to begin with, there being a lot of info-dumping about the teenage protagonists, Bobby and Lauri. Both are misfits at school and best friends, with Lauri wanting the relationship to develop into romance. But once they arrange a 'Welcome Wagon' for the new couple who have moved into the apartment next door to Bobby, the fun is underway.
Mr Hulka seems slightly strange, an impression strengthened when the two teens gain access to the Hulka home, using the 'Welcome Wagon' ploy: bringing food and drink to welcome the residents, and satisfying their curiosity into the bargain. The Hulkas have dolls houses complete with figures and miniature furniture, apparently carved by Mr Hulka, and a lot of beautifully made wooden boxes that turn out to be antique dissection kits. To complete the impression, he explains that he is an undertaker.
Bobby's parents go away for a couple of weeks, leaving him at home. Not something that would be allowed these days, even for a 15-year old, but there's a big degree of trust between him and his parents, and he isn't interested in joining them on their climbing holiday. For the story's purposes they have to be got out of the way because as soon as he's alone he hears a violent argument next door and sees, from where the two apartments have an adjoining terrace, Mr Hulka apparently killing his wife.
He calls the police but Mrs Hulka arrives home from a shopping trip unscathed. Bobby and Lauri have often indulged in harmless pranks - wearing ape masks or dressing up as a nun and a monk to stroll around the cathedral grounds - and this has marked them out as troublemakers with the local police. The police view this as another prank, so when the argument next door appears to be re-staged later the same day, the police won't believe Bobby and threaten to lock him up while they call his parents back. And so begins the whistle-stop investigation and chase as he and Lauri try to get evidence and are drawn increasingly into danger.
The two teenage characters are well-drawn with Bobby's 100-miles-an-hour single-minded energy and Lauri's painful recovery from the trauma of witnessing the fatal fire which trapped and killed her neighbours at her previous address. Bobby is solicitous of her constant fear of death and she is slowly getting better, but the constant exposure to coffins, bodies and the idea of murder as they pursue Hulka become a kill-or-cure therapy. Hulka is a nicely over-the-top psycho, especially as the story escalates. The only flaw is that the final scene ends a bit too abruptly.
The book is of its time (1978) - no mobile phones to get the protagonists out of a fix, for example. They are both fans of TV: no internet etc then. However, it comes across as slightly more modern than the previous Zindel novel I've read (The Pigman), as a branch of Macdonalds makes a few appearances, and there are references to Star Trek which must be to the original series but could easily be to the modern reboots, whereas the earlier novel had details such as typewriters and a malt shop/soda shop, which would seem prehistoric to today's teens and young adults. The story can still be enjoyed as a gory crime romp.… (more)
Mr Hulka seems slightly strange, an impression strengthened when the two teens gain access to the Hulka home, using the 'Welcome Wagon' ploy: bringing food and drink to welcome the residents, and satisfying their curiosity into the bargain. The Hulkas have dolls houses complete with figures and miniature furniture, apparently carved by Mr Hulka, and a lot of beautifully made wooden boxes that turn out to be antique dissection kits. To complete the impression, he explains that he is an undertaker.
Bobby's parents go away for a couple of weeks, leaving him at home. Not something that would be allowed these days, even for a 15-year old, but there's a big degree of trust between him and his parents, and he isn't interested in joining them on their climbing holiday. For the story's purposes they have to be got out of the way because as soon as he's alone he hears a violent argument next door and sees, from where the two apartments have an adjoining terrace, Mr Hulka apparently killing his wife.
He calls the police but Mrs Hulka arrives home from a shopping trip unscathed. Bobby and Lauri have often indulged in harmless pranks - wearing ape masks or dressing up as a nun and a monk to stroll around the cathedral grounds - and this has marked them out as troublemakers with the local police. The police view this as another prank, so when the argument next door appears to be re-staged later the same day, the police won't believe Bobby and threaten to lock him up while they call his parents back. And so begins the whistle-stop investigation and chase as he and Lauri try to get evidence and are drawn increasingly into danger.
The two teenage characters are well-drawn with Bobby's 100-miles-an-hour single-minded energy and Lauri's painful recovery from the trauma of witnessing the fatal fire which trapped and killed her neighbours at her previous address. Bobby is solicitous of her constant fear of death and she is slowly getting better, but the constant exposure to coffins, bodies and the idea of murder as they pursue Hulka become a kill-or-cure therapy. Hulka is a nicely over-the-top psycho, especially as the story escalates. The only flaw is that the final scene ends a bit too abruptly.
The book is of its time (1978) - no mobile phones to get the protagonists out of a fix, for example. They are both fans of TV: no internet etc then. However, it comes across as slightly more modern than the previous Zindel novel I've read (The Pigman), as a branch of Macdonalds makes a few appearances, and there are references to Star Trek which must be to the original series but could easily be to the modern reboots, whereas the earlier novel had details such as typewriters and a malt shop/soda shop, which would seem prehistoric to today's teens and young adults. The story can still be enjoyed as a gory crime romp.… (more)
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Statistics
- Works
- 70
- Also by
- 10
- Members
- 8,460
- Popularity
- #2,847
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 159
- ISBNs
- 522
- Languages
- 10
- Favorited
- 8
I had never read this book myself but chose it for my student on the recommendation of a colleague who teaches middle school Language Arts.
It made both of us laugh out loud because of the colloquial writing and societal observations made.
Unfortunately, although I loved it, my student only gave it 2 out of 4 stars. He felt the story was outdated.